There is no talk of school closures in Aspen View School Division, despite the recent news that three schools have fallen below critical minimum enrolment numbers.
Smith School, Rochester School and Grassland School are all dealing with declining enrolments, but they have the support of the board, according to superintendent Brian LeMessurier.
“We are proud of the quality of education we offer in our schools regardless of size,” he said. “Although our numbers are low, at this point in time, the board is not out there looking for a reason to close schools.”
Instead, Aspen View intends to work with communities to keep the schools open as long as possible, and hopefully allow them to thrive in the future.
“We want to have conversations with the communities to work together to revitalize student numbers,” he said. “We’ve also had conversations with the Ministry of Education, asking them to consider some changes to the funding model in rural Alberta that would make it easier to keep small rural schools open and vibrant.”
Currently schools receive funding based on the number of students they have enrolled at the end of September, and are funded per pupil. That makes it hard for rural schools with declining enrolments to keep their doors open.
“As our student numbers drop, our revenue drops, which means we are challenged to carry as many staff members. But Aspen View is solidly committed to keeping (these) schools open at this time.”
Many things would have to happen before any school would be closed, according to LeMessurier.
“The first thing that happens is that the critical minimum enrolments are delivered to the board, and at that time if the board wishes to pursue closure, they typically then set up a timeline for community consultations around potential closure, and they have some feasibility reports prepared,” he explained.
This process has not been initiated for any of the three schools that are below critical minimum enrollments.
“Both the school act and our school policy dictate that if a school is going to be closed, the entire process must happen within one school year,” LeMessurier explained. “The board has not initiated that process, so up until now, there has been no desire on behalf of the board to pursue closure of any schools.”
The school division has, however, conducted community consultations on reducing the number of trustees.
“In those conversations we have challenged the communities to think about how they can work with the school board to revitalize student numbers in communities where those numbers are very low.”
Aspen View is looking at each school’s case.
Smith School has a unique set of circumstances, including its geographical position, and the board feels that even with declining enrolments, it would not be wise to close the school.
One option the board has entertained is leasing out space in the school that isn’t being used.
“The school doesn’t need all the space,” LeMessurier explained. “And failing the opportunity to lease out space, then we could potentially look at boarding up part of the school, and not having utilities in that area.”
LeMessurier explained that in doing so, the board would be able to keep the cost of operating Smith School to a minimum.
“Smith School’s numbers at this time are most healthy in the primary grades,” he explained. “While our numbers are very low in the upper grades, they are better in the lower grades. If that trend continues, then the board has less of a concern over Smith School.”
If Smith School were to be closed, all those students would have to be bused to Athabasca.
“It has to be stated that (busing Smith children) does not make sense,” LeMessurier said.
“Both the board and administration are concerned that would not be in the best educational interests of these children. Therefore, we are going to do the best we can to continue to keep our operating costs down, and look at alternative ways of delivering programs if we have to. Maybe we can enhance some of their programming by using technology.”
Student numbers at Grassland School are dropping. LeMessurier describes classes as having single-digit numbers in the primary grades.
“That’s a concern to the board, and to administration,” he said. “At Grassland you have the biggest numbers from the upper end of the middle grades and up.”
The administration at Grassland School has been working to improve extracurricular activities in hopes of attracting students who might otherwise choose another school.
“We certainly will continue to look at ways to bring our numbers up in Grassland, especially at (younger grades), because that is the future of the school.”
Rochester School has two big Grade 8 and 9 classes, but once they graduate there may be enrolment issues.
“Then they are going to be down to single-digit numbers for six years in a row, unless something brings more students to the school,” LeMessurier said. “However, Kindergarten has 10 students, and Grade 1 has 10 students.
“You are back into double-digit numbers, so in the near future we are going to try and access some projection numbers; how many students we would have in Kindergarten next year, and start looking at what that trend looks like.
“If it continues to be double-digit numbers, our enrolments could work their way out of difficulty. That’s what we want to achieve.”
