Reading the Castlegar News regarding parents and students standing up for their school was so refreshing. It was interesting reading the article with rural Trustee Kinakin attending the rally. I wonder why the two City Trustees were not in attendance. Parents will need our elected officials behind them and all the residents and taxpayers of our community to stand up and say “No we will not put our children in portables to save the district some money.”
How much are we looking at? If Castlegar Primary closed they would have to put four portables on the Twin Rivers Site. There are two very old portables across the street from Castlegar Primary plus the two that are on the CP site. How much is that going to cost to move those into Twin Rivers’ field? There are no washroom facilities, nor plumbed water in those portables. Will they expect a Kindergarten child to be in one of those portables (whose teacher will have to assist that child to the washroom in the main school) or will they put the Grade 6 and Grade 7 French Immersion students in those portables?
Did you know that Castlegar Primary is the only primary school in British Columbia? Did you know how lucky parents and children were to attend CP as it has only Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students?
Did you know that at the end of April there were a total of 54 students enrolled in Kindergarten at Castlegar Primary? Glenmerry and Kinnaird each have 38 students, followed by Fruitvale and MacLean with 37. CP has more Kindergarten children enrolled than any other school in the district.
Do you remember how many schools were closed in our area and the amount received? Prior to amalgamation there were two, Brilliant and Pass Creek. After amalgamation a total of 10 schools were closed, Blueberry Creek reopened. The sale of the schools in our area totalled $1,410,000. The sale of Montrose, Central and Genelle totalled $340,000.
Did you know that the dollars for the sale of the buildings went to build J.L. Crowe Secondary School in Trail? You can appreciate that taxpayers in our area own a percentage of that building. Did you know that in 2009 $4,373,500.00 was collected in municipal taxes as compared to $3,426,440.68 in Trail? I am sure a local realtor can give you up to date information. It seems that Castlegar and district residents have done their fair share of contributing to the school district.
Get behind the parents and students of Castlegar Primary. The residents of Castlegar do not need to see their children put in portables while there is a perfectly good school just across the street that will be closed. Until enrolment declines sufficiently to accommodate the students from Castlegar Primary School to Twin Rivers, just say “NO” to the unnecessary closure of Castlegar Primary School.
-Bev Maloff
Castlegar
