To the Editor,
Re: School closure debate.
The sacrificial lambs are the elementary school children, not just at the school closed but also at the schools into which they are fed.
The reason for this sacrifice is not primarily finances.($100,000 lease cost saved with VAST building closure), it is to find space for VAST students.
The smoke screen has been “financial need”. This is the bill of goods openly peddled. But it’s the VAST factor driving this decision. And for the most part, it has been veiled in the background.
So 200-300 elementary school children would be relocated, bused, split up from classmates, friends, and teachers to accommodate VAST secondary/adult students, many of whom drop in, drop out, and attend as they please. This is the priority that our school administration/trustees have chosen?
It clearly is not what the community wants.
Once again, we have the school district thinking at odds with the community. And once again, it would seem, we have a process in place which may well be manipulative.
On the surface, it appears to be open. But the driving reason for an elementary school closure is to find room for VAST. It is not simply about balancing a budget.
T. Lyman Jardin,
Port Alberni