Aspen View School Division’s attempt to make roads safer for their students has been stymied by an unlikely source.
Alberta Transportation has denied Aspen View’s request to hang a banner from the traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 2 and 55 in Athabasca. The idea was to hang the banner at the busiest intersection in town to educate motorists about the dangers of committing a flyby (when a motorist goes through the alternating flashing lights on a stopped school bus).
Aspen View has reported that flybys are on the rise across the division, and hanging banners around school communities to educate motorists is their way of trying to lower that number.
Alberta Transportation denied the request because their policy is to only allow banners for coming events to be hung from the traffic poles.
“I find it absolutely appalling,” trustee Dennis MacNeil said of the decision.
School board superintendent Brian LeMessurier was also disappointed.
“Sometimes we have great intentions, but bureaucracy stands in our way. They have a rule that they are going to stick to firmly. I find that unfortunate because really what we want to do is be partners with the Department of Transportation to make our highways safer,” he said.
“They are saying no. It’s strange.”
Currently, the facade of Landing Trail Intermediate School is sporting a banner for all those parents who drop their children off, but Aspen View doesn’t think one banner is enough to get the message out.
“These banners are a significant step toward educating our public,” he said. “The banners were created to display the seriousness of running the alternating flashing lights on buses.”
However, Aspen View quickly found another spot to hang their sign, as board chair Brian Bittorf, a Rotarian, tentatively offered the use of the welcome sign at the south entrance of town.
“The bottom part of that sign has been dedicated to various things that are going on within the community,” Bittorf said. “‘I bet Rotary won’t even think twice about it.”
Aspen View has been hosting community consultations as they prepare to decrease the number of trustees from nine to seven.
“The key item discussed in this round of consultations is that there wasn’t any objection to moving to a regular school division,” LeMessurier said, noting they are currently classified as a regional school division. “It is just a technical change. It’s got very little difference.
“The big difference is that if we wish to downsize the board, we have to change.”
Changing the board’s designation now will allow for a decrease in trustees in time for the next school board election next fall.
“If it is seven trustees, we would be electing seven trustees instead of nine.”
LeMessurier noted that Aspen View as a whole has seen a trend of downsizing, and the board must catch up.
“We’re more than 1,000 students (down) in enrollments in the system from 1995,” he said. “We’ve actually closed one-third of our schools. Therefore, we’ve downsized pretty much every layer of the organization from senior administration to school administration to teachers, to support staff, and the only layer that hasn’t been downsized is governance.”
The communities have voiced their concerns about downsizing at the consultations.
“Community members in every community wanted the board to know that whatever this restructured system looks like, they wish to be adequately represented at the board table,” LeMessurier said.
The consultations also allowed Aspen View to address the schools with declining enrollments.
“When enrollments drop, revenue drops. When revenue drops, it makes it very difficult to employ the same number of staff members and to run the same number of programs,” said LeMessurier.
More consultations on the subject of trustees will be held in the new year.
“Once we have gathered information from these consultations, we’ll be discussing it at board meetings. The school division continues to seek feedback from stakeholders,” he said.
The division took another step towards reducing the number of trustees when they passed second reading of the policy to do so.
“The important point is that if this board wishes to move forward and support the wishes of the communities to downsize the board, they cannot do that and adjust to the number of trustees we currently have, or the wards they have, unless they change from a regional school division to a school division.”
Aspen View has been gathering support from different parties in Athabasca regarding the building of a new school.
A letter is being written to Minister of Education (and local MLA) Jeff Johnson to illustrate a combined effort amongst those in Athabasca to see a new school come to fruition.
“The Town of Athabasca has signed off on the letter to Jeff Johnson to replace one or both of the secondary schools,” LeMessurier said. “I remind you that it is a conceptual model so far, we are in the discussion phases right now. It’s great every time that we can add a significant partner to our list of supporters.”
Derm Madden from Aspen View will be partaking in a trip to China with Athabasca University as part of his PhD program.
The trip will allow Madden to learn how other countries are using technology to aid in education.
“What is exciting is that Derm was invited as a doctoral student to go along in support of investigating more alternatives to use technology,” said LeMessurier.
Madden will be writing reports after visiting each post-secondary school.
“With Derm heading out on his trip, he is going to see how technology is used in other parts of the world, and we’re excited to get a report back from him,” LeMessurier said. “Each time he goes to a school, he will be bringing perspective from a rural Alberta school division. He will in return find out how technology is used in China.”
