Parents rally to save OLP school

Board decides on three schools' closure April 28

By RENATO GANDIA
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

Coming from a smaller town in northern Alberta, she knows what a tightly knit community means. And she saw that in Our Lady of Peace.

"Small school means community and it's important for me and other parents here," she told the WCR at the public consultation meeting, March 24.

"You can also get a spirit of community in a bigger school, but you have a better chance in a smaller school. You just can't compare them."

She has two children in the school. If the board decides to close it, she does not know what to do.

"I drive my children here. I can go to Our Lady of Victory, I can go to Annunciation if I want to, but I want them here."

Alumni and former teachers joined the parents of the school community in petitioning the school board to keep Our Lady of Peace open.

Charlie Koester, chair of the school board, told reporters, "The parents here tonight are certainly organized. They have some good ideas that we will take back and will look at."

Maybe there's something there that may or may not adjust or change the recommendation before the board at this point, Koester said. "It's wide open right now."

Koester disagreed with one comment at the forum that the district has no long-term plan for school closure.

"I wonder how the opinions and feelings expressed tonight will be translated and how the board will be asked to make a decision." - Diane David

"All of what we do for the small schools is a long-term plan. We have to review our small schools' status for Alberta Learning. We need to look at it long term. We need to look at it as a district, as a whole because we need to service students in newer areas," Koester said. "Closure is just part of the long-range planning, particularly based on the small school's adjustment that Alberta Learning asked us to do."

Diane David, chair of the school council of St. Vincent, said she was not satisfied with the response of the administration when she asked about the district's long-term plan on school closure.

"I didn't hear (Mr. Ripley) say that there was a long-term plan. It seems to me that we're just it."

David said that what can happen is a new school is built and when the community declines in number 10 years down the road, the district will build another new school and close an established school.

"We're leaving a community bereft of an important pillar of what makes a community," she stressed.

"I appreciate that the board is keeping an open mind, but I wonder how the opinions and feelings expressed tonight will be translated and how the board will be asked to make a decision."

Cathy Roskell, chair of Our Lady of Peace School council, believes they made "a very good case for keeping our school open. I think that parents and community members alike have came forward with many good suggestions. We're very positive right now."

Some of the suggestions included adding the international baccalaureate program in the primary grades and offering a free school bus to students from communities in outlying areas west of the city.

"One of the strongest points is that we are the only Catholic elementary school in this end of town," Roskell said. "I think that our commitment to the Catholic community, the way we bear our Catholic identity and our link with the Holy Spirit Church are very important and very unique."

All members of the board of trustees were present at the consultation as were senior administrators.

If Our Lady of Peace closes, children living west of 156th Street will be bused free for three years to Annunciation School, while those east of 156th Street will be bused to St. Vincent School.

Another consultation for a third school on the chopping block is slated March 27 at St. Jerome's School. St. Patrick's School had a consultation on March 20. The school board will vote whether to close the three schools on April 28.

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