RICHARD FROESE/Independent reporter
WINTER PERSISTS — A tow crew removes a Chevrolet pickup truck that landed on its roof after the driver lost control on a slippery Highway 12 just east of 70 Street in Stettler during a snowstorm late Monday afternoon. Stettler RCMP reported that the driver wasn’t injured and no charges would be laid.
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Bus driver charged in crash RICHARD FROESE Independent reporter
RICHARD FROESE/Independent reporter
Education Minister Jeff Johnson (left), Stettler Outreach School principal Roe Desrosiers and Clearview School Division chairman Ken Checkel chat with students Riel Kirkness and Stephen Teasdale during the minister’s visit to Stettler on Monday. He commended the board for making plans to consult with school communities.
Education minister visits Stettler for meeting with Clearview board RICHARD FROESE Independent reporter Education Minister Jeff Johnson visited Stettler on Monday for a brief meeting with Clearview School Division leaders fighting to save small schools. Uncertain about the impact of next week’s provincial budget, the Clearview board still had unanswered questions after Monday’s meeting. “We’ll know a lot more after the provincial budget than we do today,” said board chairman Ken Checkel. While the meeting was set long before a deficit budget was projected, the session focused on sustainable schools and negotiations with the Alberta
Teachers’ Association. “We also talked about viability of rural schools and funding for rural schools and capital projects,” Johnson said after the one-hour meeting. He commended the board for making plans to consult with communities as it considers ways to make schools sustainable, despite decreasing enrolments. Earlier this school year, Clearview trustees considered closing schools in Donalda, Byemoor and Brownfield, but a motion to explore that option was later defeated. Instead, the board has elected to visit all school communities in the district to assess the viability of each. “Those are tough challenges,” Johnson said. “The main lenses the boards have to look at is how do we provide the best programs and opportunities for students, and that may mean that from time to time, schools close
or schools need to be consolidated or amalgamated and those are very difficult decisions for boards and for communities and that needs to be made at the local level. “I’m encouraged they are going to the communities and talking to people and they’re going to talk about the viability of schools and how we deliver the best programming, and then that will drive decisions out of that. And we’ll try and help them out if we can.” As the school board heads out on the road show, Checkel said it will be vital to have the provincial funding figures available to show the accurate picture about sustainability of schools. “Every year, we have a small decline in (the number of) students, so we need to make small cuts in services.” With provincial funding based on enrolment and 50 per cent of the
division’s budget set for teachers, he said balancing that equation continues to be a growing challenge for rural school divisions like Clearview. “It’s getting harder and harder to keep our operations going, financially. Primarily, we live in an area with declining enrolment and most of the provincial funding formula is based on enrolment.” Checkel noted that the provincial budget and ATA negotiations will have a huge impact on Clearview schools. “When we have to make budget cuts, that translates into staff cuts,” he said. “Over the past few years, we have been cushioning the cut by dipping into our reserves. “It would have to be five per cent of our budget total in reserves for this.” Checkel said the education minister is also working on a plan to support divisions with fluctuation in staffing.
A Clearview School Division bus driver was charged while two students sustained minor injuries after the bus collided with a pickup truck just northwest of Gadsby last Friday afternoon. “Whenever one of our buses is involved with a crash, we investigate it and deal with it appropriately,” said Clearview superintendent John Bailey. “We take it very seriously and we work with police.” He said 13 students were on board. Stettler RCMP reported that two of them were taken to the Stettler hospital by ambulance with minor injuries after the 3:15 p.m. collision. Police charged a 60-year-old Botha man, the driver of the school bus, with failing to yield properly before proceeding into the intersection. He wasn’t injured, RCMP reported. Bailey said the school board would determine the employment status of the driver, but declined further comment “for confidentiality reasons.” The Stettler man, 45, who was driving the pickup suffered minor injuries and was treated on the scene and released, police said. The crash caused “minor damage” to the rear of the school bus, Bailey said. “The school bus was northbound on Range Road 39-2 when it came to the intersection of Range Road 39-2 and Township Road 17-4,” said Stettler RCMP Const. William Lewadniuk. “The school bus slowed down as it came to a yield sign and then proceeded through the intersection and collided with a pickup
truck travelling westbound on the township road.” Firefighters disconnected the batteries in both vehicles “and both were cleared to leave the scene as neither vehicle posed a fire hazard,” said Amanda Spensley of the Stettler Regional Fire Department “Investigation revealed that weather was not a factor at the time of the collision,” said Const. Lewadniuk. Snowmobiling fatality At about 4:40 p.m. Saturday, members of the Killam/Forestburg RCMP detachment, along with fire crews and Emergency Medical Services, responded to a single-vehicle snowmobile collision in a field adjacent to Township Road 450, north of Sedgewick. Sheldon Kobsar, 54, of Sedgewick died as a result of the collision, RCMP reported. “He had been wearing a helmet at the time. Investigation revealed that Kobsar had been operating the snowmobile eastbound in the field when he hit a snowdrift and rolled. Speed and alcohol do not appear to have been factors in this collision.” Stettler chimney fire Last Saturday, Stettler Regional Fire Department responded to a minor chimney fire in a garage on 51 Avenue in Stettler. “When firefighters arrived at 4:15 p.m., they discovered a chimney in a detached garage had suffered fire damage, but no flames were showing at the time,” Spensley said. “Water was sprayed down the chimney as a precautionary measure, as damage was minimal to the structure and no one was injured. “Cause of the fire is under investigation.”
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