Dear Editor:

There may be another solution to the recently announced school closures. I would like to suggest that the closure be postponed for a year.

It was stated that there is enough money in the reserves to allow this. In this expanded time frame, the option of closing the school board office and amalgamating this district with Penticton could be explored.

Think of the savings: no board office expenditures, no superintendent or assistant – the whole office could be shut and the property sold.

We have enough excess space in our schools to accommodate the local administrative needs.

A bit of history is needed here. I was an elected school trustee from 1988 to 1999 (11 years) in both SD 14, which then became amalgamated to SD 53.

I believe in 1996 the provincial government looked at reducing the number of school boards to reduce the overall cost of public education. At that time the stand-alone boards were Princeton, Keremeos, Summerland, Penticton, and Oliver-Osoyoos-Okanagan Falls.

The proposal was to roll five into one. There was a huge outcry and this position was tempered so that Princeton joined with Merritt, Keremeos joined South Okanagan, and at some point Summerland amalgamated with Penticton.

At that time Keremeos had just opened a brand new board office ($500,000). Every board had its own superintendent and support staff.

Perhaps this is the time to have another look at this issue. Are we so special that we need our own superintendent and specialized support staff to manage a projected enrolment of less than 2,000 students? I highly doubt it.

At the time there were some Vancouver high schools that enroled almost that number of students.

Penticton could very easily administer our needs and this efficiency could keep our local high school open.

This decision appears to be a forced and arbitrary decision. Some schools are escaping the ongoing dialogue because they are “cash cows” and receive special funding. How quickly can that change?

I understand there is a bit of a “baby boom” happening in our little town and we should be cognizant of all the factors before making decisions of this magnitude.

The only time a local school should be closed and the students bused would occur when the quality of the students’ education comes into question.  This is certainly not the situation in Osoyoos.

I hope the decision makers are making the right decision for the right reason.

Stu Wells

Osoyoos, B.C.

Editor’s note: Stu Wells was mayor of Osoyoos from 2008 to 2014. Previously he was a school trustee.