Trustees to make decision on school shuffle at Feb. 17 meeting

NEWS — School trustees will decide Feb. 17 what to do with a plan that calls for juggling more students among schools and the possible closure of Stuart Wood elementary.

After presenting the report for discussion and hearing several questions raised by trustees tonight (Monday), superintendent Terry Sullivan suggested waiting until the next meeting to decide. In the meantime, he said, answers to the trustees’ questions can be researched, and staffs at Stuart Wood and Beattie schools consulted.

The complicated shuffle is seen as necessary in order to balance shifting student populations. Some schools have too many students, some not enough.

The most contentious move in the proposal involves Stuart Wood. “I’m quite sensitive to the historic significance of Stuart Wood but we’re trying to look at this from an education lens,” Sullivan told the board.

He said the plan, in effect, provides two years’ notice of the changes. In September 2015, students from Pacific Way elementary would start attending Sa-Hali secondary when they finish elementary school. That would reduce pressure on South Kamloops secondary and bolster numbers at Sa-Hali.

In September 2016, SKSS would be consolidated into one building on Munro Street.

Sullivan said those changes have to be coordinated with consolidation of Beattie School of the Arts into John Peterson and relocation of Stuart Wood’s staff and students to the Beattie campus on McGill.

As well, enrolments in a number of other schools would be monitored, and a committee would study expansion of the French Immersion program.

Trustee Annette Glover was concerned about the downtown core being left without an English-language elementary school if Stuart Wood is closed.

“Could Lloyd George’s French Immersion be moved up into the Beattie site so Lloyd George could be an English school?” she asked.

Sullivan replied that the board could revise the plan but added that the shifting of student populations away from urban centres is “one of the unpleasant realities we as educators have to deal with.”

Other questions from trustees involved the effects on families if siblings end up attending different schools, adjustments to Westsyde catchment areas, and the possible impact of a ruling by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Susan Griffin on collective bargaining for teachers.

If the board approves the plan Feb. 17, Sullivan expects a public meeting on the Beattie-John Peterson changes and the Stuart Wood closure could be held in April.

“I think the board should be prepared to make a decision on these recommendations at the meeting of Feb. 17,” he said.