Jackie Gold
Courtesy The Hanna Herald
It was a solemn Board of Trustees that met at the PLRD office on May 30. Their task was to make a decision, and a decision they made indeed.
After an hour of debate PLRD Board of Trustees made their final decision regarding Hanna primary school (HPS) and J.C. Charyk (JCC).
Ultimately Trustees Ed Brinkman, Duane Roy, Lyle Cawiezel, Elaine Horner, Marsha Tkach and Vern Thuroo voted in favor of Roy’s motion to close HPS contingent on approval of capital funding for the modification and modernization of J.C. Charyk.
Trustees Angie Warwick and Sam Vogel voted against the motion.
After making the motion Roy gave a brief explanation as to why he’d brought the motion forward.
He mentioned that knowing the Board had to take a hard look at the two schools, there was a need to follow a process, which was clearly outlined in their Policy 14 “so we could look at all the options.”
“If I hadn’t made the motion others around the table would have,” he stated.
“We allowed administration to do their work” he said, noting that after gathering facts, figures and community input they presented it to the board so they “can make a well researched and informed decision.”
He noted that the motion “should not be a surprise to anyone.” Pointing out that the idea had been kicked around for years.
“The Board needs to be visionaries and proactive.”
Roy noted that no matter which way the Board decided it would be unpopular, adding that the research presented to them from administration showed that there was a faction of the community for and a faction against the closure of HPS.
He pointed out that Alberta Education has not looked favorably on upgrading HPS.
“This Board needs to determine what is reasonable, achievable and obtainable,” he concluded before Brinkman opened up discussion to the rest of the Trustees.
Vogel, trustee for Altario/Consort, said she finds it frustrating “when we talk about utilization of our schools.”
“It’s frustrating to me to have that as the benchmark Alberta Education uses.”
She said features like gyms, administrative offices and other necessities shouldn’t be included in the utilization rates.
Vogel said she felt that the division hadn’t had a lot of capital funding from Alberta Education over the years.
“If we’d had money I wonder whether we’d be in the situation we are in now,” she pondered.
Warwick, Hanna trustee, noted that the division had seven other schools that were allowed to expand to their full potentials plus have small numbers in a large setting.
“I hope we consider that at the HPS level as well.”
She said she felt the money spent on “curb appeal” of schools could be better spent on teachers and programming, noting that a closure of HPS was “just another stone in a grave.”
She followed up on Thuroo’s comment about feedback noting she had received thousands of calls, hundreds of visits regarding the closure.
“There’s been lots of discussion around the community that the decision had already been made,” she said.
“It’s unfortunate we’ve given my constituents that impression in any way.”
Additionally she noted she’d talked with the local RCMP which informed her that drugs and bullying were on a significant uprising at JCC.
“I think we’d be sadly mistaken if we think this won’t affect younger students.”
“There is no one size fits all,” she noted.
She stated that over the five years she’s been on the board they had advocated for rural Alberta, and she still believed in that.
“I still believe students and children today deserve the Alberta Advantage,” she noted.
Superintendent Wes Neumeier noted that he “enjoys” the culture of HPS, and if the division could afford to he would keep both schools.
“You have to think carefully when asking for support. You need to consider what their priorities are.”
“All our schools are well looked after,” he noted, based on the funding available.
“Don’t use the argument that we deserve (funding) because we’re remote rural Alberta,” he advised.
“Remote rural Alberta can’t be selfish,” he said.
“You have to go from a position of fairness,” he added.
“All over this province there are kids who have less than what we will have,” he noted.
“There is no such thing as optimal,” he said, adding that once a level is achieved people will always set their sights higher.
After the vote, Neumeier noted he acknowledges the difficulty the Board had with the decision.
He said the administration would inform Alberta Education that their submitted Three Year Plan was the final version that would be submitted and request a Value Management Assessment.
He noted that per Alberta Education’s discussions with administration it was expected the assessment would take place in June of this year and the Board would be notified of new developments at the next meeting.
