Councillor Carol Youngberg speaks while Kuldeep Rai stands ready to interpret her remarks in Punjabi at a meeting last Wednesday night to inform the Osoyoos-area Indo-Canadian community about efforts to establish an independent school. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Osoyoos Independent School (OIS) Committee is moving forward with its plans to find a partner to open an independent high school by September.
Last Wednesday the committee revealed that it is in talks about a partnership with Good Shepherd Christian School.
Brenda Dorosz, who became chair of the committee last Friday, acknowledged last week that the committee believes the best fit for a partner would be Good Shepherd because it is based in Osoyoos and currently operates an elementary school.
The board of Good Shepherd has not yet agreed to a partnership, so at this point talks are still exploratory. Dorosz said Good Shepherd’s parish board could make a decision this week.
Nonetheless, Good Shepherd Principal Angela Westcott attended a public meeting last Wednesday with the Indo-Canadian community to answer questions and explain how such a partnership might work.
The committee has also recently been in talks with a second potential partner, Studio 9 Independent School of the Arts in Kelowna. That option remains open.
Other OIS board members were also chosen Friday. Local dentist Jason Bartsch, who spearheaded the independent school initiative, has stepped aside due to other time commitments.
Dorosz said the new committee has done two draft timetables for the new school, one based on a four-day week and the other on a five-day week. They’ve also done a preliminary 2016-17 budget.
They are aiming to have a five-year business plan in place this week, she said.
Besides forming a partnership with an existing independent school, the other major hurdle is finding a facility for the new school – something OIS is working on with the Town of Osoyoos.
Coun. Carol Youngberg, who spoke at last Wednesday meeting with the Indo-Canadian community, and has been council’s liaison with OIS, said several locations in Osoyoos are being considered for the new school.
There are some concerns with using the Sonora Community Centre for the new school because of the needs of other community users, she said.
“It’s logistics,” said Youngberg. “It’s really working with the contracted individuals that already have an agreement with the Sonora Centre. We’re trying to work that out, because there are staffing issues. The entire community uses the centre. We have to think about everybody’s interests at the same time as trying to assist with the development of the independent school.”
Other facilities in Osoyoos are also being looked at for suitability, though the Sonora Centre hasn’t been ruled out, she added. She said she couldn’t speak about the other potential locations at this time.
Dorosz said the committee hopes to have a decision on the facility by May 20.
At last Wednesday’s meeting, committee members addressed concerns and questions from the Indo-Canadian community about plans for the independent high school.
There were concerns in that community, who are overwhelmingly of the Sikh religion, about the implications of attending a Christian school.
Westcott, the principal at Good Shepherd, explained that the school follows the same B.C. curriculum as public schools. The religious component at the high school level would be treated as an entirely optional elective and students who opt out of this could have an alternative program, she said.
She also explained that the school runs on an entirely separate budget from the church, so no funding provided to the school would go to the church.
The meeting, attended by nearly 70 people, was in a mix of English and Punjabi with committee member Kuldeep Rai interpreting back and forth. The presenters spoke English, but questions were posed in Punjabi and English.
Retired educator David Adamson, another committee member, chosen on Friday to be vice chair, reassured those attending that the committee’s goal is a high standard of education, meeting or exceeding provincial standards.
Adamson, who has been a teacher for 18 years and has been a principal in both public and independent schools, said he always aimed for slightly higher than the provincial standard, which his students said left them well prepared for post secondary education.
The goal, he said, is to prepare students for a successful transition to post secondary schooling whether at a trade school, college or university.
He also assured the audience that providing for students with special needs “is at the forefront of our thoughts.”
When one member of the audience asked if the independent school could go forward without a partner, Dorosz explained that it could be several years before it would get funding, possibly as many as four years before it could become a category 1 school, which receives half the per-student funding as public schools.
The only way it could be up and operating by September is if it partners with an existing school, she said. A September opening would be achievable in a partnership with Good Shepherd, Dorosz added.
Westcott, of Good Shepherd, said students would be required to respect that it is a Christian school, but she stressed that those of other faiths or no religious faith are welcome and there would be no effort to convert them to Christianity.
“Respect, but not conversion,” she emphasized.
In addition to Dorosz and Adamson, other newly chosen members of the OIS board are: Angela Tobin Paolera (secretary), Michelle Nehring (treasurer), Westcott (education advisor) and board representatives Kuldeep Rai, Chad Jensen, Jas Sidhu and Rajveer Dhillon.
Dorosz said OIS plans to hold another community meeting as soon as possible and it hopes to have pre-registration at that time.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
