Pleas for school's future get emotional

By Ken Johnston
Editor

The fourth and possibly the final Accommodation Review (ARC) Meeting on the future of Our Lady of the Way elementary school in Stratton was full of emotions and pleas for the school to remain open.
The ARC process began earlier this year with a committee holding both private and public meetings to gather facts on the school and whether it should remain open. At the very first meeting financial facts were reviewed and if the school were to close the Northwest Catholic School Board would realize an annual savings of $138,244. However, ARC Chair Anthony Leek stressed then and again at the fourth meeting last week that, “It is not just about the money. We are looking at the value of the school to the students.”
The reason the ARC process began was that the schools enrolment dropped to 13 this past year from 50 the year before and a high of 85 in 2008-09. Once a school’s enrolment drops below 50% capacity (135 in OLWS’s case) a board can conduct an ARC.
Early on in the process it was brought to light that there had been two meetings in the spring of 2012 with concerned parents. Very few, if any of those parents attended the ARC meetings. However, last week a letter from Roseanne Zimmerman was read. She pointed the finger squarely at the school’s administration and the school board itself, saying it was its lack of action and direction that lead to the school’s demise.
“We asked all the trustees to come to our meetings. Only two came to the last one and one seemed interested. But that did not turn out to be true,” said Zimmerman. She also accused the principal of diminishing the parents intentions and the super-intendent of hushing dissent. “They should have addressed our concerns and come up with a plan. The parents felt they were not listened to and took their kids out of the school.”
Zimmerman said, “When parents have to ask for prayer (in a Catholic School) that should have been a red flag. We felt we were not listened to and that is why we did not attend ARC meetings.”
At the end of the meeting last week, the ARC committee agreed to allow anyone to speak from the floor. Former school secretary Laura Haner stood up and responded to the Zimmerman letter. “I take offense to the letter and the perception that the principal was not doing the best she could,” she said with her voice trembling. Haner said that parents came to the school and pointed the finger at the staff for allowing kids to eat an unhealthy meal at McDonalds on a field trip. “They all signed the permission slips to allow their kids to do so.”
As for prayer in school Haner said, “Telling us there are not enough masses or praying in the school is not true. In fact several of those same parents who complained about lack of mass or prayer chose not to have their kids attend a special grad mass. Instead they took their kids to a soccer tournament at which they took their kids to Dairy Queen.”
Haner also said that enrolment figures often blip from one year to the next. “The one year where is was high was a year where parents did not like the staff at Riverview School (in Rainy River) and sent their kids here.”
She said that in all her years at OLWS she feels every principal had issues but did the very best they could for the students and the school.
Haner also noted, “At the end of both those meetings not one parent complained about the education the kids were getting. Instead they complained about everything else.”
Former Principal David Sharp and George Chjoko-Bolec both suggested that there should be another public meeting in September. Sharp said, “Both the principal and Director of Education are not here. Shouldn’t they be? They are an important part of this committee.”
“With a new Director and Principal slated to come to the system in September, I think they should have input into this process,” said Chojko-Bolec.
There was no decision made as whether to hold another public meeting in the fall last week. If the ARC chooses not to, then they will present their final recommendations based on all the presentations they heard at the four meetings. Chief Financial Officer for the board, Chris Howarth, said that once they have their recommendations finalized they can not present it to the board for 60 days. Since it is hard to hold meetings over the summer, he anticipates that the earliest the board will receive the ARC report is October or November.
Several other presenters, including OLWS teacher Nicole Wood, former teacher Mary Curtis, Emo Catholic Women’s League and former students Lori O’Connor and Krista Nielson all spoke in favour of the school staying open.