Dear Editor:
My purpose in writing this letter is to confirm the public’s concerns and fears over the proposed closing of schools and add a few thoughts of my own.
You can get mad at me if you like because it won’t bother me and it won’t accomplish anything. It will only waste time and energy and there is none to waste on this important issue.
From what I have learned, I don’t know who is doing what nor when it will get done. Any action needs a plan to pursue and a timetable.
Success is 10 per cent imagination and 90 per cent perspiration.
I would like to share small bits of information gained from 20 years of formal education and 50 years of work experience in several different activities and areas. I have lived, worked and owned real estate for over 50 years in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., but not all at the same time.
My observation is that the board of trustees with School District 53 can’t balance the budget.
They have a very important, unpopular and thankless job, but it can be done and has to be done.
The word ‘can’t’ has two meanings. They are either unable or unwilling to do what is required of them. If they are unable, then there is need for a hard-nosed, business-like approach. The first rule of making ends meet is to get up and work hard. To balance a budget, you must have revenues and expenditures exactly the same.
If you haven’t got the money, you can’t spend it.
Since the current board won’t balance the budget, you get someone who can.
Provincial and federal governments do deficit financing, but it should not be done at the school board level. To increase revenues requires more provincial funding, increased taxes and that is not likely with a new, balanced provincial budget that the Premier Christy Clark and Minister of Finance Mike Bernier are so very proud of.
Therefore, the only option is to reduce expenditures.
The recent community input meeting in Osoyoos and this newspaper have suggested many ways to do this and they must all be considered, especially class sizes and teachers’ salaries.
If the present board won’t address these possible solutions, there has to be someone who is ready, able and willing to do it.
I see no indication that the present board will change its predetermined position.
Would you trust them to do their job, even if they said they would revisit the budget? I know I wouldn’t.
I still have many, many unanswered questions.
Did the board consider closing schools in Oliver? Where do the majority of trustees live? What are the class sizes and total costs per student in each school? What are busing costs?
All of the affects on the community should a school close in Osoyoos are well founded.
They include the reluctance of families with school or pre-school children to move here or stay here; business closures; property values would decline or at least fail to keep up to values in comparable communities.
I have also seen community newspapers disappear in communities where schools close due to the drop in advertising revenue.
Will this happen in Osoyoos?
I hope not, but why take a chance?
The board must be proactive and not reactive because when a school closes, it will never reopen.
It’s my observation that the board has already made up its mind to close one or both Osoyoos schools. There is no sign of any willingness to revisit the budget or reconsider the decision on closure. The board will not grant an extension beyond the April 6 deadline for the final vote on school closures. I also believe a majority of trustees are pro-Oliver and anti-Osoyoos.
The board has said collectively they are willing to work with Osoyoos town council to resolve this, but I don’t believe them.
Whenever an unpopular decision is made, public meetings are held to allow people to vent, be angry, express themselves and eventually resolve themselves to the fact they have done all they can to try and reverse the decision.
There will be more meetings scheduled, but the decision to close a school in Osoyoos will stand and the clock will run out on April 6.
Holding public meetings is smart on behalf of the board, but also despicable as a public relations gimmick, since it gives the impression they are sympathetic and willing to co-operate, while the clock keeps ticking and time runs out.
While time flies by, this community needs a plan of action to get working to counteract what sure appears like a fait accompli.
I recommend forming a new committee of the most powerful and influential people in this town and area.
This new committee must represent the mayor and/or town council, chamber of commerce, all rural municipalities, local MLAs, schools, parents and other important groups.
There can’t be any representation from the current school board and this committee needs to meet informally within one week and the first order of business needs to be to write a letter to Clark and Bernier.
The letter should recommend relieving the current board of trustees of any and all responsibility over Osoyoos schools and appoint an interim administrator immediately.
A new, smaller school division should be formed with its own board of trustees.
This committee needs a more commanding name. The Save Our School committee in Osoyoos has done great work, but the new committee I propose needs a new aggressive, assertive name that will command respect, get attention and carry more clout and credibility.
The letter should request immediate response because of the urgency of this situation.
Busing students from Osoyoos to Oliver will cost significant dollars and someone needs to calculate the costs, including bus depreciation, maintenance, staffing, gas and fuel as well as the costs of educating the Osoyoos students in Oliver. Busing students must be the last resort. Time is very valuable and you can’t get it back.
I know of students who spend 90 minutes from the time they leave home until they arrive at school. That’s three hours per day or 15 hours a week.
Students who have to catch a bus miss out on extracurricular activities after school unless then can find another way home.
I firmly believe students need and deserve a variety of activities inside and outside the classroom.
Many students have chores or part-time jobs after school and this would be hampered greatly by having to take a bus to and from school.
There are many complacent people in every community who suggest they would not be affected by a school closure.
That’s simply not true. Everyone would be affected as there would be fewer businesses and professional services on Main Street and around town and lower property values.
If a school closes, some teachers will sell their homes and move. I know the trustees are smart enough to see what is happening and to do something about it before it’s too late. If the current board stays, this closure topic will come up again and again.
You know what has to be done so why wait?
J.H. Bund, B. Ed
Osoyoos, B.C.
