The School District 27 board has found that it can save $85,000 a year, or the cost of one teacher (including benefits), by moving the GROW/Skyline alternate program from its current rental space onto school district property.
The lease on the GROW/Skyline building on Second Avenue is up for renewal and the school board is proposing to save money by moving the alternate graduation program to the annex at Marie Sharpe elementary.
To make room for GROW/Skyline, the board is proposing to move the French Immersion program at Marie Sharpe to Glendale elementary, and move the Strong Start program from the annex to the main school.
Glendale would keep its modified year-round calendar for the English students and the regular school-year calendar for the French Immersion students.
School trustees and district staff introduced the proposal during public meetings held last week with parents and staff at Marie Sharpe and Glendale elementary schools, as well as with students and staff at GROW/Skyline.
While Glendale parents are welcoming the French Immersion program with open arms, the proposed move is getting mixed reviews from parents of French Immersion students at Marie Sharpe.
“We welcome them,” Glendale parent Treena Brown said.
Parent Josee Jalbert added: “Come on over, friends.”
PAC president Janna Erickson said she likes Glendale because it is a small, out of the way school, with a great family-oriented environment.
The Glendale parents also expressed concern that their school’s enrollment has suffered this year because of public meetings the district held last year when Glendale, along with Kwaleen elementary, and some other rural schools were proposed for closure.
While some parents at the Marie Sharpe meeting indicated a level of acceptance for the move, others were adamantly opposed to moving French immersion out of Marie Sharpe.
Among other things, some parents said they were concerned about their young children getting lost if they had to transfer buses.
Board chair Wayne Rodier said the district staff is assessing the busing changes that would be needed to accommodate the move.
Some parents also said they liked French Immersion being at Marie Sharpe because they work downtown and can easily visit their children during the day. They also liked the fact that their children could take walking field trips to amenities in the downtown core.
And they liked both the English language and French Immersion teachers at Marie Sharpe and didn’t like the idea of their children being uprooted away from friends and teachers at the school.
Some parents were concerned they would lose French Immersion students if the program is moved and they felt as though the district was trying to get rid of the program. They wanted incentives for parents to put their children in French Immersion, such as allowing late-entry admissions.
Superintendent Diane Wright said the district’s new policy is to assess each child individually on whether they would be able to handle the transition to French Immersion if they didn’t start the program in kindergarten/Grade 1.
Some Marie Sharpe parents were also concerned about putting teens and adults on the same grounds as elementary students.
Rodier said the proposal includes plans for fencing to make the GROW/Skyline centre completely separate from the Marie Sharpe grounds. The proposal also includes moving the Strong Start program from the annex into the main part of Marie Sharpe.
Several suggestions were made by Marie Sharpe parents for alternate locations for the GROW/Skyline program.
Among them were putting up portables on the former Poplar Glade elementary site, which has been vacant since the school burned down several years ago.
There was also a suggestion that if the district made one of the two grade 8-12 secondary schools into a middle school, then the resulting removal of Grade 7s to the middle school would free up one whole elementary school for the GROW/Skyline program.
Suggestions included making either Glendale elementary or Nesika elementary the GROW/Skyline centre and moving students from whichever school was chosen to other elementary schools.
Nesika was suggested for the alternate program because it is close to, but not part of, Columneetza.
Another suggestion was to move GROW/Skyline to Thompson Rivers University.
Rodier noted the district pays for space it uses at TRU.
One Marie Sharpe parent asked when they could expect the proposed rebuild of Marie Sharpe to happen.
Secretary-treasurer Bonnie Roller said the rebuild is not happening because the district has about 400 surplus seats due to falling enrolment.
Another meeting was scheduled for yesterday evening to bring Glendale and Marie Sharpe parents together to discuss the proposal further, before the board makes its final decision on the proposal.
The final decision is expected to be made by the end of March.
Wright noted the deadline for registering children for kindergarten at Marie Sharpe and Glendale elementary schools will be extended beyond the normal March 15 deadline pending the board’s decision.
