The fate of Stave Falls Elementary School remains unknown.
A group of residents from the Stave Falls area attended Tuesday night’s Mission school board meeting hoping to see some positive action towards re-opening the school.
The group has been meeting with board officials for the past several months, trying to find a way to keep the school running, in some capacity.
However, speculation that the board was planning to lease the property to an outside source raised concerns among the community group.
During the board meeting, Mission school superintendent Angus Wilson attempted to ease the concerns of the group, announcing that nothing was going to happen with the school in the immediate future.
“No decision will be made to sell, lease or open the school before next calendar year,” Wilson said, adding staff are reviewing data and that further work is needed in the area.
Wilson also assured the crowd that Stave Falls school will be discussed at a committee of the whole meeting and the association will be notified and able to attend.
Trustee Jim Taylor put forward a motion asking the district to conduct a pre-registration for Stave Falls elementary and that it will be over a three-year period to see how many children would attend the school in the future, if it opened.
He said the board had a moral requirement to make sure it involves the community in the process, even if it is a lease, rather than a sale.
“It essentially could be viewed by some people as a sale because it basically takes it away from public use for whatever period of time that lease might be.”
His motion was deferred and will be discussed further at a public meeting, which the association will be invited to attend.
In early 2016, the school district made it public that it was considering the sale of four schools – Stave Falls Elementary (30204 Brackley Ave.), Durieu Elementary (11620 Seux Rd.), Cade Barr Elementary (33447 Dewdney Trunk Rd.) and Nicomen Island School (40071 Nicomen Island Trunk Rd.) – all of which were already closed.
At the end of September, 2016 it was announced that the district would only ask for purchase offers on Nicomen Island and Cade Barr schools. The fate of Stave Falls and Durieu was still undecided.
Since then, the Stave Falls Community Association has been working on keeping the facility for the community.
“It’s time to stop taking from Stave Falls, and start giving back,” stated Courtney Cardy a parent and member of the association. “We believe that there are enough children in our community to run the school.”
While most of the people at the meeting seemed glad that the debate will now be held in a public forum, they know there is still a lot of hurdles to overcome.
