Dear Mr. Editor:
I am a supporter of keeping the Alberton School open, and have been following your coverage of the whole closure process. The Rainy River District School Board will be meeting tonight to decide the fate of the school and I, for one, am praying for survival!
This issue has been diligently pursued for more than a year by a strong group of supporters, and their efforts, time, and passion for this issue should receive accolades.
In the newspaper, RRDSB members have mentioned they are bound by financial support from the government level based on enrolment in each school. Responding to this, Alberton supporters have obtained financial and services donations to help in the minimal repairs required.
They also have obtained a five-year enrolment forecast for Alberton based on the children living in our area and when they would be attending school. These numbers show the school would be at almost 100 percent enrolment within the next year or so.
So they have answered the RRDSB’s concerns with viable answers and their decision to keep the school open should be justified!
Do school taxpayers know the RRDSB already has spent money on a renovation plan of J.W. Walker to accommodate more than 300 students. Do they also know this estimate came in at more than $3 million (which will certainly be double in following in the multi-use facilities footsteps)?
Also, that they have not spent a dime on any traffic studies of how the increase in children and buses will impact that already busy area. Nor have they done any studies on how increased class size will affect the grades of our children, or how lack of outdoor space for activities will affect their physical and mental well-being?
I, for one, can guarantee that I won’t be sending my children there!
They state that closing schools is not easy, but they have to. Well, leave Alberton alone!
To the members of the RRDSB, leave Alberton open! This school can continue to survive if you would only see through to allowing it to try. Trust your instincts and not the “projections” or the “bottom line” issues being pushed by people who don’t even come from here.
Please consider the pleas of the parents and, more importantly, the well-being of our children, or I am sure we will be seeing “Low grade scoring reports” or “Child hurt at busy school intersection” headlining this newspaper in very little time.
Thank you for printing my letter.
Signed,
Patti Anderson
