Breaking news, video, photo galleries, and more always online at www.wltribune.com
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2012
No strike at TRU today
Proudly serving Williams Lake and the Cariboo-Chilcotin since 1930
VOL. 82. No. 78
$1.34 inc. HST
school trustees defend 7 to 12 school option
Strike notice served Monday by C.U.P.E employees that is slated to take effect today at several universities around the province will not initially affect Thompson Rivers University campus in Williams Lake, says Dan Gawthrop of union communications. There are 15 full-time C.U.P.E. and 15 C.U.P.E. auxiliary employees working at TRU in Williams Lake, he says. “C.U.P.E. Local 4879 has chosen not to take strike action this week, although things could change later on,” Gawtrop says of the TRU campus.
Ad deadlines moved up Due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend this weekend, the advertising deadline for the Tuesday, Oct. 9 edition of the Tribune will be today, Oct. 4 at noon.
Inside the Tribune
Gaeil Farrar photo
School District 27 trustees Jackie Austin (left), Tanya Guenter (hidden), chair Will Van Osch, Doug Neufeld, and Sheila Boehm came under considerable fire Tuesday evening trying to defend their Initial Options Report which recommends closing three elementary schools in Williams Lake and consolidating Columneetza and Williams Lake secondary schools into one grades 7 to 12 school on two campuses.
NEWS Kwaleen closure opposed.
A2
Grades 7 to 12 school option strongly opposed
SPORTS Stampeders’ season starts.
A9
Gaeil Farrar Tribune Staff Writer
COMMUNITY A13 TRU offers log trucker training. Weather outlook: Expect mostly sunny skies this weekend.
PM 0040785583
Close to 300 people crammed into the Williams Lake Secondary School gym Tuesday evening for the first public consultation meeting on the district’s Initial Options Report. For the north end the report proposes closing Glendale, Kwaleen, and Wildwood elementary schools and making Columneetza and Williams Lake secondary schools into one grades 7 to 12 school on two campuses. While Superintendent of Schools Mark Thiessen gave a powerPoint presentation on reasons for the decision and explained that Tuesday’s meeting was for questions only on information in the report, numerous people who came to the microphone to ask questions also delivered impassioned speeches, several of which drew loud applause from the audience. No one spoke in favour of the grades 7 to 12 option. Several speakers also spoke in favour of keeping Glendale, Wild-
wood, and Kwaleen elementary schools open. Despite explanations by Williams Lake Trustee Doug Neufeld and other trustees that the Grade 7 to 12 option was carefully considered and was the best option for Williams Lake to maintain and enhance programming in the future, the audience didn’t seem convinced. Karen Sokolan, who has two children attending Columneetza and two children attending Mountview elementary, including a daughter in Grade 6, was among several parents giving emotional speeches. Sokolan said Grade 7s aren’t ready for the negative peer pressures they will be exposed to at high school to drink alcohol, do drugs, or engage in sex, branding and bullying. “There is a public perception that our high schools are not safe, so why would you bring your Grade 7s into an unsafe school environment?” Sokolan explained later. Jennifer Wintjes, a Grade 11 student at Columneetza, gathered 259 signatures in two days on a petition opposing the grades 7 to 12 second-
ary school idea. She says her sister in Grade 6 at 150 Mile elementary also gathered 53 signatures during one lunch break opposing the proposal. Wintjes says it is ridiculous to bring Grade 7s into the high schools because they are too young to lose their innocence by being exposed to the peer pressure to do drugs, drink alcohol, engage in sex and the bullying experienced in high school. She is also concerned that creating one high school on two campuses would pose problems for students with learning disabilities, negatively impact sports programs, increase bullying that already exists between the two schools, and require lockers for students at both schools. Wintjes was also concerned that busing students between schools would take away time that students might need to get some extra tutoring they might need from their teachers. Crystal Verhaeghe spoke in favour of keeping the kindergarten to Grade 3 school open at Wildwood. She said her family lives in Williams Lake and chooses to drive their children to the
Wildwood school for the programs there which include the Shuswap language. She asked what provisions there would be at Cataline to have early Shuswap language. There were also concerns expressed about how the classes and scheduling would operate at a twocampus high school, and people speaking in favour of keeping Kwaleen and Glendale elementary schools open. Some people also asked why Marie Sharpe is being kept open with low enrollment. Trustees explained the need to keep a school in the downtown core within walk limits. Ivor Myers expressed concern that creating a Grade 7 to 12 secondary school in Williams Lake would impact enrollment at schools in the Chilcotin because parents might move their students to Williams Lake for Grade 7 thereby reducing enrollment in those rural schools and making it more difficult to keep the schools going. See CONFIGURATION Page A3