They may be fighting the same battle for a second year in a row, but Silver Creek parents are not going to let their school be closed without a fight.
At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, which took place after the Observer’s press deadline, trustees discussed a motion to initiate a 60-day public consultation process for the proposed amalgamation of Silver Creek Elementary with Salmon Arm West Elementary. This would mean the closure of the Silver Creek school and re-routing its 46 students out of the area. Silver Creek has the lowest enrolment in the Salmon Arm area, as well as the highest education costs per student.
School closure was proposed for Silver Creek last year, but trustees instead voted to keep the school open.
Now facing a similar situation, parents and educators in the area are lobbying for that motion to be voted down immediately and the rural school to remain open.
“As far as Silver Creek goes, we want the community to realize the school isn’t shut, this motion can be defeated as it was before,” says Denis Tong, the school’s representative on the District Parents Advisory Council. “Silver Creek has grown beyond its projections and it will continue to grow if the school board will let it.”
Parents in the area have supported a variety of options to keep the school viable, including looking at a Montessori learning model – an idea that was rejected by the school district earlier in this school year.
Controversy also emerged when, after parents had worked to increase student numbers, the school district required the transfer of Grade 6 and 7 students out of the school, as the school’s population increased beyond the requirements for two teachers. The numbers did not justify the cost of adding another full-time teacher.
Noah Ralston was part of the Montessori initiative and says the closure of Silver Creek is not just about that school in particular, but an attack on small schools and rural life.
“People who think, ‘why should I care about some small school where people choose to live’ need to understand that the same can be said of where they choose to live. The logical conclusion of this train of thought is that B.C. should just have one large metropolis with all their services and a whole bunch of work camps around the province where we send the workers,” he writes in a letter to the school board. “This is not a society I want to make. Or see made in my generation.”
Both Ralston and Tong also argue that cuts to administration should be taking place, pointing out that all budget cuts in the last five years have come from non-administrative positions.
“But the leadership in this district needs to lead by example. There are admin cuts to be done to catch up. Then more admin cuts to lead by example,” says Ralston.
The motion is worrying for parents, many of whom do not want their children to have an extended bus ride.
Silver Creek resident Ashleigh Lavigne has a four-year-old son. She says she would be deeply disappointed to have to put her youngster on a bus to Salmon Arm West, when they live two minutes from Silver Creek and the school influenced their decision to live in the community.
She says despite school district projections, the area is growing, as indicated by the interest in last week’s school district Ready, Set Learn event.
“I was told in the last couple years only two to five kids attended, but this one had 10 kids. People are moving to this area because it is so expensive to live in town and there’s nowhere to rent or buy. Out here’s cheaper and it’s really nice.”
