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Review Vol.18
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Number 03
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Thursday, January 21, 2016
Serving the communities of Keremeos, Cawston, Okanagan Falls and Kaleden
‘It is a sad day for School District 53 education’
Tara Bowie
Cawston Primary School was not recommended for closure at a special meeting at the board office last week. Osoyoos elementary school was proposed. More closures are expected in the coming years.
Cawston not the target, focus is on Osoyoos - this round Kristi Patton and Tara Bowie Black Press
A $500,000 loss in revenue for School District 53, and an anticipated $1.6 million in needed upgrades are two of the reasons Cawston Primary School was able to avoid the chopping block – for now. During a special meeting held last week at the school board office in Oliver, staff rolled out this year’s plan for offsetting a growing deficit and declining enrolment. Although many in the community feared Cawston Primary School would be facing closure and Similkameen Elementary Secondary School would be turned
into a kindergarten to Grade 12 school, staff at the school board instead recommended changes be made to schools in Osoyoos. Two recommendations were moved, the first to close Osoyoos elementary school and change Osoyoos Secondary School to kindergarten to Grade 9 and the second to take Grades 10 to 12 students from the high school and transfer them to the South Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver. The potential closures of Osoyoos elementary is expected to be the first of several proposed closures as the school board wrestles with balancing budgets in the com-
ing years. The school board is facing a deficit that could grow to $1.4 million in 2017-2018 and a declining enrolment that would see 800 seats vacant across the district. Sherri Philpott-Adhikary, Village of Keremeos councillor and school board liaison was greeted with applause from those at the school board meeting when she spoke out regarding the province’s role in the pending funding crisis. “It’s none of our fault. It’s the government’s fault. We are not given sufficient funds to actually run the schools and I think we should be doing more lobbying as
parent’s as employees of the district and as trustees and senior staff. We need to have more money in our systems to enable us to function properly,” said Philpott-Adhikary. “I don’t understand why we are not rising up and saying ‘give us the money for heaven’s sake.’ We are ruining a whole generation of kids who are not going to have as bright of futures as we have had. I think we need to keep that in our heads as the underlying message here.” Looking ahead, the good news for the Lower Similkameen is that Cawston Primary enrolment numbers are expected to stay relatively stable but the bad news is the SESS
numbers will drop. Currently the population at Cawston Primary is 158 and is listed at 104 per cent capacity. The use of portables accommodates students allowing for some room for growth. The school received a poor rating for it’s condition in the longrange facilities report. SESS is projected to decline from a population of 359 to 320 students by fall of 2017. Currently capacity is at 62 per cent and with a projected decline it would be about 56 per cent capacity. SESS has a rating of very poor, and is actually Continued on page 9