Belgo Elementary linked to close-knit community
Belgo Elementary School on Adventure Road in Rutland was brand new in 1970 under the principalship of Emil Gundrum. The area was a closeknit community with many long-time families’ children enrolled in both the Belgo School and in Hollywood Road Junior Secondary School. However, by 1986 Central Okanagan School District #23 (Central Okanagan) School Board decided it best to close both buildings due to a decrease in the area’s enrolment. Both buildings would be considered for re-opening whenever the circumstances changed. Meanwhile, they took on a storage role for surplus desks, chairs, chalkboards and such.
In 1990, Belgo Elementary School was reopened under the revised name “Ecole Belgo Elementary School”, a dual-track school with a French Immersion Program. The building was still sound, of course, but it took on the appearance of a brand new school with revised classroom areas, new computer lab, new equipment, new shelving, new lighting, and it was spruced up inside and out with new paint.
Eric Tasker was brought in as principal, having led a similar program at Rutland Elementary School for a number of years. Ecole Belgo Elementary School was to reopen with approximately 150 regular English pupils and the same number enrolled in French Immersion. As quoted by Arlene Gaal in the “Rutland Weekly” (Tuesday, August 21, 1990), Tasker pointed out that, “It was important to build and develop a harmonious relationship in school among parents, children and staff. We want to promote an understanding, knowledge and experience of just what a dual track school is all about. There are equal opportunities in both programs.”
A top priority of Tasker was to get a parent council functioning, feeling that parent involvement was an important aspect of his running of the school. Over his four years at Belgo, the community, and especially the Parent Teachers Association, fulfilled his aspirations and more. Time and time again, he remarked on the enthusiasm, congeniality of the surrounding families, and the contributions made to re-establish the Belgo Community.
Eric Tasker had immigrated to Canada in 1966, having been born and raised in Blairgowrie, Scotland, then going on to further education in Glasgow. At some point after his move to Canada, one of his childhood friends who had gone through elementary and high school with him sent a picture of their old school and it became an office fixture as Eric moved around the district. His hometown school in Blairgowrie was a far-cry from the one level, ‘modern’ Belgo, and little did he know what the Belgo parents were developing in their minds regarding this photo.
Near the end of his stay at Belgo in 1994 Eric Tasker was caught off guard by their ‘secret’. The secret involved a patch of sod in front of Ecole Belgo Elementary School. This patch was enclosed by three walls. It had gone ignored in the school’s recent renovations, but not by Eric and the school parents.
On a sunny day, parents would accumulate in this spot just prior to the end of the school day. But there was nowhere to sit, and there was no shade. Discussing ideas it was decided to re-sod, plant a tree and perhaps some shrubs, and purchase a picnic table or two. Everything went as planned and on Park Opening Day the parents presented a stunned principal with a plaque, naming the area “Blairgowrie Park”, to thank him for all that he had done for the school. The plaque remains on the wall today, the tree has grown and the little park flourishes those 20 odd years later. Eric was speechless, humbled, and so appreciative. It truly was a beautiful gesture, never, ever to be forgotten.
Eric Tasker retired from School District 23 in 2001, having spent his last few years as Principal of South Kelowna Elementary School. Soccer had always been a passion and he had been heavily involved locally from day two of arriving in Kelowna. Someone had found out he was a qualified referee and he was called to centre field immediately. From then on, Eric played for local soccer teams, coached school soccer, coached his sons’ teams, became a National Soccer Referee and Assessor, and was cofounder of the Okanagan Challenge Soccer Team.
In 2011, Eric Tasker was posthumously inducted into the Central Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, in the “Builder” category. Kelowna had become his new hometown.
This article is part of a series, submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society. Additional information would be welcome at P.O. Box 22105, Capri P.O., Kelowna, B.C., V1Y 9N9.