Andrew School Council Chair Standing with Parents to Save School

Andrew School Council Chair Standing with Parents to Save School

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Dayle Juhasz, her husband Steven and their two-yearold child Janie moved to Andrew almost six years ago. Since then, they have welcomed two more daughters, Sylvie and Kylie.

“We wanted to get out of the city,” said Dayle. Here they have discovered all of the things they were searching for and more. They live on a quiet cul de sac just behind the school and say they wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. The two oldest girls love going to school. “My kids love coming here. The teachers are fantastic and they enjoy seeing their friends.”

Now, all of that is being threatened as the Elk Island Board of Trustees is exploring the possibility of closing the school because of declining enrolment and significant repairs to its infrastructure. Juhasz said EIPS held a meeting back in September to discuss some of the issues regarding the roofing and fire suppression system and provide some rough estimates of repairs. Juhasz said they were told at the time that the school would not be closing. But that all changed a couple of weeks ago when parents were informed by email that EIPS Superintendent Mark Liguori would be bringing forward a request to trustees asking to complete an information report on potential closure of Andrew School.

The news caught Juhasz and other parents’ off guard. She said they are a tight knit group and are part of a community within a community. She said parents and educators alike realize their children and students wouldn’t have the same high quality education and special opportunities at other schools that they provide at Andrew School.

Juhasz has been serving as School Advisory Council, (SAC) Chair since last fall and said the group has done some amazing work over the past eight months and no one wants it to end. “We’ve raised $7,000 since September alone.” As a result, SAC has been able to purchase shirts for Pink Shirt Day, hosted several field trips, had

Halloween costumes donated and operated a Christmas store where students could select presents for their families. Most recently, they participated in an Easter Egg Hunt and made paska at the Rainbow Club.

Dayle Juhasz and her three daughters Janie, Kylie and Sylvie.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

“People are so distraught about the possible closure. I understand there’s uncertainty, but as long as there’s a fight, I’ll fight. They, (EIPS) are messing with our kids’ future.” She is also upset because there hasn’t been any communication between EIPS and parents since

September when they were assured the school would not be closing. Juhasz said local trustee Colleen Holowaychuk made them aware that the board would be having a meeting on April 6, but had not conveyed any information regarding possible closure to parents prior to that.

Juhasz said the school division has done a poor job communicating with parents overall. As a result, “parents within our family are talking about sending their children elsewhere” because of all the uncertainty of the future of the school.

Juhasz said that nearly three quarters of the student population is made up of rural residents, and said a couple of other SAC members had reached out to elected officials with Lamont County, but had received no response.

“Lamont County is looking at significant industrial growth across the region over the next 3-5 years with an increase of people moving to work in the area,” said Lamont County Reeve, David Diduck. “With the corresponding increase in student enrolment, as well as the potential of residents having to bus students outside of the region, we have advised Elk Island School Division that we support keeping Andrew’s school open and to look at factors such as enrolment capacity and Alberta Heartland development before making any final decision. Closing the Andrew School has a significantly negative impact on current and new residents and their family education needs.”

Parent Jason Tkachuk described the closure of the high school and junior high, and now possibly the elementary as “death by a thousand cuts” by EIPS. But he also knows that geographically there are more than 125 school age kids in the area, so he and several other parents he’s been speaking to in the last couple of weeks feel a charter school may be viable alternative if the school division closes Andrew School.

Tkachuk said he has reached out to Karla Janzen, who Andrew school - CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

was part of a parents group from the Holden area who formed a charter school after its elementary school closed a few years ago. With great effort and determination, Holden Rural Academy opened this past September and its enrolment continues to climb as a result of the placed based education it provides to students.

Tkachuk said if they can prove they have the space and enough students to offer an education program that is different than what the school division currently provides, the provincial government could grant them the status to operate a charter school. He added that they would need at least 60 students in order to do that.

“So, in our case we’re looking at a rural Alberta type of hands-on approach.” It would be focused on the 4-H motto, “learn to do by doing” and with an arena and curling club in the community,

Tkachuk said they were thinking of offering a full sports program. “This way they’d have the ability to thrive and not sit at a desk all day.”

In terms of where the charter school would operate, that would also depend on what school board trustees decide. Typically, Tkachuk said school boards either assign the building to the municipality, offer it for sale or demolish it. He pointed out that the Village of Andrew has a direct stake in the facility as it occupies about one-third of building with its administration office, multipurpose room, bowling alley, and shares the library which serves the entire community as well as the school.

Tkachuk said they are just in their infancy with a core group of around eight parents. They have several ideas and are hoping to meet with village officials before the school board’s April 20 meeting to discuss them.