Dear Editor
Closing a school is never a good idea. There is no way to candy coat this fact. It is bad for students, it is bad for families, it is bad for neighbourhoods, and it is bad for communities as a whole. It is plain bad business. Putting more students in a school and thus eliminating those that are deemed as being under capacity may make economic sense but I think we all realize that making decisions that impact on children, purely based on dollars and cents is not a sound practice. Is a school jammed to capacity based on a funding formula created by government a better school? I don’t think so.
It is perhaps underfunding of education by the provincial government more than anything else that has put our District administrators in the position of recommending closing schools. The recent report presented by senior School District 74 admin that included recommendations to close schools in both Lillooet and Ashcroft needs to be examined closely by all residents. The impact could be significant. Are closures really needed? There is no doubt closures could bring cost savings, but will these offset the negative consequences that will result? What will be the long term impact on our communities? It is important that citizens attend the Board Meeting in Lytton on Feb. 22 to ensure they keep abreast of developments and have their voices heard as well as any subsequent meetings that may result that deal with school closures.
Cameron Rittinger
President, GTTA