On Tuesday, May 9 the Rocky Mountain School District, SD6, will be meeting in Invermere to vote on the Draft Long Term Facility Plan.
The plan was first presented last fall and included a proposal to change school configuration in Kimberley from its current two K to 3 and one 4 to 7 middle school, to three K to 7 schools.
Originally, the plan was to go ahead with the changes for the next school year, but after hearing feedback from public in the fall, a revised plan has been drafted. The changes, should the board decide to reconfigure Kimberley’s schools, are now planned for the 2018/2019 school year.
Concerned parents, teachers, and community members have put together a petition that offers a different solution to what is proposed in the plan. The petition aims to implement catchment areas instead of reconfiguring Kimberley’s schools.
According to the petition’s website, “the parents of students living in Kimberley are happy with the current configuration of the elementary schools in our city, and it has not been demonstrated that the proposed re-configurations will improve educational experiences for the children in our community.
“Rather than reconfiguring the schools, we recommend that the school district and the school board implement catchment areas for Lindsay Park and Marysville Elementary schools as a cost effective and flexible alternative to address the overcrowding at Lindsay Park Elementary. We recommend that no children be moved, and that the implementation of catchment areas begin with the Kindergarten class of 2017.”
Parent and Community member, Andrena Heigh has three children in Kimberley’s school system; two children in grades one and two at Lindsay Park, and one child in grade four at McKim.
Heigh has been spreading the petition around, as well as sending letters to the Board of Education in hopes that they hear the community’s concerns about the Plan.
“I believe that the community in Kimberley has clearly expressed through direct communication at the two public meetings, letters, and a petition, that there is a strong desire to maintain the current school configuration,” says Heigh.
Some of the main concerns of the community revolve around the difference in facilities, and the board’s research around transitions.
“The rational and justification to minimize transitions; the argument is unfounded in Kimberley,” says Heigh. “It seems like the board wants a plan for the entire district, but I believe we have a unique set of circumstances here in Kimberley. It’s not exactly the type of transition that is referred to in the board’s research.”
“The solution we have proposed, to implement catchment areas, would solve some of the issues outlined in the plan, such as busing,” says Heigh. “In my mind, the busing issue arose when they closed schools.”
In terms of the facilities, Heigh says that the three schools are not equal by any stretch of the imagination.
“It is also very obvious that the three facilities in our community are by no means equal,” says Heigh. “The students in Mckim will experience huge advantages over students in LPES and MES in terms of facilities (large gym, large library, large computer lab, student services space, theater, science equipment), academic programming, arts programming, sports, clubs, and larger peer groups.
Creation of unequal learning environments and opportunities for the students in our community will be divisive and detrimental to the community as a whole. With this in mind, how can it be argued that this plan will benefit all students in the Kimberley Zone.”
The petition has just over 135 signatures at this point. It can be viewed and signed at www.change.org.