Disappointing and unimaginative.
That’s how the President of the Quesnel District Teachers Association describes the report put out by Cornerstone Planning Group that recommends the closure of three schools in the district.
Lisa Kishkan says all they looked at was the actual bums in the seats and not something like re-configuring the grades.
Kishkan says the end result will be crowded classrooms…
“So you’re looking at having an intermediate class of 30 kids which is a very crowded room and makes it very difficult for the teacher to adequately meet the needs of each individual student.”
Kishkan also says closing three schools doesn’t even save a lot of money for the District…
“When you look at all of those options that were presented Thursday night the savings varied from about $300,000 to $600,000 depending on the option that was chosen and the schools that were targeted.”
Kishkan says that basically only covers the $500,000 or so that the District is required to cut from its budget every year because of a lack of funding from the Provincial Government.
She says the School Board has been doing a good job in the past keeping the cuts out of the classroom but she says there is simply no more room to do that.
(Files from George Henderson)