Looking At Options For Rural Schools

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C. -  Fraser-Fort George Regional District and School District 57 have hired a consultant to look at the viability of establishing neighbourhood learning centres in the schools in Giscome, Hixon, and Nukko Lake.

All three elementaries had been on the cutting block this past winter, as District 57 looked to cut more than $5-million from its budget, but all three were spared at the final decision meeting in March.

FFGRD's Manager of External Relations, Renee^' McCloskey, says a $10-thousand dollar grant from  a program sponsored by the Union of B.C. Municipalities and B.C. School Trustees will be used to carry out a two-part inventory to look at the potential for such centres a the three schools.

"So, what the project involves is taking a look at what are the community services out there already - so whether that's things like daycare, community associations, various kinds of services - and, is there a possibility that those services could be brought into a school building?"

McCloskey says the second part is looking at the potential to introduce new services into the community that could share space within the school building.  "This could be anything from a fitness facility operating out of the gymnasium, to maybe a dental or health clinic -- like a rotating clinic -- to maybe even the establishment of a community library. I mean, there's all sorts of things that it could be."

She expects a draft report will be ready for both boards by November.  "From there, we'll take a look at what the report says, whether there really is a business case that says there are a number of services that could be brought into a school to help make the building more useable and help keep the school programming there and keep the communities going, which is what our overall mandate is."

McCloskey says the regional district and school board have been working with the parent advisory committees in the three communities and they've been supportive.  She says they'll be meeting with community associations and different community reps as they work through the process. 

"It's a study at this stage, so you don't want to jump the gun and say what it is or isn't going to end up being, but it seems like something people are at least excited to explore."

A planned Neighbourhood Learning Centre in Revelstoke is being held up by Victoria as a model for the rest of the province.  The official ground-break ceremony was held in June.

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