FORT FRANCES—Although just three community members attended Tuesday night’s third public consultation meeting regarding the possible closure of F.H. Huffman, they certainly made it clear they’d like the small east-end school to remain open.
Besides the nostalgia of the school, they feel a smaller school is more beneficial to young students.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for little wee kids to start out in a huge school that would make them nervous,” one women noted.
“Money isn’t everything. If it costs more in the long run to make their transition easier, it could be worth it,” she added.
The Pupil Accommodation Review public consultations are being held to garner feedback in order to provide direction to the Rainy River District School Board regarding the future pupil accommodation for Huffman—a JK-Grade 3 school.
The board is looking at the possibility of consolidating Huffman with Robert Moore School—and then building a new school at that site.
Although both schools have been declared prohibitive to repair (meaning the cost of repair exceeds the cost of building new), the board does not have to go through an accommodation review for Robert Moore because it is looking at a rebuild, as opposed to a closure.
And with the provincial government recently offering to provide planning approval for a total capitalized value of $9.8 million to address facility conditions at the schools, the board is hoping to move ahead with the next steps of a rebuild.
However, this does not affect the Pupil Accommodation Review at Huffman School. The next public meeting will be held as planned (the final one scheduled for April 8) to assist in determining the future of that school.
At the end of the series of public consultations, a recommendation will be made to the board whether it should close, consolidate, rebuild Huffman, or continue to keep Huffman open.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, one community member said she understood it probably isn’t realistic for the school to stay open with a new Robert Moore School likely to be built so close, but noted she hoped the building wouldn’t sit unused.
Since there aren’t the funds available to fix Huffman to the appropriate standards, it was asked if there would be funding available to build both new Huffman and Robert Moore schools.
Education Director Jack McMaster explained building a new Huffman School wasn’t in the original plan submitted to the ministry, so it would be something that would need to be discussed.
“We haven’t made a decision yet,” noted Superintendent of Education Heather Campbell. “That’s why we are holding these meetings. We’ve made a proposal, but we want input from the public.”
Campbell went through changes to the School Valuation Framework, which included comments made at the second public consultation held last month. These included similar comments to those addressed last night, specifically regarding class size and safety.
The framework provides data and information in four main areas: value to the student, value to the school system, value to the community, and value to the local economy.
“But the value to the student is our number-one priority,” board chairman Dan Belluz stressed.
The public still is invited to provide input and ask questions at the final meeting on April 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the school gym.
Agendas, minutes, the framework, feedback forms, and other documents are available at www.rrdsb.com (answers to questions also will be posted on the site).
The Accommodation Review Committee then will meet on April 15 to review the information and comments, and make its recommendation to the board.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
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