Dr. Jason Bartsch, spokesperson for the Osoyoos Community School Committee, explains what his committee is considering for an independent community school in Osoyoos. (Richard McGuire photo)
About 300 Osoyoos residents turned out at the Sonora Community Centre Thursday evening to discuss their ideas for an independent school in Osoyoos.
Dr. Jason Bartsch, spokesperson for the Osoyoos Community School Committee outlined some of the options his committee is looking at before residents broke off into smaller groups to discuss their ideas.
Bartsch said the committee is looking at using the Sonora Community Centre as the location for the new independent high school and said Osoyoos town council will be discussing this soon.
Council has already demonstrated its commitment to keeping education in Osoyoos, he said.
Bartsch noted that the needs of other groups using the community centre will need to be taken into consideration.
The only other possible location in Osoyoos is Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS), but that building is controlled by School District 53, he noted.
Because it is difficult for an independent school to obtain funding initially, Bartsch said the committee has been in talks with Studio 9, an independent arts school in Kelowna that approached Osoyoos shortly after the board of School District 53 voted to close OSS.
The idea would be to form a partnership that would allow Osoyoos to use some of Studio 9’s administrative resources and ability to obtain provincial funding, while designing a school model suited to the Osoyoos community, Bartsch said.
This means, for example, that although Studio 9 is an arts school, Osoyoos could adapt the model to offer trades, sports and arts or whatever else the community decides are priorities.
He pointed out that Studio 9 has a 98 per cent retention rate and has excellent achievement results, but he added that this is just one option the committee is looking at.
In contrast to the distributed learning model adopted in at Seven Summits Learning Centre in Rossland, the Studio 9 model would be a class 1 independent school, qualifying for 50 per cent of the per-student provincial education funding that public schools receive.
Bartsch said that with a partnership like this, the committee believes it could have an independent school in operation in time for the return of school in early September.
The tuition cost has been a concern for some parents, but Bartsch said this will depend on the number of students enrolled. He encouraged parents and students to confirm their interest if this is something they want.
The goal is to use fundraising, public funding and corporate funding to keep costs “nominal and minimal,” he said.
“We will make your school phenomenal,” Bartsch said.
Meanwhile, town councillor C.J. Rhodes spoke on behalf of the town as acting mayor.
The town, he said, is exploring all realistic legal avenues to prevent the closure of OSS. This could include a judicial review of the school board’s decision or a short-term court injunction to stop the closure.
He reiterated that the town is prepared to provide $352,000 annually to the school district over the next three years to keep OSS open and well as exploring other ways of alleviating the school districts costs with municipal co-operation on a district-wide basis.
Rhodes urged people not to give up and assured them of council’s commitment to keeping education in Osoyoos.
“Town council is not done,” Rhodes said.
This story will be updated to include additional information.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Coun. C.J. Rhodes spoke as acting mayor at the meeting. He said the town is looking at several legal options to keep Osoyoos Secondary School open and he urged residents not to give up. (Richard McGuire photo)
Participants broke off into smaller groups for “table sessions” where they discussed what they would like to see in a future Osoyoos community school. (Richard McGuire photo)
Participants broke off into smaller groups for “table sessions” where they discussed what they would like to see in a future Osoyoos community school. (Richard McGuire photo)
