Don’t sacrifice Stuart Wood school for ‘modern’ imitation

MONDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — It’s hard to blame numbers crunchers when they look at income vs. expenses and decide something’s got to go.

But downtown people are right to ask why Stuart Wood elementary school has to be sacrificed as the Kamloops-Thompson school board tries to balance both its budget and shifting student populations.

At tonight’s regular meeting, the board will be asked for a decision on recommendations that were first brought forward by staff almost two months ago.

It’s very unlikely, of course, that trustees will simply approve those recommendations bolus bolus. They will ask for additional information, and the staff will go back to the drawing boards to do some tweaking or at least to add backup to its proposals.

Unless the board has a political death wish, it will certainly provide more opportunities for public input, especially about the suggestion by staff that Stuart Wood should be closed.

It’s been tried before over the years, and each time the school board of the day has retreated to fight again. This time, assistant superintendent Karl deBruijn has put the issue in stark terms.

Stuart Wood, he says, is not longer suitable. It’s not modern.

“The building is simply inaccessible for people with physical disabilities, it has an inadequate sized gymnasium, the school grounds are too small and there is inadequate parking.

“Additionally, there is no room for expansion of the building to accommodate the type of programming offered in modern schools and the heritage designation of the building further complicates modification and development.”

In the weeks following the release of his report, downtowners have made it clear they aren’t buying it. Many have written to the board demanding Stuart Wood be saved.

Frank Dwyer may have summed up best the sentiment that other things should be considered.  “An elementary school must be one of the most essential factors in making for community and neighbourhood,” he wrote.

“A school is no less important than a town post office, the general store and perhaps more significant than any of these. Are we the less as a community for losing these things in the heart of our city?

“Is there value in the link between the past and a perhaps fast moving world in retaining a beautiful heritage school as a source of pride and as a part of the education experience?”

If you’ve ever talked to teachers and, especially, the students at Stuart Wood, you’ll know they love their school, including its eccentricities. The kids have an unusually high and endearing awareness of its heritage importance, and gladly explain it to any visitor who will listen.

The school board should be looking for ways to save this school, not for ways to get rid of it.