Can you say "hooked on phonics"?

All I can say is that it is very obvious that the trustees / board have failed to take care of business for many years. They blame it on declining enrollment and reduction in funding, both of which are true, however, this huge deficit did not happen overnight, they just FAILED to do anything about it in previous years which left us in the situation we are now in. SHAME ON YOU TRUSTEES.

Good to read that rural schools have been spared with the exception of Dunster.

As long as we don't hear in 2 years "the economy is going so well we're going to open some schools" I agree with new2pg, if the school board had done some auditing and and took some responsibility in past years this probably wouldn't have happened. I believe and |i may be wrong, that the school board are trustees of the funds sent from the govt. which means they misused the govt funding in past years, and now that the well has dried up they are biting the hand that feeds them, and making the children pay for their mistakes. I wonder, why is it in the face of economic reform, that we are now paying higher taxes, and losing funding, closing schools, and looking at a higher cost of living?
something smells rotten here, we have an air quality situation that no one seems to know the cause, with the scientific community we see to have at our disposal why is it that no one can figure it out? It seems to depend on who you talk to as to what the culprit is, while we continue to pay the wages of these experts to argue amongst themselves.
The provincial govt. wants to introduce an HST tax that will cost everyone more money on taxes, and as usual the people of BC will not see a flat dime of any of the proceeds.
The city is raising taxes higher than the value of Vancouver island waterfront to fix the roads and be able to afford to shovel snow,
And now the schools are being closed so our kids will end up being home schooled because that is all we can afford.
Yet the wages don't go up? How do we afford to live?
In almost every paper, magazine and internet site I read, the economy is showing signs of recovery, the real estate market is heating up, if everything is getting better why the taxes and school closures? who's the one who is not being honest? the pictures don't make sense, like they used to say on sesame street, "one of these things is not like the other"...

HUH? Rural schools were not spared. What about Salmon Valley? Now those kids, some as young as 4 years old, are going to have to bus it all the way to Glenview. And some of those kids are from Bear Lake because of that school closing down in the last round of cuts. Such a shame. I would be choked if it was my kids.

I guess Salmon Valley didn't have the political connections of a Nukko or a Giscome so they got axed. Hixon was pretty much a red herring thrown in the mix to fool us into thinking that this process was anything other than politics.

It's too bad this wasn't an election year; we could use a whole new slate of trustees.

ONLY! spared for now.....
not enough details have been given out in this article yet. If things don't change the stress will all be repeated next year. 1:30 AM is a bit foggy still, I look foward to reading more of press releases.

Of course Linda Naess would say it is all the Liberals fault. What else would a union rep say?

I am so glad that the Giscome School has been spared for another year but it makes me sad for the others like Salmon Valley and Dunster. However it is childish to insinuate these were spare because of Political connections. In the case of Giscome the Regional Director fought equally as hard to save ALL rural schools and we recieved NO favouritism from SD 57 as our local trustee WAS NOT allowed to vote on the closures for this very reason so no one could claim foul play!
Yes it is a long way from Bear Lake and Salmon Valley to Glenview but guess what, some of our kids as young as 4 year olds already travel 1 hour to get to Giscome! to close Giscome would have meant adding to that for a 1 hour and 45 minuet trip to Blackburn. Take a drive from Blackburn to Sinclair Mills and compare that to the drive from Salmon Valley to Glenview before you make accusations!

Dear faxman,
FYI rural schools have worked hard together as one front, as well as showing the individuality of individual schools. All schools that were recommended for closure had parent groups putting in hundreds of hours of volunteer time trying to resolve issues regarding collecting of information and many other means to try and keep their schools. I agree that it is politics, but the political game is not with the many volunteers trying to do the best for their children.
The political problem is the time lines the trustees put in place, the sustainability report and other problems developed by bad management. All the rural schools were pulling for Salmon Valley,Dunster and Hixon. ( as well as all schools that were recommended). and we did not hear last night any of the solutions we as rural coalation made that would save our partner schools. We have challenged the trustees over and over to balance the budget by not closing any!!!! Schools.

I see now that someone will have to come up with Three(3) New School Names.
New Name for--John McInnis Jr. Sec.
--Lakewood Jr.Sec.
--Heather Park Middle School

Lakewood is to reopen and house 177 French Immersion students in a 625 capacity building. Spruceland is to operate under capacity due to these students moving to Lakewood. The Hart is to have Glenview and HartHighlands run overcapacity and host the largest elementary school in the district. Is this smart and creative thinking?

Dear CabinFeverGirl,

I do believe we are in agreement. I am fully aware of how hard we worked to try and save our rural schools. All throughout the process though, I couldn't help but feel that no one was listening.

Lakewood is to reopen and house 177 French Immersion students in a 625 capacity building. Spruceland is to operate under capacity due to these students moving to Lakewood. The Hart is to have Glenview and HartHighlands run overcapacity and host the largest elementary school in the district. Is this smart and creative thinking?

For all of you that have children in rural schools I am sincerely sorry for the loss of your schools.

What people seem to be missing here is the big picture of this whole process. To say this situation isn't a political play is ignorance in its purest form. Having been subjected to the sham that was labelled as "consultation" it became quite evident that the school board of this district are simply shrills and "yes people" for the liberal government.

I don't know how some of you felt about the consultation meeting, but to me when you are consulting the dialogue is usually two way dialogue, not just ask a question and we will answer you later. Not " you people have done nothing but ask stupid questions". We also heard how the board was not in possession of finanacial documents so they could not answer any questions about the balance sheets from the district website on the overhead in front of them. We also heard "You didn't embarrass us, you just pissed us off".

These inappropriate comments along with the other typical " we don't get paid much to do this job" "we don't like having to give up our evenings away from our families to do this job" reek of political deflection and avoidance of "consulting" in its most basic form. Rather than listening and talking about issues, we were basically told to ask questions and wait for answers at a later date. When that didn't work the trustees made it personal.

To those of you that got saved or get to stay for another year congratulations on all of your efforts.

To the rest of us, I guess we will just have to shut up, pay the higher taxes, the additional fuel costs to drive to other schools, endure more eyesore facilities (see the old Wildwood school)have stressed out over burdened teachers, declining property values due to the empty schools and increased vandalism.

Due to the mismanagement of past boards, as well as the continuing ineptitude of the provincial gov't in negotiating contracts with workers that are affordable and sustainable, we have to all explain to our children why the school they have so much pride and love in is no longer open. That is perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow.

But hey, at least they gave up their free coffee.

We also agree that it was not, and still not feeling like we are listened to.
Plan 4 getting the system and closure policies updated and made a fair system.
:) The rural school funding formula needs to addressed.

We also agree that it was not, and still not feeling like we are listened to.
Plan 4 getting the system and closure policies updated and made a fair system.
:) The rural school funding formula needs to addressed.

why doesn't the city kick in the budget shortfall and call it consulting fees lmao

We also agree that it was not, and still not feeling like we are listened to.
Plan 4 getting the system and closure policies updated and made a fair system.
:) The rural school funding formula needs to addressed.

"it became quite evident that the school board of this district are simply shrills and "yes people" for the liberal government."

Again I fail to see why it is the government's fault that enrollment is declining, especially in rural areas. Can someone explain the connection?

We also agree that it was not, and still not feeling like we are listened to.
Plan 4 getting the system and closure policies updated and made a fair system.
:) The rural school funding formula needs to addressed.

MrPG

One issue around funding works like this: the extra costs that the district has to pay out (increases in salaries, higher MSP premiums, carbon offsets, all day K, and many others) are downloaded costs from the government. These costs are about $3 million next year. A few weeks ago, the government announced it would make up this shortfall of costs (remember, these are costs negotiated by the government or implemented by the government). However, the amount they included was $1.8 million.

No doubt, the decline in enrollment is substantial, and certainly schools need to be closed to make up for the losses. The issue around government funding is shell game they play. They make claims about highest funding ever, but then they sneak money back through other means. Its a little frustrating, to say the least.

Hope that explains why some people are angry about government funding issues

Have agreat day, and congrats to the schools that got saved. By the way, the district has over $4 million they will have to cut for 2001-2012

oops, I meant 2011-2012

Sorry

The Liberal govt. is not keeping up with the cost of living nor the negotiated salary increases, etc. in their funding of education. They use school trustees as their scapegoats for the lack of funding. SD 57 has been making cuts since the time that Shirley Bond was the Chair. They worked very hard to keep these cuts away from students. Maintenance budgets, the elementary band program, etc. were cut first. Closing schools has been a last resort because there really isn't anywhere else to cut. As a teacher who once worked in SD 57 I do not blame the trustees at all. Theirs is a thankless job and they have to operate within the guidelines set by the govt. Linda Naess was absolutely correct in blaming the Liberal govt. After all, schools are closing all over the province. Surely you can't say that's because all school boards were shortsighted.

Flash, funding formulas will change all the time, there's not much anyone can do about that. It seems that many people do not want to acknowledge changing demographics.

Most of the frustration I see directed towards the government, the trustees, funding formulas, etc. should be directed towards the fact that families are not only smaller, but more concentrated in urban areas. Many do not want to accept that.

If the schools were full of students, none of this would be an issue.

For all of you that have children in rural schools I am sincerely sorry for the loss of your schools.

What people seem to be missing here is the big picture of this whole process. To say this situation isn't a political play is ignorance in its purest form. Having been subjected to the sham that was labelled as "consultation" it became quite evident that the school board of this district are simply shrills and "yes people" for the liberal government.

I don't know how some of you felt about the consultation meeting, but to me when you are consulting the dialogue is usually two way dialogue, not just ask a question and we will answer you later. Not " you people have done nothing but ask stupid questions". We also heard how the board was not in possession of finanacial documents so they could not answer any questions about the balance sheets from the district website on the overhead in front of them. We also heard "You didn't embarrass us, you just pissed us off".

These inappropriate comments along with the other typical " we don't get paid much to do this job" "we don't like having to give up our evenings away from our families to do this job" reek of political deflection and avoidance of "consulting" in its most basic form. Rather than listening and talking about issues, we were basically told to ask questions and wait for answers at a later date. When that didn't work the trustees made it personal.

To those of you that got saved or get to stay for another year congratulations on all of your efforts.

To the rest of us, I guess we will just have to shut up, pay the higher taxes, the additional fuel costs to drive to other schools, endure more eyesore facilities (see the old Wildwood school)have stressed out over burdened teachers, declining property values due to the empty schools and increased vandalism.

Due to the mismanagement of past boards, as well as the continuing ineptitude of the provincial gov't in negotiating contracts with workers that are affordable and sustainable, we have to all explain to our children why the school they have so much pride and love in is no longer open. That is perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow.

But hey, at least they gave up their free coffee.

MrPG

Not disputing the smaller families. But the issue around funding formulas is that they do change all the time, despite very public promises that they would not. Remember, this is a government that promised to give boards the opportunity to budget three years in the future because the formulas would remain constant. But the formulas are constantly changing.

Boards can't budget when the rules keep changing. And these changes hurt kids. Be honest, be upfront, be consistent. Be willing to give bad news. Stop the smoke and mirrors.

That's the issue around funding.

I like how people blame the school trustees and board for the short coming of the budget,their scapegoats of gov't cuts.
How many schools closed during the NDP.Not that I'm in favor of party politics,but it seem to me both parties ran in the red,the LIBs more than the NDP as of late,but schools didn't close by the hand full,did they?
As far as I'm concerned,the trustees should have stepped down when the BC gov't changed their budget,causing the boards to quickly reconfigure their own budget and not just in our district,who else is there to blame but the provincial gov't?

We could certainly get into why it is the government's fault as to why enrollment is declining, but that is a discussion for another thread perhaps.

As for "rural" what are you defining as rural? I pay city school and land taxes, and in comparison to some areas of this city and the services we recieve our they are high. I am not in a rural area. This is an overall problem, not just rural.

I am not totally adverse to schools closing if it is necessary and long term planning is implemented. This short term quick fix knee jerk solution pattern needs to be stopped. If the problem DOESN'T lay with the provincial government then where DOES it lay?

As for declining enrollment, yes it has been declining, we all know that. Now what planning is in place for the future? What if this area recovers and new industry and or resources are utilized?

It seems there is no direction from the top on down through management. Whose fault is that?

The Liberal govt. is not keeping up with the cost of living nor the negotiated salary increases, etc. in their funding of education. They use school trustees as their scapegoats for the lack of funding. SD 57 has been making cuts since the time that Shirley Bond was the Chair. They worked very hard to keep these cuts away from students. Maintenance budgets, the elementary band program, etc. were cut first. Closing schools has been a last resort because there really isn't anywhere else to cut. As a teacher who once worked in SD 57 I do not blame the trustees at all. Theirs is a thankless job and they have to operate within the guidelines set by the govt. Linda Naess was absolutely correct in blaming the Liberal govt. After all, schools are closing all over the province. Surely you can't say that's because all school boards were shortsighted.

Have they budgeted for the renovations that HPMS is going to require to become a K-7 school? The entire yard will need to be fenced, the smaller toilets will need to go in and heaven only knows where they are going to put all of the kids. They are taking out the grade 8's and adding two schools worth of K-7's. Oh, there is no playground equipment there either. Here is what I foresee - they will save $200,000 by closing Austin Road and then spend $400,000 to make Heather Park suitable. Idiots.

It is very sad to see that the Salmon Valley school was not spared. It was the last resort for their Community Association as well. The small vibrant Community is getting lost in the shuffle due to a lack of support from all government connections. There is a lot more to that story than many people know but details are on their website, www.salmonvalley.net. When asked for help from the government to save the curling club they were told, "sorry nothing we can do". Now it is time to save the school and next will be the local volunteer fire hall. I guess we will just have to see what "connections" are truly out there and how "politics" are involved. Nothing like kicking the Community when it is already down!

Ok I know alot of people feel that declining enrollment is reason for school closers,but if you have children in elementary school you will notice quite a few young sibling about to start school in the next year or two,thus creating another problem in two years,after even more closers next year.

The Liberal govt. is not keeping up with the cost of living nor the negotiated salary increases, etc. in their funding of education. They use school trustees as their scapegoats for the lack of funding. SD 57 has been making cuts since the time that Shirley Bond was the Chair. They worked very hard to keep these cuts away from students. Maintenance budgets, the elementary band program, etc. were cut first. Closing schools has been a last resort because there really isn't anywhere else to cut. As a teacher who once worked in SD 57 I do not blame the trustees at all. Theirs is a thankless job and they have to operate within the guidelines set by the govt. Linda Naess was absolutely correct in blaming the Liberal govt. After all, schools are closing all over the province. Surely you can't say that's because all school boards were shortsighted.

Have people not yet figured out not to hit their refresh buttons after they've posted?

I'm looking at Spedteacher and CabinFeverGirl.

The Liberal govt. is not keeping up with the cost of living nor the negotiated salary increases, etc. in their funding of education. They use school trustees as their scapegoats for the lack of funding. SD 57 has been making cuts since the time that Shirley Bond was the Chair. They worked very hard to keep these cuts away from students. Maintenance budgets, the elementary band program, etc. were cut first. Closing schools has been a last resort because there really isn't anywhere else to cut. As a teacher who once worked in SD 57 I do not blame the trustees at all. Theirs is a thankless job and they have to operate within the guidelines set by the govt. Linda Naess was absolutely correct in blaming the Liberal govt. After all, schools are closing all over the province. Surely you can't say that's because all school boards were shortsighted.

SPEDTEACHER....C'MON you are driving some of us bonkers.....Stop refreshing! If you do keep refreshing your just going to see your comment at the bottom again, That is 4 now I think!
I did it once...."oops, wish I could delete that"
Opinion250, you should probably give the option to remove your posts ;)

I am sorry to the schools that have been closed. I am happy for the ones "spared" this year. It is definitely time for the "Board" to start working with the Regional District and the city....but hey isn't some city council on the Regional District Board Directors?.
faxman...what political connections do you speak of?? Gramma Lyn is correct.

Keep your eye on the District. They allowed a year consultation for CFG and Spruceland to talk about introducing a choice program to the catchment but they forced Springwood to become dual-track without offering the same consulatation period. The Board relieved overcapacity at Spruceland but forced the Hart into overcapacity by closing four schools in the area. They allowed 177 students to occupy a 625 capacity building but won't allow Springwood to operate at capacity next year. Every one of their decisions are unbalanced and unfair to all of the schools in the district regardless of being on the closure list or not. Without the dollar savings of closing Lakewood Jr, every school in the district will be affected.

In line with 'interceptor' I am wondering how the District will meet the needs of Heather Park as an Elementary school. The building only has one gym and if the government still requires Daily Quality Physical Activity for all students K-9, then some of the teachers will have to get very creative with their definition of Physical Activity. Especially in the depths of winter when going outside is not an option. Perhaps the wood-working shop can be converted into an indoor playground? But, that would cost extra. The outdoor play space at Heather Park is definitely in need of some improvements. Most of the play area is up a big mud hill and there is only a minimal amount of play structure for the kids to play on. I bet the PAC of Austin Road is kicking themselves for spending so much money on there outdoor play equipment. Imagine 600+ kids at recess with nothing to do but throw dirt at each other.

I am glad that the Board decided that having a single French school was a bad idea. I don't think that idea was well inline with the "Integrated Schools" philosophy (as in, everyone can come to school, but if you want to do it in French, go over there). Also, many families have moved to a specific neighborhood in order to have their children attend a school with a French offering.

Sorry, RoseGlasses, but you need to clean your lenses. The Board did indeed create a single French school in Lakewood Jr. They did it to the tune of 625 students capacity school. At the moment, they only have 177 students from Spruceland. What is the next move on the chessboard? They will want to fill those empty seats and CollegeHeights will be supplier.

Sorry about the multiple posts, folks. I thought it was like The Tyee when you can just refresh to see new posts.

To the best of my knowledge, building alterations/repairs come from a separate budget from the Ministry so I believe that the district wouldn't have to pay for the alterations discussed above. I would imagine that any new playground equipment would be bought by PAC fundraising just as it has been for years.

It's unfortunate that all of these people concerned about education funding weren't raising their voices in protest 11 yrs. ago or so when the cuts began. Back then it was mostly teachers protesting and we were called whiners.

Lots of social engineering of local communities IMO. None of it looks good especially the closures in the Hart and Salmon Valley. When do the cuts come to the administrators at the school board?

spedteacher. I think a lot of the people fighting, at least the ones in my community were teenagers 11 years ago, and didn't have children. And some did not live here yet.....yes MrPG we have more people then we did 11 years ago.
Oh my how that must be a kick that our rural community keeps growing, and seems it will continue to do so. As weekly someone is asking if there is houses to rent or for sale in the area (most with children) ;-)

Exterminate, well I hope you and others continue to fight for your children's right to a public education in their neighborhood school. The government seems to listen to parents, not teachers, so the ball is in your court. Friends of my father keep saying it's not their fight because they don't have children in the education system anymore. He has to keep reminding them that their grandchildren are attending these schools that keep closing, have larger class sizes, and fewer supports. What is going on with our education system affects us all because these children are our future.