Dear Editor:
There is no doubt that closing our secondary school would have a disastrous effect on Osoyoos in many ways. It is also not necessary.
It is inconceivable that under a $24 million dollar budget it is not possible to find a half-million dollar saving without closing schools.
Our school trustees should adopt the firm policy that closing schools is not an option, except perhaps in very extreme situations.
A two-per-cent shortage of desired funds does not qualify as an extreme situation. Rather it is a convenient method to avoid dealing with tough decisions to exercise savings in expenditures.
Many businesses, industries, municipalities, and governments have found ways to cut expenditures when the supply of funds did not satisfy the wishes for services; it was not easy but considered necessary.
So where can school districts look to find savings? How many district staff are necessary, rather than desired, and at what price?
How many school administrators are actually needed? How many extra teachers need to be hired to compensate for the preparation-time hours teachers are given out of the 25 hours per week of actual teaching time?
Can the costs of heating, lighting, and maintenance be reduced by activating fewer rooms needed for decreased enrolment?
And has the district explored the possibility that teachers may be interested enough in keeping schools open by providing some minor compensation adjustments? There may well be other areas where savings can be found.
But there needs to be the desire to find ways to keep schools open, rather than to propose closures because “the province is underfunding education.”
It may even help the public to understand what is really needed if the numbers were provided by the teachers’ union, and the media, to substantiate that allegation.
Tony Brummet,
Osoyoos, B.C.
