Ken Johnston
The fourth—and possibly the final—meeting on the future of Our Lady of the Way School in Stratton last Wednesday was full of emotions and pleas for it to remain open.
The Accommodation Review Committee process began earlier this year with both private and public meetings to gather facts on the school and whether it should remain open.
At the very first meeting, financial facts were reviewed and it was noted that if the school were to close, the Northwest Catholic School Board would realize an annual savings of $138,244.
But ARC chair Anthony Leek stressed then—and again at the fourth meeting last week—that “it is not just about the money.”
“We are looking at the value of the school to the students,” he noted.
The reason the ARC process began was that the school’s enrolment had dropped to 13 this past year from 50 the year before and a high of 85 in 2008-09.
Once a school’s enrolment drops below 50 percent capacity (135 in OLW’s case), a board can conduct an ARC.
Early on in the process, it was brought to light that there had been two meetings in the spring of 2012 with concerned parents. Very few, if any, of those parents attended the ARC meetings.
But last week, a letter from Roseanne Zimmerman was read. She pointed the finger squarely at the school’s administration and the school board itself, saying it was its lack of action and direction that led to the school’s demise.
“We asked all the trustees to come to our meetings,” Zimmerman wrote. “Only two came to the last one and one seemed interested.
“But that did not turn out to be true.”
She also accused the principal of diminishing the parents’ intentions and the superintendent of hushing dissent.
“They should have addressed our concerns and come up with a plan,” Zimmerman argued.
“The parents felt they were not listened to and took their kids out of the school.
“When parents have to ask for prayer [in a Catholic School], that should have been a red flag,” she remarked.
“We felt we were not listened to and that is why we did not attend ARC meetings.”
At the end of the meeting last week, the committee agreed to allow anyone to speak from the floor.
Former OLW secretary Laura Haner stood up and responded to the Zimmerman letter.
“I take offence to the letter and the perception that the principal was not doing the best she could,” Haner said, her voice trembling.
Haner noted parents came to the school and pointed the finger at the staff for allowing kids to eat an unhealthy meal at McDonald’s on a field trip.
“They all signed the permission slips to allow their kids to do so.”
As for prayer in school, Haner replied, “Telling us there are not enough masses or praying in the school is not true.”
“In fact, several of those same parents who complained about lack of mass or prayer chose not to have their kids attend a special grad mass,” she said.
“Instead, they took their kids to a soccer tournament, at which they took their kids to Dairy Queen.”
Haner also said that enrolment figures often blip from one year to the next.
“The one year where it was high was a year where parents did not like the staff at Riverview School [in Rainy River] and sent their kids here,” she noted.
She said that in all her years at OLW, she feels every principal had issues but did the very best they could for the students and the school.
“At the end of both those meetings, not one parent complained about the education the kids were getting,” Haner recalled.
“Instead they complained about everything else.”
Former OLW principal David Sharp and George Chojko-Bolec both suggested there should be another public meeting in September.
“Both the principal and director of education are not here,” Sharp noted. “Shouldn’t they be?
“They are an important part of this committee.”
“With a new director and principal slated to come to the system in September, I think they should have input into this process,” said Chojko-Bolec.
No decision was made last week as to whether to hold another public meeting in the fall. If the ARC chooses not to, then the committee will present its final recommendations based on all the presentations heard at the four public meetings.
Chris Howarth, chief financial officer for the NCDSB, said that once the committee has its recommendations finalized, it cannot present them to the board for 60 days.
Since it is hard to hold meetings over the summer, Howarth anticipated that the earliest the board would receive the ARC report is October or November.
Several other presenters at last week’s meeting, including OLW teacher Nicole Wood, former teacher Mary Curtis, the Emo C.W.L., and former students Lori O’Connor and Krista Nielson, all spoke in favour of the school staying open.
