LETTER: Let council know where you stand via the Rossland K-12 Taxation Survey!
By Contributor
Dear editor,
The Trustees of SD20 have voted to retain only K-9 education in Rossland in the current RSS building. MacLean Elementary would be closed and Grade 10-12 students would be bused to JL Crowe for Sept. 2013.
Many Rosslanders have expressed their desire to retain K-12 in our community. We believe that retaining K-12 PUBLIC education in Rossland is only possible with financial support from the City of Rossland. This would be realized through an increase in property taxes.
Losing the ability to educate all of our children in Rossland has economic, social and environmental consequences for all residents.
NOL is launching a survey to find out how Rosslanders feel about taxation for K-12, and the results will be given to Rossland council so they know how the community wants them to proceed with negotiations with SD20. It is available online and also on paper at City Hall, until Sunday, March 10. Please fill it out and encourage your friends and family to as well — only one survey per household please. Implementing a small tax increase is the only way we can keep K-12 in Rossland. Please let our mayor and councillors know that you support it.
In addition, the NOL is setting up two working groups — a Municipal School District task force which will investigate the creation of municipal school district, redrawing the district boundaries or forming a charter school option; and an Independent School task force which will investigate forming an Independent or Distance Learning school for grades 10-12, and possibly more grades later. If you’re interested in dedicating time to either of these task forces, please email NOL coordinator Aerin Guy at aeringuy@gmail.com.
Did you miss Thursday’s information meeting or just want to know what’s happening with K-12 in Rossland? An overview of the information presented is available here.
Not convinced that it’s a good idea to pay extra taxes to keep K-12 in Rossland? Check out this article.
Respectfully,
The Neighbourhoods of Learning Committee.
