Mayor Sue McKortoff. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Mike Bernier, B.C. Minister of Education
Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff is seeking an urgent meeting with Education Minister Mike Bernier and will ask him to overturn last Wednesday’s decision by School District 53 to close Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS).
Town council is also looking into seeking a court injunction against the closure of OSS.
McKortoff is also calling on Bernier to launch an investigation into the process that allowed Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) in Oliver to be built much larger than the required capacity without any public consultation.
Those actions were revealed last week in two letters made public by the town – a letter from McKortoff to Bernier and a letter to the Osoyoos community from McKortoff and council.
The mayor called the closure process “disingenuous” and charged that the out-of-town trustees who voted to close OSS may have done so to look after the interests of schools in their own towns.
McKortoff specifically asked Bernier to use the B.C. School Act section 168.03 (1)(b) which allows the minister to issue an administrative directive to the school board if it is in the public interest to do so.
McKortoff argues that the board “walked through” a consultation process and didn’t properly consider the 22 cost-savings recommendations identified by the Osoyoos community.
Instead, it raised the issue of “quality of education” whenever solutions to financial concerns were proposed.
“It is the opinion of council that the closure of OSS is not in the best interests of the public and the entire consultation process was flawed, disingenuous and ill timed,” McKortoff wrote.
“In reality, our secondary school was closed by school board representatives elected in other areas that have no attachment to our community. One can speculate that they were looking after the self-interests of their own school services.”
The closure of OSS was enabled by the approval and construction of the oversized SOSS in Oliver, McKortoff said.
The school district and Ministry of Education have recently said the capacity of SOSS is now rated at 700 students, even though the school’s 2015 enrolment was just 445.
“It is council’s position that public engagement related to OSS closure needed to start prior to the redevelopment of SOSS,” McKortoff told the minister. “This total lack of transparency in public process leaves the entire Osoyoos community dumbfounded and mistrustful of any board decisions.”
McKortoff called on Bernier to launch an investigation into the process that enabled the school district to develop, and the Ministry of Education to approve, “the oversized SOSS without public consultation.”
The investigation needs to include a vetting of information and the process by representatives from Osoyoos, the mayor added.
McKortoff told Bernier that council is “more than willing to meet with you in Victoria or Vancouver.”
In the letter to the Osoyoos community, McKortoff and council said they would put the resources of the community into assisting the group seeking to establish an independent school.
Meanwhile, Bernier defended the school board’s decision when grilled in the legislature Thursday by NDP Education Critic Rob Fleming.
“When you look at that specific school district, they have almost 27 per cent fewer students than they did in 2001,” Bernier said. “These are tough decisions – when you don’t have children in the classrooms – that you have to make, when you don’t have students in a school district.”
He reiterated his government’s position that school closure decisions are best made by school districts at the local level, “the ones who understand their communities.”
Bernier responded to Fleming’s claim that the government has downloaded cost pressures onto school districts by pointing out that since 2001, the B.C. Liberals have increased education spending by $1.2 billion.
Fleming rejected Bernier’s argument that school boards make the decision.
“The fact of the matter is that local decisions are only local if the school board has options,” Fleming told Bernier. “This government has left this district with no option but to close schools, fire teachers and stick kids on buses to go to the next town. In a town like Osoyoos, this high school plays such an important role in the life of the community.”
MLA Linda Larson also argued that the provincial government “must respect the independence of the school board to do what it believes is best for students and the district.”
In a statement released Thursday, she also took what some perceived to be a dig at the quality of education at OSS.
“Ultimately the decision was made to give students the best education possible,” Larson said in her statement. “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.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
