Dear Editor:

I am writing this letter in regards to the proposed closing of Osoyoos schools by trustees with School District 53.

I understand that closing schools is unpopular and by putting the responsibility onto the local school boards, it takes the heat off of the provincial government.

Once a school is “suggested” for closure, there is no escape.

All the trustees who represent the other schools in the district will vote to close the “suggested” school as it will ensure that their schools will not be closed.

In the proposal to close Osoyoos Secondary School, the only information that bas been provided to the members of the public is a list of numbers showing how much money will be saved by closing this school.

This “cost saving list” is not provided for any of the other schools within the school district.

In fact, there is no information that shows that any of the other schools were considered for closure. Why not?

When the Southern Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver was rebuilt after the fire a couple of years ago, it miraculously had room for all of the 300-plus Osoyoos students.

It seems the district has plenty of money ($26 million) to rebuild the Oliver school that is extravagant in the extreme.

How is it possible the district now has no money to maintain and operate the rest of the schools in the district?

In the two consultation meetings recently held in Osoyoos and attended by 800-plus residents, there was no supporting evidence to show why Osoyoos Secondary School was being singled out for closure over other schools in the district.

Many questions were asked, but no answers were provided.

The school closure guidelines, as I interpret them, do not permit the citizens of School District 53 to have any input into the selection of schools being put on the closure list nor does it allow the citizens to have any discussion regarding the financial benefits of closing any school not included on the list.

In School District 53, only the schools in Osoyoos have been put on the closure list, thereby excluding consideration of the other schools in the district for closure regardless of the financial benefits.

As near as I can gather, Osoyoos has enough students for a class and a half at each grade level in its high school and has a stable enrollment in spite of the school board predicting a decline.

Why is it even being considered for closure?

If a cost versus benefit study had been done for all the schools, a glaring problem would have been self-evident.

Busing students is expensive. A new school bus costs approximately $110,000 just to purchase.

Assuming the current fleet of buses has to continue to pick up elementary school students, four additional school buses would be required for a capital expenditure of $440,000.

The direct wages and benefits for the four drivers of the 54 passenger school buses is approximately or $118,264 per year. Fuel for four buses from Osoyoos to Oliver, twice daily, would be $9,219 per year assuming the buses average 10 miles per gallon.

Putting the children of our province in harm’s way by busing them 40 kilometres every day on a busy narrow winding highway should be an absolute last option.

In the past two years, the company I work with has had two trucks victimized by passenger vehicles crossing the highway directly into the path of our vehicles, resulting in head on collisions.

The only thing that saved our drivers from more serious injuries was their seatbelts.

There are no seatbelts on school buses and a head-on collision would result in children flying through the air to be battered and broken by the first immovable object they run into.

Assuming the vice principal is also a teacher, the only salary the school district will save by closing Osoyoos Secondary School  is the principal’s salary of $120,000, plus the difference between what the vice principal is paid minus the pay a regular teacher receives.

The driver wages and the cost of maintaining the four buses will now be as much as the potential savings.

Instead of closing any school in Osoyoos, I urge the school board trustees to consider merging the elementary school in Cawston with the elementary-secondary school in Keremeos.

The distance between those two schools is only seven kilometres and current high school students in Cawston are already being bused to Keremeos.

The elementary school in Trout Creek is being closed for budgetary reasons. The distance from Trout Creek elementary school to Giants Head elementary school in Summerland, where the students will be bused, is also seven kilometres.

The only secondary school in Summerland is not being closed. If you must close a school to meet your budgetary obligations, then common sense dictates closing the school that will save you the most amount of money and have the least impact on the communities involved.

Children being educated in their own community do so under the watchful eye of their parents.

There is no more compelling reason to keep K to 12 schools open in as many communities as possible.

After all, this is about the children isn’t it? I hope the trustees with School District 53 take all of this into consideration when making their final decision about our schools next week.

Martin Sadd

Osoyoos, B.C.