News: Penelakut woman chains herself to Chemainus ferry gate On stage: Country star Terri Clark celebrating her roots
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For all the news of the Cowichan region as it happens, plus stories from around British Columbia, go to our website www.cowichannewsleader.com Your news leader since 1905
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Brand new school could close its doors Crofton elementary: Chemainus secondary building would combine middle and high school grades Nick Bekolay
News Leader Pictorial
A Andrew Leong
Nolan Mitchell of Claremont (who trains in Cowichan) beats Justin Cacatian of Tupper (in red) for the gold medal in the B.C. High School championship Änals Saturday at the Cowichan Arena. For more on the event, including how local wrestlers fared, see page 25.
Lake Cowichan community prefers none of the above The road ahead: School closures should not be an option, crowd tells Cowichan Valley School District officials Elodie Adams
News Leader Pictorial
T
he answer to the question posed by the Cowichan Valley School District to the community of Lake Cowichan Saturday was inconclusive. But the message delivered by the community was not: closing schools is not the answer. “If school closures were the answer, we wouldn’t be in dif¿culty now,” said Diana Gunderson, referring to a series of school closures that have already hit the lake area. In its bid to address a $3.7 million budget de¿cit and cope with declining enrollment the district is considering a number of options. In a community meeting at Lake Cowichan Secondary School Saturday, superintendent
of schools Joe Rhodes, secretary-treasurer Bob Harper, and appointed interim trustee Mike McKay presented two that most directly affect the Cowichan Lake area. In both cases, A.B. Greenwell Elementary Diana Gunderson: school would be closed. not the answer One option would move the Grade 5 students from Palsson to the middle school at Lake Cowichan Secondary School. The other would move the Grade 4s and 5s from Palsson to form a more extended middle school at LCSS. According to the school district’s statistics, enrolment in the Cowichan Lake area has
declined by 25 per cent in the past ¿ve years. That didn’t seem to faze audience members, many who went speci¿cally to ask what had become of the school district’s promise for a new elementary school at the Lake. “These are complex issues,” McKay told a crowd that was signi¿cantly smaller than the one that attended a similar meeting in December. “It’s not only a matter of increasing costs in the district, it’s a matter of declining enrolment, and we are funded according to the number of students we have enrolled.” “You say the district will save $200,000 by closing down (A.B. Greenwell ) but that is nothing,” said Lake Cowichan businessman Rod Peters. “That’s not enough to warrant closing down a school.” more on page 7
steady decline in student enrollment could mean some drastic changes for the valley’s north-end schools. But a proposal to close the brand-new Crofton Elementary School and transform Chemainus Secondary School into a combined middle/high school was not greeted warmly this weekend by area parents. Administrators from School District 79 met with the public Saturday, at Chemainus secondary to discuss potential solutions to SD79’s anticipated budget de¿cit of $3.7 million for 2013. Of¿cial trustee Mike McKay, superintendent Joe Rhodes and secretary-treasurer Bob Harper spoke to parents and teachers about a series of options being considered. b The one with the biggest potential effect on the Chemainus area would see Chemainus and Thetis w Island elementary schools shifted to kindergarten to Grade 5, Crofton Mike McKay: elementary — built in 2009 — will support kids closed, and Grades 6 to 8 taught at a new middle school housed under the highh school catering to students in h same rooff as a hi grades 9-12. That option would cut the enrolment capacity in north-zone schools from 1,143 to 961 spaces, reducing expenditures by $350,000 per year, said Rhodes. Enrolment in north-zone schools has declined steadily since 2007 and now stands at 715 students. Of¿cials expect enrolment to continue to decline until it reaches a new plateau in the low 600s by 2016. Katie Robertson lives in Crofton, but her children attend Chemainus Elementary School. Nevertheless, Robertson questioned the logic of closing the Crofton school and expressed concern for the long-term impact the closure would have on the community. “That’s a brand-new school and it’s full,” Robertson said, “and it’s one of the only things thriving in the town as it is. The school and the mill are what make the town. more on page 7
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