Valuable asset

Dear editor:
I was in attendance at the Rainy River District School Board’s committee of the whole meeting Nov. 19 regarding the accommodation reviews and left with feelings of disgust and sadness.
It pains me to think the senior administration of the RRDSB is even considering closing our district’s best school (highest EQAO results in the board, high level of parental and staff involvement, and high level of student success and satisfaction) with a recommendation of the closure of Sturgeon Creek School.
The closure of Sturgeon Creek (along with Crossroads School) would bring an annual net financial gain of less than $50,000 to the RRDSB. Why would it be willing to adversely affect countless students, their families, and their communities for a measly $50,000?
There are a plethora of alternative cost-savings measures that could be employed by the RRDSB (e.g., addressing why our board has two superintendents of education, cutting senior administration’s salaries, not funding SCAP, and leaving pre-school education as a parent’s responsibility) that easily could make up the paltry annual amount of $50,000.
Sturgeon Creek School should be considered one of our board’s most valuable assets, and the trustees and administration of the RRDSB should be taking great strides to keep it in place—and actually using it as a model for the board’s other schools.
What an injustice to our children it would be to see this school close.
I am pleading to the trustees of the RRDSB to use their common sense, intelligence, compassion, and high regard for education to vote against the closure of Sturgeon Creek School.
Sincerely,
June Bonot
Stratton, Ont.