Over 100 concerned parents crowded the main hall at Don Ross Secondary on Monday (May 31) to discuss the future of all six elementary schools in the Squamish area with the Sea to Sky school board.
Overcrowding at Mamquam Elementary and under-enrolment at Stawamus Elementary led the board to propose a restructuring of grades that would impact Valleycliffe Elementary and the French Immersion program -solutions some parents vehemently opposed.
Although Stawamus and Mamquam are the schools in focus, any resolutions will likely be felt throughout the area, said Sea to Sky school board chair Rick Price.
"What we do in one school has a ripple effect right across the district," said Price.
Both the proposal to send some Valleycliffe Elementary students to Stawamus and the proposal to redistribute grades so that Valleycliffe becomes a Kindergarten to Grade 3 school and Stawamus a Grade 4 to 7 school were criticized.
Valleycliffe Elementary PAC member Isabel Jordan said her group strongly rejects both suggestions.
"We do not see how solving their low enrolment by creating negative impacts in the Valleycliffe Elementary community is any solution at all," said Jordan.
"We challenge the school board to find a solution for Stawamus that will not make new problems for Valleycliffe."
Jordan said most parents would not respect new boundaries that would determine which school their child attends. Instead, they'd simply send their child to another school in the district because they are concerned about the electrical tower over the fields at Stawamus.
Jordan became emotional when addressing the second option, saying children would have to change schools four times by Grade 10 and they would no longer have older peers as role models.
"Big Buddy Programs provide mentoring opportunities when the older Grades 4 to 7 buddy up and mentor the younger grades," said Jordan, "and the loss for our kids is seen as completely unacceptable.
"For children with disabilities, the Big Buddy Program allows older children to mentor appropriate, non-bullying and accepting behaviours for those with differences," she said, wiping away tears.
According to Jordan, an informal survey was sent home to Valleycliffe Elementary parents asking if they are considering putting their children into a different school if the configuration was changed.
Sixty-five families responded to the survey and 47 (72 per cent) indicated they would be looking at putting their children together at another school.
They suggested turning Stawamus into a specialty school or closing Stawamus and sending the students to Valleycliffe.
A number of parents were resentful at Jordan's suggestion to close Stawamus.
"How can you in the same breath say don't affect Valleycliffe families but let's close Stawamus?" asked one father.
Pam Bourbon, a teacher at Stawamus for nine years, said she thinks both are good options and the community needs to accept change.
"There needs to be an ounce of compassion and understanding for those students and people need to be able to forfeit a little bit of what they already have in order to make it better for the entire community," said Bourbon.
"I just think some people need to be open to the fact that change is in the air and it's going to happen and you need to be somewhat accepting of it."
Another suggestion raised at the meeting was to re-align the Furry Creek, Klahanie and Britannia Beach catchment areas to send those students to Stawamus instead of busing them right past to Squamish Elementary.
Overcrowding at Mamquam Elementary School is also causing grief for the board.
Moving the entire French Immersion program from Mamquam to another school could resolve the issue, but Garibaldi Highlands Elementary School is the only school with the capacity to accommodate the entire program in the foreseeable future.
Brackendale Elementary School and Squamish Elementary School could accommodate half the program each, but a French immersion teacher present at the meeting pointed out the numerous difficulties the program would face if it were divided.
She said the culture would be sacrificed, and French presentations or productions that came to the school would likely only go to one school. Also, French resources and staff would be spilt between two locations.
One French immersion parent agreed.
"Splitting the program splits the French Immersion community, and the classes really do a lot of things together," said Tsan Chester Bauer, who has one child currently in the program and another who just graduated.
"It's really good having the support and the French immersion kids altogether. If the program needs to be moved, it would be better to move the entire program."
Price acknowledged dividing the program created several challenges, and the only perk would be more interest if French immersion were offered at two schools.
The other option on overcrowding would be a substantial boundary change that would send some Mamquam students to Squamish Elementary, some to Brackendale Elementary and some to Garibaldi Highlands Elementary.
Numerous parents voiced concerns over disrupting kids' social circles and commuting distances, and the board assured them the meeting's objective was to address those issues.
"Any decision that forces a family to attend a school that's not their first choice is not what the board wants to do," said trustee Andrea Beaubien,
The board said they would take all the suggestions into consideration.
Written feedback will be accepted until Sept. 30, 2010 and the board plans to make a decision on Nov. 10, 2010. Any changes made will not take place until September 2011.
