Honourable Rob Fleming,
Dear Mr. Fleming,
We are writing with regard to the threatened closure of Creston Education Centre (CEC). We ask that you intervene in this short-sighted proposal by the Kootenay Lake Board of School Trustees.
Is it not the mandate of school trustees, first and foremost, to provide quality education to ALL children in their district?
Good early childhood education and a range of support services are directly related to successful outcomes in later years. Newer, vibrant and inspiring facilities provide a positive working and learning environment for all. CEC was extensively renovated around 2005. It has modernized indoor spaces as well as ample greenspace with opportunities for outdoor classrooms and other activities. These assets are a stark contrast to the run-down, cramped, moldy, bars-on-windows, highway location that is being proposed for the HomeLinks and Wildflower programs.
It makes no economic or practical sense to disperse programs that currently run at CEC to a location (old school board office) that was never designed to be used as a learning environment and that will need extensive renovation to bring it to current health and safety norms. Even with extensive renovation, this facility could NEVER aspire to be a “Healthy School” as it sits at one of the busiest intersections of Highway 3. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that a single-purpose building (CEC) can be sold quickly enough to provide the funds that are presumably needed elsewhere in the district.
The CEC model is looked at with envy by other jurisdictions for the foresight and innovative approach to providing easy one-point access for families to a wide-range of Early Childhood and other services.
Although the value of home-schooling is debatable, the opportunity to keep these families in contact with the public school system in an inspiring environment can only bode well for their future involvement in the community.
This situation highlights the problem of the amalgamated school districts of Creston and Nelson where the majority of the trustees from the larger community vote to reduce resources and programs in the smaller community to enhance those in the larger community. Amalgamation has not been a positive force for the community of Creston. We continue to experience the hollowing out of our once vibrant educational offerings. (Declining enrollment is used as a handy scapegoat but it is more complex than that.)
Due to the impasse of this situation, we feel that what is needed is outside, unbiased evaluation and mediation.
We urge you to become involved.
This decision should not only be about the money but should focus on the long term educational outcomes for all our youth.
We need to know that policy makers are making decisions that contribute to the long term success of all our families and communities.
Best regards,
Lyn Gardner
Mel Gardner