Leslie here: Don Sylvester has kindly given me permission to print the article he published in the
February 15/08 edition of his
Beaverlodge & District News. In it, Don has reported a clear summary of the problems surrounding the school closure issue and eliminate a lot of confusion in the space of only a little more than a half a page. To buy a copy of the paper or subscribe phone their office at
354-2980. Well worth the money.
I gratefully post his article here in two posts as the first half explains the clawback and portable issues. The final half addresses the German language program and Horse Lake. To begin:
The Peace Wapiti School Board may have jumped into a whirlwind, if not a tornado.
School trustees voted last week to approve a notice of motion calling for closure of the Valhalla School. Only trustees Sherri Peterson (Hythe, Valhalla, La Glace) and Richard Lappenbush (Beaverlodge-Elmworth) voted against the motion.
The final vote on the motion is scheduled for April 3, with public meetings planned before then to discuss the issue.
A meeting of the Parent Council was held at the Valhalla School one day prior to the School Board vote, with some 75 people attending. Superintendent Sheldon Rowe attempted to explain the reasons for the possible school closure and Trustee Peterson tried to explain why she couldn't commit to voting against the motion to close the school.
Neither explanation convinced anybody in that audience.
In fact as the meeting went on the crowd became more adamant that there was no justification for closing the school, and more ideas were presented for ways to save it.
The next day many of them showed up again at the school board meeting and although they did apparently convince their trustee to vote against the notice of motion, they lost that battle.
Obviously, however, Valhalla has just begun to fight.
News media, parents and politicians are being bombarded with fact-filled emails. A petition is being circulated for the removal of Sherri Peterson as trustee for failing to represent the views of the Valhalla School parents.
Among the several documents issued in support of the school is a list of more than two dozen recent donations and volunteer efforts by community members, including $70,000 to set up a new playground, $50,000 coming from working a casino night, $30,000 to purchase computers, $13,000 for an intercom system, $12,000 for a sound system, and numerous smaller items.
Superintendent Sheldon Rowe appeared to feel that he could quell the uprising by announcing that it would cost $1.7 million to bring the Valhalla School up to standard. That figure was hotly disputed by several members of the crowd, but the tide turned heavily against the superintendent when the key question was asked.
"What if we raised the $1.7 million. Would you keep the school open?"
"It's a hard decision," was the best answer he could give, going on to talk about "the clawback."
The clawback is a sum of $87,000 per year which would apparently be deducted from provincial funding if the Valhalla School were kept open. The reason for that is a complex formula measuring the number of students against the capacity of the school and the distance from other schools with room for more students.
According to the school district figures there would be room for Valhalla students in La Glace and Hythe when the redevelopment is completed in Hythe and at least one portable is moved from Sexsmith to La Glace, after the new school is finished at Clairmont and some Sexsmith students are moved there.
However, several parents pointed out, La Glace is already using the gym stage for one class and a broom closet for a lab. Hythe, they agreed, will be full when it is completed.
See part 2 (
soon).
