FORMERLY THE ROCKY VIEW FIVE VILLAGE WEEKLY
Volume 35, Number 29	OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR THE MD OF ROCKY VIEW #44	Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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Rural schools stay open despite declining enrolments
Liz Lindgren-Kubitz

The Golden Hills School Division has made a commitment to keep schools in Acme and Linden open despite declining enrolments.

Diane McBeth, the division’s superintendent, said the school board has been contemplating a policy to set the minimum enrolment needed to keep a school viable. As a result, McBeth said she believes unfounded rumours began circulating in communities regarding the potential closure of some schools. She assured residents those rumours are unfounded.

"The board has no intention of closing any schools at this time," said McBeth.

The policy being discussed, Policy 15, is still in a draft stage and to date no final decisions have been made with respect to amending the closure policy by the board.

Dr. Elliot School in Linden includes Kindergarten to Grade 9 students and Acme School includes Kindergarten to Grade 6 and Grades 10 to 12.

"People become very sensitive when they think their child’s school might close," said McBeth. "Both Acme School and Dr. Elliot School have had declining enrolment over the past six years."

Despite the declining student numbers in many of the division’s rural schools there is a lengthy series of steps which must take place before a board could recommend a closure, explained the superintendent.

Once a board receives information that a school’s enrolment has reached critical numbers, it still has to consider a number of factors such as distance to another school, funding and enrolment trends.

The board would also need to look at whether or not another school could accommodate those students, said McBeth.

"Right now, the answer to that is no."

She also noted that even if a board examines critical enrolment numbers and decides operation is no longer viable, it still has to file a Notice of Motion and follow a long list of requirements.

After all of those steps have occurred, the board still has an opportunity to make a final decision in the end.

"(Eliminating) any three grades or more can be considered a closure," McBeth said.

In an effort to further reassure area residents, the superintendent noted that extensive improvements to Linden’s school have been initiated.

"The board just spent half-a-million expenditure on improvements to the foundation of Dr. Elliot School," said McBeth, adding she didn’t think that kind of money would be spent on improvements to a school that’s about to shut its doors.

Water pooling has been a problem at the school due to drainage problems in the area. During a project which they undertook to refinish the gym floor, it was discovered that the wood was saturated and couldn’t be refinished. Engineers determined that concrete supports under the gym floor had been sitting in water for a long time and the foundation had become unsafe.

"Emergency funding was requested to address the problem and it has been received," said McBeth. "We may also have to do work around the drainage issues."