A FEW REASONS WHY
News release from school board says they will not be involved in pilot project
School board explains why it won’t join pilot project.
A society hoping it can keep the last school in Louisbourg open with a pilot project supported by the provincial government has been given a definitive “no” from the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board.
On Thursday, the school board sent out a news release detailing the reasons behind the board’s decision to not be involved with the George D. Lewis Gateways to Opportunity Society’s pilot project, called Classrooms in the Community: A pilot project, just one week after informing the group of their decision in a brief email with no explanation.
The society’s proposal started as a hub school model designed to give schools faced with closure due to low enrolment an option to utilize its facilities by leasing extra space to community groups and other possible partners. The board rejected the society’s hub school proposal on Oct. 24, 2016.
In the board’s news release, it states the society’s first proposal didn’t meet the standards of a hub school:
“The first proposal failed to demonstrate no increases in capital or operating costs for the school board or Province of Nova Scotia, it was rejected by the board on October 24, 2016. As well, with no implementation plan or firm funding commitments and with no financial and non-financial risk analysis, the proposal did not meet the criteria for a Hub School.”
After a meeting in January with the province’s deputy minister of education, the pilot project changed its focus from saving a school to a community economic development plan involving a school.
The school board’s news release said the board rejected the pilot project a month later, on Feb. 27, because the only proposals accepted are hub school proposals.
“The only alternate arrangement a board can consider to closing a school is a Hub School proposal. The January 25th correspondence from the society clearly stated this was not a Hub School proposal. The board responded to the society in a meeting on February 27th advising them the pilot project was outside the scope of the board to consider.”
On April 7, former Education Minister Karen Casey sent a letter stating her support of the project and offering financial support to help make the project a reality.
In May, the school board met with the deputy minister of education to discuss their concerns, including the board’s ability to balance the budget, the condition of the building, the financial plan and risk analysis and existing legislation under the Education Act requiring the board to assume responsibility for the building.
As a result of their concerns, on May 29 the board made the decision to not partner with the society.
“Without a commitment from the department (of Education) to assume the full operating and staffing costs of the pilot as well as other concerns, the board made a decision on May 29th not to partner with the pilot project due to outstanding concerns with the project itself,” said the news release. “With continuous declining enrolment and reduced funding, the board would likely be required to do further staff reductions within the board to allow George D. Lewis to remain open.”
The George D. Lewis Gateways to Opportunity Society received the rejection on June 7 in an email from school board co-chair Darren Googoo, dated June 2. The society held a protest in front of the school board offices in Sydney on June 8, calling for the board members to resign.
The George D. Lewis School is slated for closure on July 31. The students of George D. Lewis School will be attending Riverside Elementary, in September 2017.