School District 70 representatives met with the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations Feb. 25 at Maht Mahs to discuss school closures and a planned reconfiguration of the district beginning in September.
The meeting was organized so that Nuu-chah-nulth-aht could ask direct questions about the impacts of the closures in advance of today’s public meeting at Alberni District Secondary School at 7 p.m., and discuss concerns with configuring ADSS as a Grade 8 to 12 secondary school and AW Neill, EJ Dunn, Alberni, John Howitt, Maquinna, and Wood schools as Kindergarten to Grade 7 elementary schools.
The two schools proposed to close are Gill Elementary and Eighth Ave., the latter of which has an aboriginal student population of 83 out of 137, or about 60 per cent.
Greg Smyth, Superintendent of SD70, was in attendance, as were school board trustees Jane Jones, Gurmail Aujila, Pat Dahlquist and Pam Craig (Board Chair). Representing the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council was President Debra Foxcroft, Dawna Johnson-Day, Manager of Education Services, as well as Reg Sam, Pathways/Student Success Supervisor, and Kelly Johnsen, Cultural Development Supervisor.
Smyth explained that at the root of the situation is the combination of declining student enrolment, and less revenues to meet the needs of schools and programs.
He said enrolment in the district has dropped by 3,000 students over the past 20 years. The newly-built ADSS is under capacity. By bringing the Grade 8s into that school would be the best use of staff and resources, Smyth said.
The school will be a little tight with the added grade next year, but will go back to its current population (with the Grade 8s included) for the year following.
The school district forecasts significant enrolment decline for Gill Elementary, which is located in proximity (the same catchment area) to AW Neill, so the district is able to move the entire school population (about 190 students) from Gill to Neill. This is without an impact on busing, Smyth said.
Eighth Ave. school is a smaller elementary school in the catchment area of EJ Dunn, and by moving Eighth Ave. students into Dunn, it allows Eighth Ave. to be repurposed to house the alternate, adult and distributed learning programs.
The implementation phase, should the proposal be approved by the board, will run over two years. During 2015/2016 AW Neill and EJ Dunn will retain all current Grade 6 students and become K to Grade 7. ADSS will get the Grade 8s. In 2016/17 all the remaining elementary schools will become K to 7.
With this configuration, SD 70 believes there will be no need for a third school closure, which was discussed last year. The district wants to limit student transitions, so only one move from elementary to the high school, instead of two transitions from elementary to middle to secondary school.
The district said it also wanted to be mindful to provide equity among the schools in regards to special programs, with fiscal responsibility and sustainability made a priority.
Smyth said he wanted to maintain a dialogue with NTC through education program managers and the Nuu-chah-nulth Education Workers (NEWs). The NEWs will be working with the managers to provide transition plans for all the Nuu-chah-nulth children that will find the proposed changes difficult to manage.
In the audience, Barb Audet of Tla-o-qui-aht emphasized the need for stability. For some students the transition is going to really hard, she said. She is also worried about possible bullying of the younger children by the older ones.
Others were concerned about special programs offered at Eighth Ave., like Strong Start. Will they carry over to the next school? Smyth said he would ensure there would be a conversation about that.
Eighth Ave. has a significant population of vulnerable children, said Foxcroft. Children in care need consistency and stability, she said. There are also low income families in the catchment area without cars, and getting to children when necessary could become problematic. Parents are concerned about transportation to the schools. Foxcroft also said displacement of vulnerable children may cause anxiety.
Foxcroft wants to ensure children are stable and successful and not getting lost within the system. NTC has had a local agreement with SD 70 for about 25 years, and she said it has been a successful partnership, with 30 per cent aboriginal enrolment. She said at the core of NTC’s interest is success—academically, socially and culturally. It’s not just about numbers or statistics.
Johnson-Day emphasized that the school district is fully supporting the NTC’s approach to provide strong and focused supports for students through the new Pathways program. This will form a solid foundation of supports for students who may transition to a new school, she said. The Pathways program emphasizes the need for key one-on-one relationships with Aboriginal students to enhance their sense of belonging and abilities to succeed in their chosen path.
Terms to provide NTC resources for all the additional work of the transition was also a matter for discussion. There were also concerns about what happens to the teachers at the closed schools.
Smyth said the district had a process to accommodate putting teachers in schools where they will be most successful.
School District 70 has to live within its means, said Smyth, and the greatest likelihood of that happening is the current proposal to reconfigure and close schools; not by supporting empty schools.
The 60-day consultation period is open until April. The school district board of trustees is expected to make a final decision at its March 31 meeting.
