Municipal councillors from across British Columbia are going to hear about how the citizens in Osoyoos – with strong support from the current members of council – rallied to save their high school from closure at the upcoming Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) conference at the end of the September.

At Monday’s committee of the whole meeting of council, they voted unanimously in favour of conducting a “PowerPoint presentation” of how this community rallied for almost six months to try and save Osoyoos Secondary School from closure.

There is an annual “Small Communities” workshop at the annual UBCM meetings which highlight best practices and success stories and the story of how this community rallied so hard and long to try and save its high school is worth sharing, said Mayor Sue McKortoff.

Coun. Carol Youngberg volunteered to make the presentation while attending the UBCM conference in Vancouver during the last week of September.

Youngberg, McKortoff and Coun. Mike Campol all plan on attending the Small Communities workshop and it’s expected Youngberg’s presentation will take roughly 15 minutes.

All three will meet with Barry Romanko, the town’s chief administrative officer, in the coming weeks to discuss putting together the PowerPoint presentation about the school closure issue in Osoyoos.

The fact the provincial government came in at the last minute to provide just under $500,000 in funding needed to save OSS from closing still makes her upset, said Youngberg.

Part of her presentation will look at the fact trustees from other communities had the power to vote in favour of closing the only high school in a community they were not part of, she said.

The majority of the presentation will focus on how this community came together and worked tirelessly to use everything in its power to make sure the school remained open.

There is no doubt that the pressure exerted by the citizens of Osoyoos played a significant role in the government forming the Rural Education Enhancement Fund (REEF) and coming up with the funding needed to reverse the decision to close OSS, said Coun. C.J. Rhodes.

“It’s incredible what happened here,” he said.

Rhodes said he has two sisters who are teachers in B.C. and they remain fascinated and inspired by what transpired in Osoyoos with residents working tirelessly together in an effort to save their high school from closing.

Romanko said he will forward information to organizers of the UBCM that this presentation will be made at the annual conference and will then meet with Youngberg, McKortoff and Campol to start planning what exactly should be part of the presentation.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times