Letters sent to The Premier, Minister of Education, MLA's and Quesnel School District Trustees...
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002
To: Christy Clark <christy.clark.mla@leg.bc.ca>
From: Cathryn Wellner
Subject: Wells school
Cc: John Wilson <john.wilson.mla@leg.bc.ca>, Bill Horne
Dear Minister Clark:
Wells parents and concerned residents have been given the cold shoulder by a majority of the SD #28 school board. The purported savings promised by closing the Wells school are small, the risk to young children high. Your intervention is critical.
As a parent, you would not send your young child on a two-hour daily bus ride over hazardous mountain roads. Wells parents should not have to do that either. Nor should the community - which is undergoing an economic upswing because of new businesses opening there (the casino in particular) - be undermined.
Internationally known artist and Wells resident Claire Kujundzic is currently in the second week of a hunger strike in support of the Wells school. She does not have children in the school but understands how critical it is to Wells families and to the survival of the community. Many others have joined the fast, for varying lengths of time. Today the Wells mayor, a man in his 70s, begins a hunger strike as well. They are putting their lives on the line for this important issue and are being treated by the school board as if their concerns were trivial.
I am aware that other rural schools are closing and am no happier about the fate of those communities. Rural schools are the lifeblood of our towns, closing them a highly symbolic act that gives a clear message that the community is dispensable. However, Wells is unique in its distance from the nearest schools and in the hazardous nature of the connecting road. In addition, it is the community closest to western Canada's largest heritage site and is essential to Barkerville's future.
As Minister, your leadership in this is essential. The only way to really understand the impact of closing the school is to drive from Quesnel to Wells, see firsthand what is being asked of families, witness the first-class education Wells children have been receiving, visit Island Mountain Arts (which uses the school for its world-class programs), and grasp the negative impact this decision will have on Wells and Barkerville.
Closing the Wells school is poor education, poor economics, and poor decision making. Please use your influence to keep the doors open.
Sincerely,
Cathryn Wellner
Wright & Wellner's Camel Crossing
Barkerville Highway
Wells, BC V0K 2R0
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Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 10:15:02 -0700
To: girvinj@sd28.bc.ca, nielsenc@uniserve.com, sandy@goldcity.net,scottl@quesnelbc.com
From: Cathryn Wellner
Subject: Wells school
Cc: Gordon Campbell <gordon.campbell.mla@leg.bc.ca>,Christy Clark
<christy.clark.mla@leg.bc.ca>,
John Wilson <john.wilson.mla@leg.bc.ca>, Bill Horne, Neil Horner,
Steve Wallace, Judy Campbell
To the Trustees who voted against the Wells school:
The decision to close the Wells school defies belief, particularly coming just before an administrative raise. Monetary decisions are always based on values so it appears the life of 15 young children and the future of Wells are less important than the material comfort of administrative staff.
Closing the Wells school is a strange decision. It is educationally and morally unsound to put those young children on a school bus and send them, twice a day, over 80 km of mountain roads, to the "nearest school". The fact of the matter is, they have a school, a good one. It is a school in which parents and other community members are involved (with all the benefits pointed out by educational research), a school where children receive a first-class education, a school in which children thrive socially.
Furthermore, Wells is critical to Barkerville, the province's premier historic site and the largest heritage site in all of western Canada. The community is home to an internationally renowned arts school and of a growing number of internationally known artists, who live and work there because of the quality of life it offers. The new casino has created employment and encouraged other businesses to open.
We all know what happens to a community when its school closes. We know that the community of Quesnel benefits enormously from the tourist traffic created by Barkerville and Wells. We know that putting 15 young children on a school bus more than two hours a day and sending them over mountain roads endangers their lives, health, and well being. We know that the $100,000 in Small Communities Supplement is intended to keep schools like Wells open. We know that a decision was made to raise administrative salaries by $120,000 just after the closure was announced.
What we don't know is why the four of you are not responding to the well researched, clearly articulated presentations from Wells. What we don't know is why you are willing to undercut the small but important community in which many of us are making major investments. What we don't know is why you have not acknowledged that closure of the Wells school will have a significant impact on Quesnel and Barkerville. What we don't know is why you are not acknowledging the significance of the hunger strike in Wells. We don't know why you are not willing to meet - as a full board - with the community and the Save Our Schools Committee and to have your deliberations recorded for public record.
You are faced with difficult decisions because of inadequate public funding for education and because a handshake has left you holding the bag for a million dollars in HRDC funding. Your task is not an easy one, but please reconsider the decision to close the Wells school. The future of a historically and economically significant area of the province rests in no small part on your shoulders. You can leave a legacy or dismantle it.
Sincerely,
Cathryn Wellner
Wright & Wellner's Camel Crossing
Barkerville Highway
Wells, BC V0K 2R0