Dear Editor:
I recently attended an open forum held at an elementary school.
I appreciate that the school district is listening to opinions about options for school closures.
But what I haven’t heard are options that would see the reduction of administration costs.
For example, if two underutilized elementary schools have both a principal and vice principal, I wonder if the principal position could be shared between the two schools?
For the two schools, this could probably result in a savings of about $100,000.
Or perhaps the district administration could sell their office building and use available space in an underutilized school that they are planning to close?
Yet another option might include the Okanagan Skaha district administration merging with the Okanagan Similkameen district.
Although school district boundaries are a provincial responsibility, there is nothing preventing the school district from assessing that option and seeking advice from the provincial government.
Boundaries change with demographics – just look at how electoral boundaries changed just before the last election.
There is no reason why school district boundaries shouldn’t change either.
Unless all options for cost reductions are explored, the public will have little confidence in the decisions to be made by the district in January.
Doug Wahl
Summerland
