Dunster, B.C.-   Despite the closure of the Dunster Fine Arts school, classes will be held in Dunster.

The Dunster Fine Arts School Society will start setting up tents next door to the school property and will hold “home-schooling” classes there until an agreement for the boarded up school can be reached with School District 57.

“We are hoping to have another meeting with the Board of School District 57, now that everyone is back from summer holidays, and we will be holding classes in the tent school “ says Peter Amyoony, a member of the Dunster Fine Arts School Society.

The Dunster School was one of the schools    School District 57 decided to close this year because of budget issues. The Dunster School Society wants to buy the building from the School District and offered $10 dollars for its purchase. The School District countered with a price of $39 thousand, which was too rich on such short notice for the Society. Amyoony says the property for the school was donated by the community and some upgrades to the building (such as the gymnasium) and a new playground were products of the community work, so the School District should have no trouble in turning the building over to the community. “It is going to rot now if nothing is done with it, it should come back to the community if it is not going to be used by the School District and I don’t think we should have to pay an exorbitant price for it” says Amyoony.

Notices of the tent school plan have been sent to 120 families in the Dunster area. Some of the students who had attended the Dunster School have now been registered in Valemount, and others have registered in McBride, so Amyoony is not certain just how many will be attending classes in the tent school.

He says the Society is now taking this “one day at a time” and is not certain how the classes will proceed once the weather turns colder. He says there are several former teachers in the area, including himself, who are willing to head up the classes. “I’ve taught in Prince George, I’ve taught in Burns Lake, I know what those schools offer, and I can tell you, the Dunster School offered enhanced education.”

Amyoony says the tents will start going up around 8:00 tomorrow morning, with the official opening set for noon, to be followed by a pot luck lunch with the community.

“The School District knows we are determined” says Amyoony.