Bailey Toepfer (left) and Janessa Silva, Osoyoos Secondary School students, both said they were disappointed and shocked to learn that their school may be closing. Silva said having to be bused would mean she couldn’t get back to Osoyoos in time for her dance classes. Toepfer said she would not like to go to a bigger school because she knows the teachers and students at OSS. (Richard McGuire photo)
The announcement by School District 53 trustees that they were moving forward with a proposal to shut down Osoyoos Secondary School sent shockwaves in and around Osoyoos last January.
At a school board meeting in early January, trustees voted to make Osoyoos the only community being considered for school closures as the board grapples with a predicted structural deficit of $530,000.
The impact on Osoyoos would be “devastating,” said Osoyoos trustee June Harrington, the only trustee to vote against motions to move forward with consultations on closing either OSS or Osoyoos Elementary School.
“What’s more important even is the impact on students would be devastating,” Harrington said.
The other Osoyoos trustee, Marieze Tarr, chaired the meeting and didn’t vote.
Mayor Sue McKortoff was blindsided by the decision, saying she only learned at the last minute that the situation was serious enough she should be at meeting.
Neither trustee tipped her off to what was coming, she said.
McKortoff, clearly shaken as she discussed the decision, said she wanted school officials to come to Osoyoos “and explain to the citizens of Osoyoos where this all came from and why they’ve come up with this plan.”
The school district announced two consultation meetings would be held in Osoyoos on Feb. 9 and March 8.
Motions passed by the school board recommended that the board proceed with a consultation process to consider two options:
• Close OSS and bus students to Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) in Oliver;
• Close Osoyoos Elementary School (OSE) and renovate OSS to become a school for Kindergarten to Grade 9, busing students in grades 10 to 12 to SOSS.
The board decided not to consider any of the other options discussed in a consultants’ report prepared by Matrix Planning Consultants in 2010. These included closure of Cawston Primary, Okanagan Falls Elementary and possibly Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary.
“I can’t support either one of these options,” said McKortoff, a retired teacher. “I don’t even know where to begin. It’s too soon. I’m trying not to jump and yell and scream because we’ve got to think this through clearly and look at some options.”
Less restrained was former Osoyoos mayor Stu Wells, who called the Osoyoos Times from Mexico, where he is on vacation, to express his reaction.
“I think it’s devastating,” said Wells, who served as a school trustee before sitting on town council. “It’s a really retrogressive step … It’s devastating to the town. It’s devastating to the community. There are a lot of spinoffs there.”
Wells said the impact on Osoyoos would be “huge,” with many families choosing not to move here without a high school.
“I think people would be reluctant,” he said. “New families moving in – be it a customs officer or an RCMP officer – I don’t think that they would be relocating here to have their children bused.”
Mary Ihme, an Osoyoos realtor with Re/Max, agreed with Wells that the closure of OSS would deter younger families from moving here.
“It will certainly affect families moving here with school-age children,” she said, noting that even those with elementary school children will be concerned about the future when their children reach the age of secondary school.
“To bus to Oliver is one thing, but what will happen is those kids who start getting after-school jobs won’t be able to do them anymore,” she said. “That’s a big deal.”
Parents and other local residents quickly organized through social media to oppose the closure of schools in Osoyoos.
Brenda Dorosz, a parent and life-long Osoyoos resident, formed a committee called Save Our Schools (SOS), which she chaired.
That committee 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 formed a public Facebook group called “Save Osoyoos Secondary/Elementary School” that was being used to spread information and comments about the proposed closures.
Meanwhile, a petition opposing the closures was set up at Change.org by parents in the Facebook group and hard copies were being placed at local businesses, including the Osoyoos Times, for customers to sign.
The online petition quickly gathered several thousand signatures.
Dorosz said she received hundreds of emails from parents with ideas 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.
Another option was 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.”
The school district claimed it reduced its expenses by eliminating the position of assistant superintendent when Jim Insley retired in February 2015.
The Osoyoos Times asked both the ministry and the school district to explain discrepancies about student capacity at SOSS.
“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.
Meanwhile, emotions flew when the newest Osoyoos residents stepped off the plane in Penticton in January after three long days of travel from Lebanon.
Mohamad Rabee Tabanjat, the father in a family of four Syrian refugees, had been given a card with the names and phone number of Michael and Vera Ryan, who he was told might meet them at the airport. The Ryans were the co-ordinators of the Osoyoos Refugee Project, a community group that has been raising money to sponsor the family and help it to get established.
As the family walked through the doors into the terminal building, it took them a short moment to realize that more than 30 people holding welcome signs in English and Arabic were there for them.
Then it clicked when they read their names on a welcome sign in Arabic held up by Raouf Garram, an Osoyoos resident originally from Tunisia.
Mohamad, clearly moved like the rest of his family, waved greetings and expressed thanks to everyone there – as well as to the Government of Canada and the people of Osoyoos.
With him also were his wife Aya and daughter Fatima, 8.
Asked how he felt to be welcomed at the airport by such a large group, Mohamad reached into his limited English vocabulary to try responding directly.
“Thank you very much,” he said, his voice showing emotion.
Mohamad said the family knew since October that they would be coming to Canada when officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed them. Since then he’s been reading about Canada on the internet.
“Justin Trudeau, I love you,” he said in English, expressing his gratitude for all those who helped his family.
OSOYOOS TIMES STAFF
Osoyoos Times
Chris Walker of CBC Radio`s Daybreak South interviewed Osoyoos residents on local issues during a broadcast from Jojo`s Cafe in January. 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)
Mohamad Rabee Tabanjat waves last January as he realizes the large welcome party is meant for his family. With him are his wife Aya and behind are their children Fatima, 8, and son Samer, 6. (Richard McGuire photo)
A celebration was held at the Osoyoos Branch of Okanagan Regional Library in January for Kathy Burton, (second from left) who retired as head librarian in December 2015 after nearly 35 years at the branch. Friends and well-wishers dropped by to thank her for her years of service and enjoy some cake and refreshments. From left are Jeannie Randle, a retired Keremeos librarian, Burton, Mayor Sue McKortoff, Janet Marcotte, Allicyn Pyatt and Kara Burton, Kathy’s daughter. The event was well attended and the cake was greatly reduced in size when the Osoyoos Times came by halfway through the event. (Richard McGuire photo)
Joel Nantais and Rudy Miller teamed up to shovel snow from the front of Rudy’s Flooring last January. Snow was slow, but steady throughout the day making sidewalks and roads hazardous. (Richard McGuire photo)
