Chris Walker of CBC Radio’s Daybreak South interviewed Osoyoos residents on local issues during a broadcast from Jojo`s Cafe last Wednesday. Pictured here he discussed a proposal to shut down one of the Osoyoos schools with June Harrington, centre, a school board trustee, and Brenda Dorosz, a parent leading a local group opposing the closures. (Richard McGuire photo)
Parents and other local residents are organizing through social media to oppose the closure of schools in Osoyoos.
Brenda Dorosz, a parent and life-long Osoyoos resident, has formed a committee called Save Our Schools (SOS), which she chairs.
That committee, which met last Wednesday night, has sent a letter to School District 53 seeking answers to several questions and pointing to misleading or inaccurate information in a recent 2015 Facilities Plan.
At the same time, concerned parents have formed a public Facebook group called “Save Osoyoos Secondary/Elementary School” that is being used to spread information and comments about the proposed closures.
Meanwhile, a petition opposing the closures has been set up at Change.org by parents in the Facebook group and hard copies are being placed at local businesses, including the Osoyoos Times, for customers to sign.
As of Tuesday, the online petition had gathered more than 1,000 names.
On Monday night, parent advisory councils at both Osoyoos schools met to discuss options.
The board of School District 53 voted on Jan. 13 to proceed with public consultations as a first step to possible closure of either Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) or Osoyoos Elementary School (OSE). If the elementary school were closed, OSS would become a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school. In either scenario, high school students would be bused to Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) in Oliver.
The first of two public hearings on the closures is scheduled for Feb. 9 with a second set for March 8, both in Osoyoos.
Dorosz said she organized the committee meeting last week instead of a larger town hall meeting because she wanted the discussion to stay focused.
In the past Dorosz has served as chair of parent advisory councils at both the elementary school and district levels.
About 15 people attended including presidents of parent advisory councils at both schools, Trustee June Harrington, Mayor Sue McKortoff, Councillors Mike Campol and Jim King, as well as Mark Pendergraft, chair of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, who also represents rural Osoyoos.
Harrington later clarified she was there to listen and provide information, but she is not a member of the committee as this would conflict with her role as a trustee.
Councillors Carol Youngberg and C.J. Rhodes, as well as the other Osoyoos school trustee and board chair Marieze Tarr, are all away on vacation.
Dorosz said she’s also received hundreds of emails from parents with ideas to save the schools.
“I felt that for our voice to be heard properly, we needed to go about it the right way,” Dorosz said, explaining the reason for going with a focused committee rather than a more chaotic town hall meeting.
Nonetheless, she said the group has received many suggestions from the community at large on financial steps that can be taken to save the schools.
Among the ideas discussed was the possibility that the Town of Osoyoos could provide a grant to the school district conditional on the schools remaining open.
McKortoff said she is exploring that option with town administration to see if it can be done and under what circumstances a referendum would be required.
Another option is to put one principal in charge of two schools, Dorosz said.
“That potentially could save $100,000 a position,” she said. “If we eliminated three or four administrators in our district, there is the two per cent of the budget that we need to find.”
Dorosz said the committee is seeking information on the costs to the school district of busing OSS students to Oliver.
“We’re looking at a minimum of three or four or five buses if we have a late bus,” she said. “You’re looking at all the full-time bus drivers and maintenance and operation of those buses, so we’ve asked for that figure.”
In the committee’s letter to school district administration, they point to “errors” in the facilities plan and also seek further information.
The school district claims it reduced its expenses by eliminating the position of assistant superintendent when Jim Insley retired in February 2015.
“This did not result in a savings as the money was moved to create the Network Leaders positions,” the letter said, noting the cost of this move was $250,000.
The letter also challenges the school district’s assertion that 2017 enrolment at OSS will be 215, pointing out that a new open timetable will allow students to take more courses, putting enrolment at 246.75 full-time equivalent.
The letter also takes issue with a claim in the facilities plan that SOSS has a capacity of 700 students with no renovations.
A Ministry of Education news release in 2014 when the school reopened following a fire and extensive renovations put the capacity at 550 students.
The Osoyoos Times asked both the ministry and the school district to explain this discrepancy, but as of Monday they both said they were still looking into it.
“The SOSS capacity of 550 was part of the original build design, but when the school burned down, we had an opportunity to make some revisions,” said Lynda Minnabarriet, SD 53 secretary treasurer in an emailed response. “We added three additional classrooms and also have space in the lower level that was not part of the 550. We’re confirming the numbers with the ministry as well.”
The SOS letter also seeks an explanation and financial details for all scenarios in the facilities plan, including those options that the school board rejected.
These include closing Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School and moving students to Oliver Elementary School and changing SOSS to include Grades 7 to 12.
“It clearly is the least disruptive to all students, keeping all SD 53 students in their communities,” said the letter.
One of the reasons the school board used to reject this option was concern about mobility for disabled students at Oliver Elementary. SOS asks for an explanation of this.
“There are currently wheelchair ramps and there is an elevator in the building,” the letter points out.
The letter also calls for figures on building capacity and utilization to be corrected to reflect the implementation of the new timetable at OSS.
“Once corrected, the projected student capacity in 2017 will be 80 per cent at OSS and 79 per cent at SOSS,” the letter argues.
The committee also wants information to support switching to a four-day-per-week timetable across the district.
“This idea is proposed and has been discussed with trustees, principals and parent advisory councils district wide,” says the letter signed by Dorosz. “This could potentially provide SD 53 with sufficient funds to address the budget deficit.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
