Community groups in Fawcett and Jarvie will face a tough decision in the days, weeks and months to come following a pair of meetings this week.
At issue are the fates of the school buildings in those communities — Jarvie School and W.R. Frose School. With the Pembina Hills school division routing students to the new Pembina North Community School in Dapp this September, the buildings are now on the chopping block.
The school division has said it’ll keep the lights and heat on for the rest of 2014 to accommodate the libraries at both sites, but beyond that all bets are off.
The 90-minute July 16 meetings in both hamlets will allow community and non-profit associations the opportunity to get information on the state of the structures, and potentially begin talks on a possible takeover.
Of course we’ve been down the road before — there was a gaping hole in Vimy for years after the school division was unable to find anyone interested in taking over the school site there. There was talk about doing something … anything … with Vimy School.
Ultimately it met with the wrecking ball.
It would be sad if either of these schools met a similar fate, although the future for both is bleak. But if either meet with a wrecking ball it won’t be for lack of good intentions, or community-minded individuals in either community.
The issue will be cost — and not the cost of the buildings, which we’re assuming the school division will sell for $1 each.
Maintenance, power, gas … those bills add up fast on big buildings.
So, who’s going to pay those bills?
Now there are plenty of uses for both sites — from a quasi-community hall/rec centre, to at the very minimum, a place for the libraries to reside. A more ambitious idea would be to convert either site into a charter, private, or even a Catholic school, although we’re not even sure that’s a viable option.
Without a doubt we’d love to see the buildings remain and continue to serve the communities they were built for and we’re certain residents feel the same. We’re hoping a solution can be found to keep at least one of the sites open.
