Oliver trustees Rob Zandee and Rachel Allenbrand voted to close Osoyoos Secondary School. Allenbrand was instrumental in fighting to save Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary in Oliver before she became a trustee. Okanagan Falls trustee Sam Hancheroff and Cawston-Keremeos trustee Debbie Marten also voted to close OSS. (Richard McGuire photo)
Last week’s special meeting of School District 53 might have made even George Orwell’s “Big Brother” blush for its cynical flouting of democratic process.
After nearly three months of feigning that they were listening to the Osoyoos community, trustees voted to shut down Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) in a decision that was no doubt made long before the “public consultation” process started.
The actual vote was 4-3, with board chair and Osoyoos trustee Marieze Tarr casting a face-saving vote for her community.
But never once in three months leading up to the vote did she express any enthusiasm for keeping her local school open.
On the contrary, she systematically rejected any solutions proposed by the community to help the school board through its funding crisis. She was combative with Osoyoos town council, even when councillors held out offers of providing financial assistance.
Some of the four who voted to close OSS appeared to be motivated by a desire to save schools in their own communities.
Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary in Oliver, Okanagan Falls Elementary and Cawston Primary School have all been recommended for closure in the past, but those options weren’t even put on the table this time.
Oliver trustee Rachel Allenbrand was probably the only one of the four who showed any emotion, telling a Vancouver media outlet she was “sitting here with my glass of wine now trying not to cry about it.”
Before her election as a trustee in 2014, Allenbrand led the fight to save Tuc-el-Nuit, so she no doubt understood what Osoyoos parents were going through and also knew that if not OSS, it might well be her children’s school.
The other three trustees – Rob Zandee of Oliver, Sam Hancheroff of Okanagan Falls and Debbie Marten of Cawston-Keremeos – no doubt also calculated their communities’ interests.
Only Osoyoos trustee June Harrington, and Cawston-Keremeos trustee Myrna Coates, stood up for Osoyoos. Coates earned a standing ovation from local residents when she tried, unsuccessfully, to argue for a one-year delay to find a solution.
Tarr and the other four trustees opposed this.
The fix was in when Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) in Oliver was lavishly rebuilt after a 2011 fire.
Both SD 53 and the Ministry of Education now state its capacity is 700 students, even though the school’s 2015 enrolment was just 445. Why the extra capacity if the plan wasn’t to absorb OSS’s 230 students all along?
As Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff points out in a letter last week to Education Minister Mike Bernier, his ministry approved the oversized SOSS without any public consultation.
Bernier, meanwhile, stuck to his script in the Legislature last week, insisting the decision to close OSS was made at the local level by trustees “who understand their communities.”
MLA Linda Larson claimed, “Ultimately, the decision was made to give students the best education possible, and I have no hesitation in saying they will receive it at Southern Okanagan Secondary School, which is an outstanding institution with first-class teachers and administrators.”
Many would suggest this insinuates OSS was not.
Osoyoos residents are right to dismiss the entire charade as “disingenuous” and “hypocritical,” to use a couple of the more printable words thrown around.
They’ve poured their hearts, souls and minds into saving their school these past few months, only to have the system let them down. Now they know the school district and provincial government were never really listening.
But Osoyoos cannot and must not accept defeat.
The last few months have brought the community together in a common cause and shared spirit that must now be harnessed to move forward.
Community leaders are moving forward with the idea to develop an independent school, outside of SD 53. This would be a school for the Osoyoos community and by the community.
It’s a big pivot to go from fighting a school closure to giving birth to a new vision, but it must be done.
With creative thinking and innovation, it might even be possible to create a school that not only makes Osoyoos proud, but attracts students from around the district and beyond.
