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PRESENTATIONS MADE BY THE WELLS SAVE OUR SCHOOL COMMITTEE
AT THE PUBLIC MEETING MAY 29, 2002, 7 PM

School District 28 (Quesnel) School Board

Presented to Tim Klotz, Secretary-Treasurer
School District 28 (Quesnel)
401 North Star Rd.
Quesnel, BC, V2J 5K2

By the Wells Save Our School Committee
c/o The District of Wells
Box 219
Wells, BC
V0K 2R0

Introduction

When Wells first heard the news in April about the potential closure of the Wells-Barkerville School, the community came together and formed a broadly-based committee that represented all community interests, which we called the Save Our School Committee. Almost everyone in Wells feels that they will be affected in some way if the school is closed, whether that be personally or economically. The Committee includes representation from the PAC, the Chamber of Commerce, the District of Wells (our municipal government), Barkerville, and many other groups and businesses.

Our community and other supporters have amassed a formidable amount of information about the proposed closure of the Wells-Barkerville School. To assist you tonight we have a number of short presentations that we have organized under specific topics. We prepared this package of information for each member of the Board and senior administrators, which includes hand-outs or summaries of most topics being presented. Copies of this package are also available to the media. We also have a short summary for members of the public.

BUDGET ISSUES

Presented by Gary Champagne, Administrator and Treasurer of the District of Wells

Gary is the father of a 14-year-old student in Grade 8 who is currently riding the bus to Quesnel. Gary will show how the decision to close the Wells Barkerville School would save SD 28 little or no money.

WHEN COMPARING THE ABOVE CONSIDER THESE FACTS:

• Wells Parents will not send their elementary school children to Quesnel.
• There will be an unplanned revenue loss to the School District.

• The Wells school property is zoned for institutional use only. Who is going to buy it?
• Did you budget for the costs of maintaining it?

• The teacher in Wells is entitled to a severance package. Did you plan for one in the budget?

• Wells children span several grades.
• Do you really believe further staff reductions could be realized by the absence of 1 or 2 students
• per grade?

BUSSING ISSUES

The issue of bussing children, who could technically be as young as four years old is a huge concern to our community. As a result, the Save Our School Committee has undertaken a lot of research on this and tonight you will hear both first hand accounts and some of the latest available research material.

1. Bussing Safety

Presented by Elizabeth Laing, former School District 28 student
Elizabeth attended the Wells Barkerville School and during high school rode the bus from Cottonwood.

• 6.1 children/year die in bus collisions
• 559 children/year are injured in bus collisions
• Most children who are injured or killed are between the ages of 5 and 9
• Ministry of Children of Families defines the unsupervised time on the bus as neglect
• Children under 40 lb. require car seats.
• The trip to Wells involves unusual climatic and geographic considerations

Transport Canada has an exhaustive collision and seatbelt survey available on the web. There is a specific portion which refers to school bus collisions. Data was collected over a ten-year period from 1988-1997

Statistics were broken down by school bus occupants, associated pedestrians (usually students), and occupants of other vehicles. As a matter of curiosity most fatalities occurred to motorists in automobiles which were involved in the collision. However, very large numbers of children are injured in bus accidents each year.

• 29,488 school buses were involved in collisions, killing 204 people and injuring 10,480.
• Of the total deaths and injuries 11 deaths and 4,741 injuries occurred to the school bus occupants
  and 51 deaths and 850 injuries occurred to pedestrians.
• 37 school aged pedestrians were killed and 450 injured
• The average is 20 fatalities per year in collisions involving school buses.
• Most school bus occupant fatalities were between the ages of 8 and 12,
• More than 70% of all school aged pedestrian fatalities in school bus collisions were between the ages of 4 and 7.
• Slightly more than half (52%) were between the ages of 5 and 9.
  

Bussing Issues - Budget Safety, continued

a) Bus Supervision and Child Neglect

The question of bus supervision is contentious. It cannot be expected that a bus driver devote his or her full attention to the operation of a bus under hazardous conditions and supervise the children on board. No one can argue that a bus driver has the responsibility or ability to do so, despite the authority invested in them by the board.

Under Liability Law the ability to understand and obey instructions is limited to children over the age of 10 or with a grade 3 level of understanding. Children who do not fit this definition cannot be considered capable of making independent rational decisions. They must have supervision when placed in a position of potential danger. (i.e. Riding on a bus without seatbelts).

The "Child, Family and Community Service Act", Section 13.1.d defines neglect as occurring to any child under the age of 19 who "has been, or is likely to be physically harmed". Although the definition is broad, the Ministry’s expectation is that parents, as protective custodians of children, will provide safe and adequate care. When we agree to having our children transported by the school district we turn over this legal responsibility to the board In addition to the bus safety issues raised, these children will be exposed to older children’s coarse language, sexual innuendo, incidents of sexual interplay, violence, smoking and bullying - all which occur on school district buses despite the best intentions of the district and drivers. Given the safety and social issues associated with bussing, Ministry staff have assured us that these problems fit within the definition of neglect. If a parent subjected their children to this treatment, and given other supportive factors, the Ministry of Children and Families could conceivably intervene in such a case. Although it seems unlikely that Social Services would intervene on a bus, it must be asked why it is okay for the school board to subject our children to at least 25 hours per week of treatment which would be considered neglectful if it was done by a parent.

The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect was conducted in 1998 by the University of Toronto. It involved 7,672 confirmed cases in four provinces. The study measured physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment.

The Report states: "Child neglect occurs when a child's parents or caregivers do not provide the requisite attention to his or her emotional, psychological, or physical development. Unlike abuse, which is usually incident specific, neglect often involves chronic situations that are not as easily identified."

Of the Forms of Substantiated Neglect researched in the report:

Failure to supervise leading to physical harm = 48% of all reported cases

Failure to supervise leading to sexual harm = 5%

b) Weight Restrictions and Car Seats

Two children from Wells attend grade one and weigh less than the 40 lb legal limit for use of car seats. Would car seats have been installed if these children were bussed this year? Or does this not matter since there are no seatbelts anyway on a bus? What should the position of the parents be on this issue?

c) Climate Factors and Road Conditions

At nearly 4000 feet in elevation, Wells has unique climatic issues relative to Quesnel as many board members discovered on their visit here April. In the shoulder seasons rain in Quesnel is frequently translated to snow in Wells. During winter warm spells the freezing level is frequently between the elevation of Wells and Quesnel. A number of large steep hills must be ascended in order to reach Wells as well as negotiating winding mountain roads. This means that vehicles frequently travel through hazardous road conditions where wet roads turn to ice or bare roads become snow covered. The road is poorly populated except at Troll and Cottonwood and encounters with deer, moose and caribou are common throughout the school year. As an additional hazard much of the student transportation will take place in the dark or at dusk when visibility is poorest. Wells residents understand these limitations and choose whether or not to travel on our assessment of the road and weather at any given time. Unfortunately, the bus driver has no such option and our children will needlessly be exposed to unsafe driving conditions.

Conclusion

The issue of bussing safety is a contentious one, we recognize, because it raises issues, not just about children in the Wells area but the safety of children throughout the district and the province. However, that is hardly a reason to ignore the facts. The board has the moral opportunity to address this issue to whatever depth it wishes. We have presented these facts so that you know why we believe that our elementary school should not be closed.

2. Bussing and the Labour Code

Presented by Dave Jorgenson, Wells parent

• Our children will not receive the same dignity awarded to adult workers by the BC Labour Code.

Mark Witham, an Australian economist, computes the costs of closing schools and bussing children to a central location. He poses the question: What is children's time worth? If we plan for them to ride the bus for 2-3 hours every day to save the money that would have been spent on the local school, how much do we imply their time is worth? He proposes calculating the number of hours of "lost opportunity time" that children spend on the bus per year divided into the anticipated savings from school closure. He concludes that the resulting low wages "could be considered exploitation of children's time." (Witham, 1997 quoted in Zars(1998)

The Employment Standards Act limits the normal amount of time an adult works to 40 hours per week. Our children will be on call, for almost 50 hours per week. Some children will be as young as 6 who will be subjected to this.

To quote a disappointed teacher in the district;

"I think it is ludicrous to expect children in elementary school to spend 9 or more hours each day essentially "at work".[note; the actual figure is 9 hours and 45 minutes]. Who do you know who spends 9 hours on the job? Are they 5? 6? 8? 9? 11? Do they do it full time for 10 months at a time? If you do know someone who fits this description, ask them how burned out they are. Ask them if they are satisfied with the quality of their life. Yet the board asks young children to put in 45 hour weeks for 10 months, [the actual figure is just shy of 49 hours/week and fully expects them to embrace their educational experience with the same amount of enthusiasm as other students of the same age who put in 30 hours a week.

3. Bussing and Its Effects On Educational Outcomes

Presented by Dave Jorgenson, Wells parent

• Lower Grade Point Average
• Less Participation
• Poorer Retention
• Lowered Attendance
• Effects increase as time on the bus increases

School Psychologists in the Prince George District recently made a statement that the bussing proposed in the Quesnel and Prince George school districts will cause decreased performance and increased social issues for students. In a discussion of this issue with Mr. Napier and Mr. Klotz on April 15th, Mr. Napier chose to disagree with the conclusions of the Prince George psychologists. This compelled us to study the issue further. Although there are many studies of the financial costs of bussing, there is an obvious empirical vacuum in research of the actual educational outcomes of bussing. Lauzon notes, " While the empirical literature in this area is sparse, there is, however, sufficient literature to at least warrant a cautionary note that consolidation that leads to bussing, particularly across long distances, may have negative impacts upon student performance and health. Lu and Tweeten studied 440 bused and nonbused students in rural Oklahoma in 1973. They found that the longer the bus ride the lower the composite achievement score.

a) Canadian Bussing Research

Michael Fox, a Canadian geographer, attempted to understand the effects of bussing. He asked students and members of their families how they would spend their time if bus rides were shortened. He found that "time on the bus is considered to be empty time, with few possible activities to engage in." "Students said they would sleep, engage in social and recreational activities and work if they had more time. Families reported constraints on their time as they try to meet the demanding school bus schedule.

According to Fox (1996), the data indicate that as time on the bus increases;

• "Students participate in fewer non-essential activities(those activities other than sleep, ;personal care, school and the bus ride)
• The individuals with large average times on a bus report lower grades and poorer levels of fitness, fewer social activities and poor study habits.
• The universal complaint by all students is the loss of choice in activities and the overall loss of sleep-time"

The following anecdotal information comes from Spence, Beth. Long School Bus Rides: Stealing the Joy of Childhood.

"There’s a myth you get a better education here," said a Webster County student. But he and his classmates say they avoid higher level classes because they don’t have time to do the required homework. "I’m just involved in the basic classes it takes to get out of high school."

Bussing Issues - Effects on Educational Outcomes, continued

A parent who attended the same high school offered and explanation. "The more advanced classes you take in high school, the more homework you have that evening. So you bring home five or six course of homework in the evening and you’re getting home at 6 or 6:30 anyway, it kind of depresses you and you don’t have that zeal the following year to go the next step."

Added a student, "I don’t want to take any hard courses, because I’m too exhausted. My brain would basically be fried." Another parent told of trying to help his daughter with higher level math. "She’d fall asleep," he said, "It was 8 o’clock and she was already gone. I’d tell here to get up at 5 and work from 5 to 5:30 and then get ready to go off to school. It was a hard thing to watch as a parent. They were like zombies. They’d walk in tired and short tempered. The only good thing about being home is that they were off the bus."

b) Nutritional Considerations

With regard to nutrition research, Zars reports an experience in the United States identical to the one in Canada. "Health issues have not been explored. In some ways it is ironic that the biggest feeding program in the country - the federal free and reduced breakfast and lunch program - has thoroughly documented the need for children to have healthy meals both before and during school, yet no one has investigated the effect of bus riding on children’s eating habits. According to the families I spoke with, most children skip breakfast. Food and drink are not allowed on the bus. Many ride to school slightly nauseous and if breakfast is offered, turn away. One grown man reported throwing up on the bus all through his school years. A second health issue is going to the bathroom. Unlike most commercial buses, school buses don’t have toilets. Long Rides. Tough Hides Enduring Long School Bus Rides Belle Zars

Corollary to this is the issue that those children who do eat before riding the bus have an extra 2 hour wait before lunch compared to their non-bussed counterparts. The Ministry of Education, like its US counterpart recognizes the relationship between nutrition and learning but children bussed the distance proposed for Wells children will have an obvious disadvantage in this regard.

c) Attendance Issues

With regard to attendance issues Zars also notes that parents and children have developed particular coping strategies to deal with the illness and transportation issues.

"If the school was nearby, the parent would probably send the child to school and know that if they got worse, or failed to get better, that the school could send the child home. A child with a long bus ride doesn’t have that option. Another common coping strategy is to provide a newly licensed young person with a car to drive to school. Most rural high schools can report an enormous increase in the number of students who drive themselves, their friends and younger siblings to school. No one has calculated the miles that teens are driving when they could be riding the school bus, but this is a common concession to keep a disgruntled, tired-of-riding-the-bus student in school."

This is verified by the experience and opinion of parents in our community who have high school children. The important message in terms of Elementary aged children is that children will miss more school days because parents will keep children home rather that risk having their condition deteriorate at a school from which they cannot come home.

Conclusion

In a strongly worded statement, Howley and Shamblen concluded a detailed study of the effects of bussing with: "Bussing is not, in fact, simply a benign manifestation of the good will and good sense of taxpayers. It is instead a practice of schooling that ‘inscribes’ (to borrow vocabulary from theorists of the postmodern) certain consequences of advanced capitalism that have been challenged forcefully, namely:

• Curtailment of parental and community influence in schooling,
• The state’s prerogatives in exploiting such separation,
• The view that injury to local communities is a fair bargain for the sort of education purveyed in the state schools,
• The view that children’s time is without value

(Arons, 1997; DeYoung, 1995; Hooks, 1994; Lasch, 1991; Foxt 1996; Witham, 1997),"

Gallagher (1995), in his book Changing Course: An Agenda for REAL Reform of Canadian Education, has argued that educational reform has, in the nineties, been characterized by two approaches: increased centralization, as characterized by educational reform in Canada, and increased decentralization, as characterized by educational reform that has taken place in New Zealand. Commenting on recent changes in education in Canada, Gallagher (1995:71) writes that:

This move to another round of consolidation of school jurisdictions in Canada, on the grounds of savings and efficiencies, is an excellent example of first.order change or of trying to "do more with less." It does not consider doing different things with less, or doing things differently. This approach is constrained by the perspectives on an industrial society. It suggests that the solution to excessive administration and inefficiency is larger (and therefore more efficient) units of administration. It sets aside the non-financial but real costs of further distancing parents and other community members from what once were their schools. In truth, many school boards, particularly in the larger school districts, are already as remote from the people they represent as provincial and regional governments are. The argument that school trustees are still the voice of local government is, in many cases, naive.

References:

• Fox, M. (1996) Rural School Transportation as a Daily Constraint in Students' Lives. Rural Educator. 17,22-27.
• Gallagher (1995), Changing Course: An Agenda for REAL Reform of Canadian Education.
• Lu, Y and Tweeten L. (1973) The Impact of Bussing on Student Achievement. Growth and Change. 4, 44-46.
• Lauzon, Allan C. and Danielle Leahy. Rural Schools and Educational Reform: Should We Keep Rural Schools Open? Guelph, ON: University of Guelph, [2000]. (A working paper for the Rural School and Community Trust Policy Program).
• Howley, Craig B., Aimee A. Howley, and Steve Shamblen. The Experience of Rural School Bus Rides. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Seattle, April 10, 2001).

Zars, Belle. Long Rides. Tough Hides: Enduring Long School Bus. Washington, DC: The Rural School and Community Trust, 1998.

PERSONAL LETTER

Quesnel School Board
401 North Star Rd.
Quesnel, B.C.
Mia Cirotto
Box 16
Wells, B.C.
V0K 2R0

May 29, 2002
Dear Chairman and Board,

My name is Mia Cirotto, I am 15 years old and a former student of the Wells School. I now ride the bus for 3 hours a day to get to the high school in Quesnel. I catch the bus at 6:30 in the morning and don’t get home until 4:30 at night. This limits my social activities greatly. And I can tell you from experience that the long ride into Quesnel is not very enjoyable. The bus is too bumpy to allow you to catch up on your sleep or to do homework. And if you are prone to motion sickness the bus ride is a constant battle to keep down your lunch. The people I ride the bus with now hate it with a passion. I could not see how you or anyone would even consider putting five and six year olds on the bus to go to school, when they have such a wonderful and inspiring school right in their backyard. In the Quesnel School District Beliefs Statement, it says the public education system exists to educate all students and must be relevant and accessible." Well, I don’t think that a three-hour bus ride can be considered accessible.

I attended the Wells School from kindergarten to grade seven, and couldn’t have asked for a better school. The smaller class allows for more time with the teacher individually. You interact with everyone in the school every day, so you quickly learn how to deal with problems you may have with other people.

The community is very involved in the school too. We have people from all different backgrounds come in and share their knowledge and experiences with us. In my time at the Wells School I received sportsmanship, citizenship, and science awards. Myself and another student competed in the Battle of the Books and received third in the district, while all the other schools had at least five competitors on their team. In grade six I went to the Regional Science Fair and received a silver medal, and if that wasn’t enough, I went back the next year and got a gold. I believe that the Wells school gave me a good base for the education I am receiving now. In grade eight I received top social studies, home arts, citizenship and English awards, and I have been on the Principal’s role every semester. I now ask the board, how could you close down a school that made me someone I am so proud to be?

Sincerely,
Mia Cirotto

PERSONAL LETTER

Chairman and Board
School District # 28
401 North Star Rd.
Quesnel, B.C.

Barbara Cirotto,
Box 16
Wells, B.C.
V0K 2R0
May 29, 2002

Dear Chairman & Board,

I have two children currently enrolled in the school district, one in grade four at the Wells Barkerville School, and one in grade nine at Quesnel Secondary School.

My daughter who is enrolled at Q.S.S. is an outstanding student. Her success is based on the strong foundation skills she received at the Wells-Barkerville Elementary. The community and parental involvement in the Wells school is phenomenal, and because of this my eldest daughter is an enthusiastic learner.

When my daughter finished grade seven, we had the choice to home school or send her on the bus to Quesnel. I felt that she was mature enough to handle the long bus ride and extended hours away from home. I also knew that if she wanted to participate in any extra curricular activities my husband and I would have to go the extra mile or in reality the extra 160 km round trip to enable her to be a part of the basketball team, that she so passionately wanted to join. The cost for this over the last two years has been approximately. $1200.00 in gas alone. This is going into Quesnel twice per week for practices and for tournaments over the basketball season. I could not do this if both of my children were attending school in Quesnel. As it is my eldest child will graduate when my youngest begins high school. Consider how much less time I would have to be involved in my youngest child's school should she also be bussed to Quesnel as you suggest. I would not be able to help with fundraiser or field trips. She would not be able to participate with her classmates for their fundraising events or extra curricular activities. This exclusion could even hamper her establishing friendship with other students.

I am extremely disappointed in your choice and the Superintendents' choice of avenues to balance the budget. Your suggestion to close the Wells school, while also increasing your salaries is a complete contradiction of your own vision. You have written in your Values Statement, In order to achieve our vision, we in the Quesnel School District, will centre our decisions first and foremost on students needs . I ask that you seriously re-think your budget and continue to support the Wells school. I believe that Together We Can find a way to keep our school operating and nurture our children in a positive environment.

Sincerely,
Barbara Cirotto

LONG TERM FACILITIES REVIEW COMMITTEE
AND LACK OF DUE PROCESS

Presented by Dave Jorgenson, parent

We were dismayed at the recent initiative of the board to request proposals for alternative uses of the school subject to a decision to close the school. We firmly believe that this undermines the process of consultation which this meeting is supposed to represent. The position of the board is to justify its decision at public meetings. Nowhere in the Ministry of Education’s Regulations does it say that you should be requesting proposals for alternative uses of the school, and such action belies a breach of trust that the board is seriously considering changing its mind on this issue. It only makes sense from an economic point of view that the board would have considered alternative uses of the school in order to come to the decision to close the school in the first place. If this was not the case, it is difficult to understand under what rational information the board was acting on at the time of the original decision.

The public notice re submissions goes on to say that that the Long Term Facilities Review Committee Report was available at the District Office. However, when a local parent asked for the report she was given only an abbreviated version of the final report after engaging in insistent negotiation that the newspaper notice said it would be available. In addition this abbreviated version is missing several key points of information. Several Trustees were on this committee so we know that you can verify the following information drawn directly from the report.

• There is no relationship between the information written in the report and the decision to close the Wells school. In fact, in the version that was handed out the Wells school was mentioned only once in a note which said that a presentation had been made by the PAC.

• The review committee made no specific recommendations except that option 2 and 3 were the most "doable". Option 2 was a recommendation to close some schools. Option 3 was to reconfigure a number of schools in the district.

• The report does make general notes that:
• research shows small schools are more effective than large schools (page 4)
• schools are the "the heart" of rural communities (page 4)
• More grades in a school provide more opportunities for cross age activities (page 5)
• K - 8 may be on the horizon as an appropriate configuration (page 5)
• The committee needs to consider the interests of students first (page 8)

• Eight hours were spent in small groups analyzing the options further. In the first 4 hour session report (Appendix 3.2), the Wells School is mentioned only once by Committee members. The committee noted:
• Option #2 pro- Closing the Wells school is easy. Con - creates issues regarding bussing safety, costs and negative effects of children on bus 3 hours a day

Long Term Facilities Review Committee And Lack Of Due Process, continued

• In the second 4 hours session on the ‘doability’ of various options (Appendix 4.2) (charts omitted from public versions available at the District Office) Option #2 was doable subject to:
• Checking the times students will spend on busses,
• making boundary adjustments to lower distances travelled
• supporting Community Schools (Wells)
• determining the maintenance costs of closed schools
• Keeping the WELLS SCHOOL OPEN. Future considerations included
• K-8
• distance education delivery
• creating a destination school

• Group Feedback Form (Appendix 3.1) notes:
• Rural schools are different from small in-town schools
• One size does not fit all
• smaller school populaton benefits community as a whole
• personal and smaller is better for students.

Over the same period that the review committee was meeting, and for 18 months before it was even formed, the Wells Barkerville school has been involved with the School District Administration in a local facility review. Since February of 2000, Ed Coleman, District Coordinator for School District #28 was engaged in a comprehensive Business Plan and Resource Guide with the Community of Wells for the Wells Barkerville School. This plan was laying the groundwork for expansion of services, improved educational options, adult education and "the stimulation of local economic development". When the Long Term Facilities Review Committee was formed, Mr. Coleman became an active member of that committee also. The Vision Statement for the Community School Business Plan reads, "The Wells, Barkerville, and Bowron Community School is home to a comprehensive, unique, and vibrant K to 7 school, a specialized 8 to 12 school focusing on core academics and electives specific to the economic development plan, an adult education program offering k to Masters Degree levels, and the internationally known Island Mountain Arts School. The community school is a leading edge education and learning centre for a rural community and is used to its maximum capacity by learners and citizens of all ages. Education services are accessed using up-to-date innovative technology."

Over this period, the Wells-Barkerville School was also involved in an extensive meeting and review process with the Ministry of Education. We received a glowing Accreditation report in

Long Term Facilities Review Committee And Lack Of Due Process, continued

April of 2000 from the Provincial External Review Team who were impressed by the educational outcomes of the school, the support of the community and the formative Business Plan which was being generated.

Given the endorsement by School District #28 administration, the Ministry of Education and the clear level of support shown by the report of the Long Term Facilities Review Committee, we were shocked and surprised by the recommendation of the local Superintendent of Schools..

Mr Napier’s recommendation of April 3, to close the Wells school, appears to be in direct opposition to the facts available to the Board supplied by the Long Term Facilities Review Committee and by the Community School Development Plan created in cooperation between the community of Wells and the School District. Documentation from the Facilities Review Committee clearly shows intent to support the continuing existence of the Wells school. It is dismaying to see this document referred to in a public notice as supporting information for the board’s recommendation to close the school. This is clearly not the case.

SMALL COMMUNITIES SUPPLEMENT

Presented by Dave Hendrixson, Mayor of Wells

I’d like to talk to you a little bit about the Unique Geographic Factors and in particular about the Small Communities Supplement. There seems to lot misunderstanding and disagreement around the funding formula and what it’s for. First of all, let’s take a look at your Estimated Operating Grant for 2002/03. Looking at this you show under Unique Geographic Factors a total of $2,467,100. Of that amount $878,200 is the small communities supplement portion. Under the Table 5B the Small Communities funding is provided when a student population within a defined area does not exceed 250 elementary students and/or 650 secondary students. This defined area is the number of FTE students in a single school, or the combined total of FTE students of all schools located within 5 kilometres for elementary schools and 25 kilometres for secondary schools.. Student populations are from 2001/02 final school age FTE counts, and are exclusive of Distributed Electronic Learning (DEL) enrolments. Now I believe you have eight schools which fall in this category and one of those is the Wells Elementary School.

Now the Elementary Community-based Funding says: for each community with 100 or fewer elementary FTEs: you get the Greater of $100,000 or $1,800 per FTE.-------so, for Wells you would get $100,000. And, I note that the Unique Geographic Factors will be held constant for the next three years. Further I understand that the province in all their generosity has told the school districts that they will get this funding even if they close the school down. So if you close the Wells Elementary School down you will get $300,000 over the next three years. We agree on the amount---what we seem to disagree on is just what this funding is for! According to the quote in the Prince George Citizen both Louise Scott and Ed Napier seem to feel that it is not specifically targeted just for rural schools. Yet when asked about it our Minister of Education, Christy Clark said "we’ve provided the supplements so school districts can more easily keep these rural schools open. Our intent was to give this money to maintain these smaller schools."

Hillary Brown, Manager of the Funding Allocation for the Ministry of Education was

very specific. She stated in correspondence which I believe we have already sent to you that, "The small communities portion of the supplement for unique geographic factors was introduced to recognize that some districts, and schools within, especially in rural and remote areas, do not benefit from the economies of scale that can be achieved where schools are clustered more closely together."

And, if you are still not clear I suggest you read the 2002/03 Operating Grants Manual. Table 5B - Supplement for Unique Geographic Factors- Small Communities states, "The Small Communities portion of the Supplement for Unique Geographic Factors provides additional funding for districts that need to operate schools in remote communities with small populations."

In view of all this evidence I find it hard to believe that you can convince yourselves that this money is not earmarked for the small rural schools and I’m amazed that your administration continues to treat this like some contingency fund that they can reallocate wherever they want.

Now I understand that legally you may be able to close the school down and then use that money for other purpose, although I’m not sure how the courts would look at that if someone decided to test it in the courts. And, that may well happen before this province wide exercise in school closures is finally concluded!

But, I’m not going to argue the legality of it with you. But, I would be willing to debate with you whether it is morally or ethically right to do so. I know that we live in a world today where moral values seem to be rapidly disappearing. But still I have to believe that deep down in your hearts you want to do what is right. And it seems obvious in this case what the right thing to do is. At the end of the day you have to live with the decisions that you make and if you decide to close our school I hope you can sleep with that. But, I strongly urge you to re-consider your decision on this matter, make the right choice and decide to keep our school open.

ADDITIONAL COMMUNITY FUNDING INITIATIVES
AND IDEAS

Presented by Dave Jorgenson, Wells parent

Some of the following initiatives are from our ongoing Community School Business Plan. Other suggestions only require the approval and co-operation of the Board in order to proceed. They demonstrate our community commitment to keeping our school a viable business as well as a place of education.

• Elimination of Municipal Parcel Taxes for 1 year ($6,700) and renegotiation of the rate for the following years.
• Continuing funding through the Cariboo Chilcotin Learning Network.
• Develop new, formal partnering agreements with Island Mountain Arts.
• Generate income through ESL and foreign student programs. (Wells presently has a connection in this regard)
• Increase Marketing of the school for the Barkerville season.
• Increase Enrollment and decrease bussing costs through pursuing distance learning initiatives for grades 8-12.
• Replace the existing heating system with the system proposed by Pinnacle Pellet at a savings of at least $4,000/year
• Enter in to a Power Smart agreement with BC Hydro.
• Increase overall enrollment through aggressive recruiting of families to the community.

  Modified School Week
  Presented by Marilyn Rummel, Wells Parent

We propose that the instructional hours be delivered Tuesday to Friday each week. Some Mondays will be statutory holidays, some Mondays will be Non-Instructional Days, and some will be "flex days", that is days that are not working days, in the same way Saturdays and Sundays are.
This means the number of instructional hours legislated (841.6) need to be divided by 159 (40 weeks times 4 days less one for Good Friday)
Using these figures (for the next school year) the hours of class time would be 5 hours 18 minutes. This is VERY tolerable, and certainly would be more appealing than long bus rides.
The savings generated from this approach would include administrative time, utility costs, janitorial time, janitorial supply costs, and if it were applied to schools where bussing occurs there would be savings in transportation costs as well.

This may be a way for schools to offer choices to parents.

Note that if you use a schedule of Monday to Thursday, the picture is quite different due to the number of Monday statutory holidays.

Summary

The Wells School is prepared to engage in a number of innovative initiatives to further reduce the operating costs of the school.

Long Term Facility Review Report specifically recommends keeping the Wells School open, regardless of which option was considered by the board.

The District has spent an even longer time developing a local Long Term Facility Review for the Wells Barkerville Community School. This document is called the ‘Wells Barkerville Bowron Community School Business Plan" and it lays out long-term viability options for the Wells School.

The School recently received a glowing report from a Ministry of Education External Accreditation Team.

THE CLOSURE OF THE WELLS SCHOOL COULD AFFECT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE ENTIRE REGION

Judy Campbell, Ecogistics Consulting, Wells, BC 250.994.3349 jcampbell@wellsbc.com

Her firm has completed much of the economic development research that has been conducted in the North Cariboo during the last almost 20 years.

• The closing of the Wells Barkerville School will save the School District little or no money but may cost the regional economy millions of dollars.
• The School District’s projections for decreased enrollment are based on faulty data. Up to date empirical data projects the enrollment will increase.
• However, if the School District continues to promote a climate of uncertainty they may create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Many people in Quesnel do not realize the economic impact of Wells and Barkerville on their local economy. I am going to speak to you now from the point of view of my firm, Ecogistics Consulting, which has completed much of the economic development research that has been conducted in the North Cariboo over the last almost 20 years.

Wells has no supermarket, it has no large hardware or appliance stores, no building supply stores and most importantly it has no bank. So, whereas in the 1940s people from Quesnel drove to Wells to do their shopping, our roles are now reversed, people from Wells come to Quesnel to do the bulk of their purchasing. In fact, I think we can safely say that $.90 of every dollar generated in Wells is spent in Quesnel. This is based on the fact that:

• Quesnel is the major purchasing centre for virtually all economic activity in Wells and Barkerville, including government,
• 85% of the businesses in the area are regionally owned and operated, meaning profits stay in the area,
• the majority of wages earned in Wells are spent in Quesnel or deposited in local lending institutions

So let us do some simple math:

There are approximately 75 family units in Wells. According to Statistics Canada, in 1995 the average income for households with 2 wage earners was about $50,000 in Quesnel and area. This means that a very rough estimate of the money which Wells residents alone spend in Quesnel on an annual basis is in the order of magnitude of 3 million dollars. Looked at another way if each adult in Wells spend $10,000 annually in Quesnel (which I know I do) that would amount to over 2 million dollars. These figures do not include the purchases of goods and services by businesses, only individuals. Nor do they include the indirect or induced effects of this spending.

You might be wondering what that has to do with our topic tonight. Well, a lot actually. For communities to remain viable as communities there must be adequate educational opportunities for families. You have heard tonight that many of the families with children who currently live in Wells do not think that bussing or home schooling meets that test. Families looking to move to the area will think the same.

Our population will drop dramatically if the school is closed. In fact when Grades 10, 9, and 8 were removed from the Wells Barkerville School our population dropped from over 200 to 160 over the course of one summer. Of course, if people move to Quesnel economically nothing is lost in terms of spending. But as we have already heard, many people would move elsewhere. People who choose to live in Wells do so for certain reasons, and they are most likely to look for a community that provides them with the same attributes as does Wells.

So the population will drop and at some point it will cross that threshold where viability will be challenged. It will no longer be viable to have a general store, or restaurants and motels that remain open year round, or a gas station.

Still you might be thinking, so what?

Well then the costs will begin increasing for those businesses who must do business there - Barkerville, Parks Branch, Argo Road Maintenance. And those increased costs and the changes that will occur as a result will have a noticeable effect on Quesnel. With the future devolution of Barkerville to the private sector, Quesnel should be extremely concerned about the financial viability of Barkerville. Because if Wells pumps a few million annually into your economy, Barkerville pumps a lot of millions into your economy through the spending associated in operating the site - purchases of goods and services and wages paid; and through the spending of visitors about $36 per person per day.

Another example is Island Mountain Arts. Without the use of the Wells School, the viability of this organization which for over 25 years has provided programming critical to the development of the cultural sector - a sector which is one of the province’s fastest growing job generators - will be threatened. Island Mountain Arts has a net annual income impact on your local economy of $168,677and and net employment impact of 8.23 person years. Not huge, but enough to be missed in these days of downsizing and job losses. And the loss of IMA would be a huge blow to Wells’ economy.

If Wells is not successful as a community, and it can not be without a school, you will feel the results economically here in Quesnel. However, if Wells thrives, you will also feel those positive results here in Quesnel.

At some point the Board or the Administration indicated that you project that the enrollment at the Wells Barkerville School will decline. I am not sure on what evidence you made that projection, but I will tell you exactly on what assumptions we are basing our projections that the enrollment will increase.

First let’s talk about the historic relationship between the population of Wells and the price of gold. It is simple and straightforward. The price of gold goes up, the population of Wells goes up, the price of gold drops, the population of Wells drops. The price of gold is rising and is predicted to continue to rise. We have a mining company who has been in the community for a few years and who is pursuing an active program of property development. They have a number of employees and as things look more favourable they will have more.

But more immediate than the potential for the expansion of mining activity in Wells is the Jack of Clubs casino, which is bringing many new jobs into the community. So many jobs that the community was recently funded by the federal government to complete an Industrial Adjustment study which dealt with things like recruitment strategies (would we be able to fill all these jobs locally) and housing strategies (we are predicting a severe housing shortage in Wells this summer due to the increased number of jobs). It is true that this year most of these jobs are seasonal but its predicted that within 3 years they will be full time. But we know from years of experience with seasonal Barkerville employees that even seasonal jobs result in families moving to the community. At least 5 children currently attending the school have parents that work seasonally in Barkerville. Within 3 years we could have 10 to 15 new families moving to the area. More importantly we know of at least 3 families that are thinking about moving to the area right now and the school is an important factor in their decision-making.

So we are basing our projections of an increase in enrollment of historical trends and empirical data and we believe that they are more correct than any projections that may have been made by your administration. However, the climate of uncertainty that the Board has created through their announcement of the school closure has caused enough doubt within the community that we may loose these families who were planning to move here and we may lose families who live here who don’t want to deal with this doubt dragging on for another month. So your actions may in fact become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The long and the short of it is this:

Your decision to save maybe $25,000, maybe as little as $500, maybe nothing at all, is likely to cost the regional economy millions of dollars. And it is my belief that it is based on faulty projections of enrollment.

CLASS SIZE

Presented by Marilyn Rummel, Wells parent

There has been lots of rhetoric about class sizes in other schools, and we should deal with that at the moment. The class in Wells has 15 students, from K to 7. There are several elementary classrooms in the district that are currently operating at the 15 or 16 student level, all with a maximum of 3 grades.

It must be added that those classrooms did not begin that way but have lost students through the year to reach their current levels. However, in reviewing the class sizes at Sept 30, 2001, there were more than 10 which had 19 or fewer students in them. So we do not believe that 15 children in the Wells-Barkerville School is a number wildly out of line, particularly considering the range of grades.

The board and administration have repeatedly said in the media and in meetings that if the Wells-Barkerville School doesn’t close, "class sizes will have to increase all across the district".

This is really not true. If the district closes our school, the savings will amount to a maximum of $ 25,000, and likely less.

$25,000 represents a little more 1/3 of an average teachers salary and benefits, which represents about 1/3 of a class, or 7 (or perhaps 8) students. So the likelihood is that if you don’t close the Wells School, and therefore have to make up the savings by losing 1/3 of a teacher, you will need to increase the class size in 8 classes by 1 child.

There are the equivalent of 220 classes in the district, so class sizes in 8 out of 220 classes would have to increase by one child to balance the money not saved by keeping our school open. That is a far cry from increasing class sizes all across the district. That the lives of so many families would be disrupted and an equal opportunity to education would be denied our students in order to "save" 8 additional classroom spaces in city schools ought to be unthinkable.

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