Needed renovations and a dwindling number of students has the local school board contemplating what the best course of action is for Rochester School.
The topic was discussed during the Aspen View Public School Division board of trustees meeting last Thursday.
Each year, the division reviews schools that are close to or past the critical minimum enrolment numbers and Rochester fits the bill.
Superintendent Mark Francis said he was looking for direction from the board.
“At the first board meeting in October, after the official numbers are in, the superintendent is asked to present to the board on the enrollments of the schools,” Francis said.
“At that point, anything less than 20 students in three consecutive grades will come to the board.”
Rochester has less than 20 students in its junior high classes.
“At that point, the board has the chance to say they are not considering school closure and we move on,” he said.
“The board also has the option of asking administration to consider school closure.”
If Rochester is going to stay open, Francis wants to see a commitment for more than a year at a time.
“The problem we are experiencing is this is a year-to-year process because Rochester is going to be under this minimum critical enrollment this year, they will be under it this next year and the year after that,” he said.
“It makes long-term planning hard, both from the maintenance side and the program side.
“Rochester School requires anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 in renovations,” Francis added.
“We are currently using strategically placed buckets to catch rain. The gym floor is beginning to separate and will require a significant renovation moving forward.”
Francis said it is difficult to plan for a school’s future, if the future of the school is unknown.
“This year, we are expecting a deficit of $1.1 million in our plant operations and maintenance,” he explained.
That money will come out of instructional grants, which are supposed to be used for teachers, teachers’ aids and textbooks.
“How can we say to our maintenance department, put in $100,000 in maintenance, only to have the board close the school the following year,” Francis said.
“If we cannot commit beyond one year, as a maintenance department, how do we put in $100,000 for a gym floor?”
The roof also needs to be repaired at a cost of $30,000.
“I would suggest that the facilities manager get us a quote on the roof. If we did that, we could make a decision,” stated trustee Lewis Semashkewich.
“If the roof fails, the building fails. We can look at the gym floor another time.”
Francis said if the school was going to be closed at the end of the year, a less expensive fix could be completed.
“We are repairing the roof because we can’t have buckets. Clearly, that is something that needs to be done,” he said.
“Should we be spending $60,000 to $80,0000 on a new gym floor if the board may consider starting the closure process two weeks later?”
Board chair Dennis MacNeil added there are several options.
“First, there is the complete closure of the school, in which case, can we justify spending a huge amount of money to repair the roof?” he said.
“The second option would be to close part of the school. Look at the possibility of rightsizing it. If you are closing more than three grades, you consider school closure.
“In that case, you still have to have the roof maintained and the gym floor fixed,” he continued.
“There are a number of questions that need to be answered here. We need to gather all the facts. I think we have to have a study done.”
Semashkewich asked if there was going to be a deficit at the school.
“The funding we have received for plant operations in maintenance is based on a per student calculation,” secretary/treasurer Rodney Boyko said.
“With the low number of students we have and a large capacity of the school, we absolutely will.”
Boyko said Alberta Education doesn’t provide enough funding for divisions to cover the cost of regular upkeep.
“Last year, it operated a surplus. However, Rochester is receiving $10,000 per student, as opposed to $5,000 at EPC,” Francis said.
Semashkewich stated the school’s issues need to be communicated to the public.
“We need to ensure we are communicating that correctly. When you look at it, if it is just a dollar, people will look at it and make their own minds,” he said.
Francis stressed again, if the division was going to keep the school open, that it be for more than a year.
“The quality of Rochester School is good, then what I am asking is that we look beyond a single year. That is in fairness to the staff, the community and in fairness of putting programs in place,” said Francis.
The issue has been sent to the facilities committee and will come back to the board on Oct. 2.
