Osoyoos Secondary School. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Town of Osoyoos is seeking negotiations with School District 53 aimed at leasing Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS).
Town council on Friday made public a motion passed at an in-camera meeting on Thursday calling on town administration to write to the school district requesting “to immediately begin negotiations relating to the town leasing” OSS.
Another motion approved at the same meeting requests a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Osoyoos Independent School (OIS) committee and Good Shepherd Christian School prior to council making any decision on allocation of town resources to an independent school.
Such an MOU should include information on several key areas, the motion says:
- Outline of governance structure;
- Educational service to be provided;
- Operational and administration structure;
- Clarification if faith-based education is mandatory or optional;
- Identification of requirements from the Town of Osoyoos;
- Specific facility sites and requirements;
- Identification of committed student registration numbers; and
- Timeframe for implementation.
Aside from any potential use of the OSS facilities for an independent school, the town has a key interest in continued community access to the Osoyoos Community Theatre at OSS.
Although the theatre is on school property and has been used as a school facility, initial construction costs were provided by Osoyoos and Area A of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) following a referendum in 1977.
The agreement at the time requires the school district to maintain and operate the theatre to a reasonable standard for the life of the building.
At the time, the school district received $210,000 for the facility based on the contribution from Osoyoos and Area A, as well as additional funds from the province.
That amount translated into today’s dollars is roughly $700,000 based on the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculations.
The agreement between the RDOS and the school district was to remain in effect unless both parties agreed to terminate it, in which case the theatre would revert to the school district.
There was no provision in the original agreement for what would happen if the board shut down OSS before the building’s useful life expired.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
