A belief that the fates of Jarvie School and W.R. Frose School has already been decided was the dominant theme of the two school closure meetings held April 7 and 8.
Of the 35 people who turned out for both closure meetings, several people expressed the belief that the Pembina Hills division was “blowing smoke” by maintaining neither school was slated for closure.
“You can’t say the decision hasn’t been made when it’s been in the paper for months and months that the department has approved funding for the restructuring of the school in Dapp,” said former school board chair and area MP Dave Chatters.
Beyond these criticisms, both closure meetings unfolded with relatively little drama.
The two sessions began with a presentation by Supt. Colleen Symyrozum-Watt, where she specified how both schools currently meet several criteria under their administrative policy on school closure.
Enrolment projections show that W.R. Frose School is expected to drop down to 49 students by the 2018-2019, while Jarvie School will fall to 39 students by that same year.
Both schools also fall under the minimum space utilization rate of 50 per cent. As well, Jarvie and W.R. Frose are projected deficits of $12,995 and $11,479 by the end of the school year. Jarvie will likely continue to see instructional deficits for at least four of the next five years and W.R. Frose for the next five years.
“If there was suddenly an influx of 20 students, that would bring money into the instructional budget. But we haven’t see that happen over the last several years,” she said.
By moving to the Pembina North Community School, Symyrozum-Watt said a single bussing system could reduce the maximum amount of time students spend being transported to school from 500 hours to 400 hours.
Division director of facilities and transportation Tracy Tyreman said they can streamline the routes by moving to a single school, decreasing the current number of routes from 13 to 11 and largely eliminating the backtracking they must do now.
Tyreman noted that they drove all the routes to make sure that they could actually reduce transportation times.
Transportation savings for the division with a single K-9 school would come to $109,295 per year, and the savings for maintenance of facilities would be $140,000 per year. Instructional expenses would be reduced by $320,000.
If trustees choose to close Jarvie and W.R. Frose School at their May 14 meeting, Symyrozum-Watt said the division will enter discussions with both communities about the best possible uses of either building.
MD of Lesser Slave River No. 124 Coun. Robert Esau said at the Fawcett meeting that when the closure of Jarvie and W.R. Frose School was first announced, it killed the prospect of any new people moving into their community.
“We cannot attract working families into remote areas where there are no schools,” he said. “I am asking you to reconsider this, so that we have at least an opportunity to try and attract workers ... into our area.”
Esau also criticized Pembina Hills for presenting the closure of both schools as a foregone conclusion, noting the Aspen View School Division was far more willing to work with the MD.
Meanwhile, Dr. Tanya Pollard, who chairs the Westlock Municipal Library board, said at the Fawcett meeting that they have heard from both communities they want physical libraries, not a bookmobile.
She said closing both schools also means shutting down the Jarvie and Fawcett library branches. Besides public use, she stated that the libraries are important for early literacy programs and their after-school programs are overwhelmingly utilized.
“We worked really hard to get the libraries at Jarvie and Fawcett to where they are. They went from quiet little spaces to open, organic learning environments where everybody’s welcome,” she said.
At the Jarvie forum, Chatters said the reasons for creating a single K-9 school would work for any of the three schools, but the board chose Dapp despite the school grounds being extremely swampy.
“That is a very, very difficult location to do construction,” he said, noting the playground is unusable most of the time and they had to drive steel pilings over 60 feet into the ground to build Dapp’s gymnasium.
Jarvie resident Jeff Cuthbertson asked why it was necessary to close Jarvie School when both Dapp and Jarvie could accommodate the enrolment of all three schools without the need for six modular classrooms at Dapp.
“These buildings are ... not falling down. You just said the schools aren’t being closed because of their current conditions. To close a viable building and put in a modular classroom makes zero sense,” he said.
Former Westlock County Coun. Bert Seatter, who was in attendance at both meetings, said 100,000 people move into Alberta every year but they can’t seem to attract anyone to the rural areas due in part to the uncertainty around schools.
He said he would like to see the division, the community and local municipalities sit down and discuss ideas about how to bring people to the area.
Seatter also criticized creating a single school in Dapp, which lacks any facilities like curling or skating rink or stores.
Not everyone spoke against the proposed closures. Former Fawcett school principal Werner Frose said many rural communities are going through the same issues, but it’s there are simply not the enrolment numbers to sustain those schools.
It should be noted that there will be one more meeting on April 15, where the board will hear presentations from individuals or groups by appointment only. Anyone wishing to participate in a 15-minute presentation to the board can contact Pam Golden at 780-674-8567.
