Neighbourhood of Learning Committee releases capacity report: Enrolments affect Trail schools
By Contributor
In the public presentation given to the citizens of Rossland on January 15th by the board and staff of SD20, superintendent Greg Luterbach showed several slides with enrolment projections to 2029/30. These are numbers every parent in the south end of SD20 should be aware of, and yet most
haven’t seen them.
For years, the board has lamented the fact that our district is in a scenario of declining enrolment, which lowers the total operating grant from the Ministry of Education. This makes it difficult to balance a budget without cutting programs. We do sympathize! The BC government seriously underfunds this district, which gets much less per student than other districts in the region.
But—and Mr. Luterbach did emphasize this during his presentation—there is a light at the end of the tunnel. His slide “Demographics – Last 10 years and next 17 years”, indicated that 2014/15 will be the last year of declining enrolments. Every year after that, growth is projected across the district, and somewhere between 2024/25 — just 10 years later — the district will be back to the same population it had in 2003. In 2003, the board closed several schools in the district.
Therefore, one would think that the number of facilities left in use after the current planning process should be the same number of facilities that will be needed in 2024. Instead, the board proposes to close at least one school, leaving less capacity for all SD20 students and creating a situation of overcrowding.
If no schools are closed, and all facilities are left status quo, there will be enough total capacity across all the south-end schools to 2029. However, MacLean Elementary will still be overcrowded in 2021/22, Glenmerry from 2017 onward, and Webster from 2021 onward. The enrolments at these three elementary schools are projected to grow substantially. Glenmerry and Webster already have portables.
Where will the excess students go? If there is no room at Trail schools, will they be sent to Fruitvale? When you close facilities, the situation gets worse. If RSS is closed, issues of overcrowding in the elementary schools will remain, and after 2021 there will be no room for any more students in any schools. That’s with filling every single existing south-end facility to maximum capacity, including Trail Middle School.
By 2029, if RSS is closed, Crowe would have to house 1145 students in a school built for 825. Of course you can’t fill every single school to the maximum, so expect that problems will appear long before 2021.
For the complete analysis done by the Rossland Neighbourhood of Learning committee, using SD20 enrolment projections and capacity numbers, check here.
Our communities are growing. Trail students are going to need the space they have in their facilities. Don’t fill Trail schools with Rossland children and leave no room for those who live in the community.
Please contact SD20 and ask them what their plans are for providing good educational space for all of our children. Their current options don’t work. Before making irreversible decisions that will impact children, families, teachers, communities, and businesses in the region, we need to see a long-term plan for all students in the district. Not just one that only works for the next three years.
The Rossland Neighbourhood of Learning (NOL) Committee is a committee of the City of Rossland. Learn more at their website.
