Our community met with the school board and trustees concerning the possible closure of Nukko Lake school. Well over 300 residents attended the meeting and many of them gave presentations. Most of them gave emotional reasons for keeping our schools open and the board and trustees responded with the expected sympathetic "I share your pain".
What they didn't, to my mind and that of others, was acknowledge some hard-hitting non-emotional presentations. It was pointed out that rural schools are paying the price for the board's and trustee's mismanagement, if not outright stupidity. The board presented a chart showing the long history of dropping student numbers in all our schools - yet they decided to build new schools (and even new offices for themselves and with staff increases). Why didn't they amalgamate some city schools and be cost efficient? And for most, if not all, no long bussing needed as they now demand from rural schools. To make matters worse for some rural schools, they decided to bring their Grade 6 and 7 students into a city school.
Why didn't they cut back on their own offices and expenses/perks rather than increase them? They built new rooms, a captain's lounge, and hired extra waiters as their ship, the Titanic, was going down. They exhibited the same unsinkable thinking and planning - and passengers paid the price.
One other point brought up was also glossed over and ignored by the board. There are school districts that have a four day school week as a cost saver. I'm familiar with one, Saltspring Island. They faced a fair amount of resistance at first, but now find very few still opposed to it.
Maike Jensen
Prince George
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