40 per cent decline in student population at the heart of school decisions to come

The declining student population of Prince Rupert on a downward trend since 1997 has proven to be the contributing factor in the need for a consolidation of some of the district's schools. With the average Prince Rupert school operating at around 56 per cent capacity, the ability to operate that many buildings and their associated costs is starting weigh heavily on the School District.

The prospect of consolidation is a task that is no doubt a hard one to work on, but with only so much money to go around for the many needs of the district's schools, it is an issue that will be addressed this spring.

School District 52 which holds a special meeting Thursday evening (this evening), provided some background on Monday night as to the factors that are going into the decision making that may see any number of schools close under a variety of different scenarios.

The most mentioned schools for closure thus far have been Seal Cove, Kanata and Westview, which all seem more or less now assigned to their fate it seems. But recent discussions have also added the Port Edward School to the mix, a notion that has not been well received on the other side of Mounts Hays and Oldfield.

The Daily News provided a fair amount of background on the revelations from Monday night as part of the Wednesday newspaper, though it only scratches the surface of what the Visioning committee has been working on over the last year.

For complete information on the District Visioning Committee's deliberations so far the School District website has posted full reports for the public to view.

While Thursday's (tonight's) meeting will no doubt be a heated and emotional affair, it most likely will only be the opening discussion in what will be a long and contentious spring for all of those involved or interested in education in Prince Rupert.

Advisors explain school closure rationale
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Pages one and five

After months of public uncertainty about why the District Visioning Committee was recommending closing Seal Cove, Kanata and Westview elementary schools, Monday night's special school board meeting saw a detailed explanation of how the committee had reached its conclusion.

Superintendent and DVC Chair Eric Mercer began by explaining that School District 52 has seen a 40 per cent decline in enrollment since 1997, placing it among the top 10 districts in British Columbia for decline in student enrollment.

After looking at all facilities in the district, the DVC realized there are $13 million in non-funded capital projects for schools, and another $4.3 million in annual maintenance costs.
All schools in the district are in need of new roofs and upgrades to their heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Mercer said that while the committee was encouraged to look beyond school closures, members felt the issue must be addressed in order for any further planning and visioning to occur.

Elementary schools in Prince Rupert are operating at an average of 56 per cent capacity, with Seal Cove and Kanata representing the lowest capacity schools in the district. The two schools also have the third- and fourth-highest costs for facility upgrades in the district, after Conrad and Roosevelt. Westview was brought into the mix because it is one of the smallest schools in the district, and despite being almost full, the school would not be able to absorb an influx of students should other schools close and therefore does not serve the immediate needs of the district.

"It is one of the smaller 'small' schools, and the French Immersion program could be transferable to any central location," said Mercer. "The one school that has the greatest capacity is one of our larger 'small' schools, hence Roosevelt became a potential site for the French Immersion program, because it would fit."

Deciding that the option of doing nothing to fix the problems of declining enrollment, building improvements and maintenance was unacceptable, the DVC was left with a total of 10 scenarios.
While several of the proposed scenarios would reduce capital costs by millions and bring capacity utilization up to at least 75 per cent, it was 'Scenario 10' that was identified as the "solution," to which the rest of the committee agreed.

In Scenario 10, students from Seal Cove, Kanata and Westview would be moved to Conrad, Lax Kxeen, Pineridge and Roosevelt.

It was between December 2007 and February 2008 that district's senior management detailed the business case and logistics of Scenario 10, which they believed would increase opportunities and achievement for local students. In their recommendations presented to school board trustees, they calculated that by following the plan of Scenario 10, the district could save nearly $8 million during the next five years - all of which could go directly into educational programs for students.

In backing the DVC's recommendation for school closures, senior staff calculated that schools would be near or greater than the ministry-recognized 'small school' size of 250 students.
Three-way grade splits, which are problematic for students and teachers, could be reduced from six existing classrooms to only four, and the larger student populations could mean even fewer two-grade split classrooms.

The district could save $426,568 in operating funds in the first year of closures, and $801,568 in operating funds in the second and all subsequent years of closure.

In addition to the savings in operating costs, the three school closures would amount to a reduction of $4,360,445 in known capital project budgets, and bring the district average capacity utilization up to 87 per cent. Furthermore, senior staff pointed out that having District 52 schools at 87 per cent capacity would mean the district could get on the Ministry of Education's waiting list to receive a new school, a list with a current wait time of at least four years.

The senior staff recommendations also made note that schools operating below the 'small school' requirement of 220 to 250 students do not qualify for adequate funding, and therefore take funding away from other district schools and programs in order to cover costs. Staff stated that the district net shortfall this year will amount to $892,000, money that could have been spent on more teachers, child care workers, computers or building improvements.

The Daily News would like to note that this only represents a brief summary of the DVC and District Senior Staff recommendations and reasoning behind those recommendations. Anyone wishing to find out more about the issues is encouraged to visit the School District 52 website at www.sd52.bc.ca where all documents are available in full.

Members of the public are also encouraged to attend Thursday night's Town Hall meeting at 7 p.m. in the Charles Hays Multi-Purpose Room, where senior staff and school board trustees will answer questions and hear concerns.

Those interested in posing questions are asked to submit them in writing to Secretary-Treasurer Kim Morris by Thursday night at kmorris@sd52.bc.ca.

See tomorrow's Daily News for the Distict's Improvement Team's Student Achievement Plan and what the group hopes to implement in the district as soon as possible.