The Benalto School will permanently close its doors to students on June 30 after 78 years of being the cherished focal point of the community.
But brokenhearted community activists in the Red Deer County hamlet of 175 citizens promise their fight is not over.
“I would say we are going to look into every angle we can, absolutely, as you could tell by the reaction inside. A number of us are extremely upset,” said Lisa Mason, a member of the community's Benalto Review Committee.
The parents' group had vigourously campaigned for the last two years to keep the school open through the creation of a meticulously researched two-year extension plan that pledged to increase declining enrolment and make the institution financially sustainable.
“We feel we deserve that and if we can figure out a way to make it happen, we will absolutely,” she said.
But trustees for the Chinook's Edge School Division board disagreed, and the school's fate, which had been under a viability and closure review process by the division for the past 29 months, was ultimately decided at an April 6 board meeting when a 7-2 vote was recorded in favour of permanently closing the institution on June 30.
Connie Huelsman, Ward 5 trustee for Bowden-Spruce View and Jackie Swainson, Ward 1 trustee for Sylvan Lake-Benalto, voted against the motion.
“It is hard to express,” said Swainson, appearing shaken by the outcome of the vote. “It's sad. It's really sad. I understand how parents feel. I know how I feel.”
The board's decision will now force parents of the school's 21 kindergarten to Grade 6 students to find another educational option for their children for the 2016-17 school year.
Many younger ones will likely go 13 kilometres east to Sylvan Lake's C.P. Blakely Elementary School, while some older ones in Grade 6 could go to Sylvan Lake's École Fox Run School.
Senior administration staff, led by Lissa Steele, Chinook's Edge's associate superintendent for learning services, noted results from the division's viability study determined Benalto School staffing would have to drop from two full-time teachers to one full-time and one part-time if the school remained open for the 2016-17 school year.
The heavily subsidized school, which has the highest cost ($15,918.) per student of any school in the entire division, has experienced declining enrolment over the past three school years, a situation that has led to the closure of many other rural schools in the province over the past several decades.
“With two teachers there they are getting an excellent education. Next year if we have to reduce that to one teacher or one and a half teachers, that puts a lot of pressure on those teachers, a lot of different programs to try to teach,” said board chair Colleen Butler, who voted in favour of closing Benalto School.
“I can't see that as being as good a quality of education as they have been experiencing.
“I also feel a lot of resources have been put into that school, and fair enough, they deserved a chance to try to bring their population up, which we did, and that is why the extra resources were given. At the same time we can't keep doing that,” she added, suggesting parents from other areas of the division might have serious issues with more resources being thrown into Benalto if their schools are forced at the same time to tighten their budgets.
“We have a whole division of 11,000 students who also deserve an excellent education. If too many funds are going in one direction, that is not fair to the rest of the division.”
Meanwhile, members of the Benalto Review Committee worked diligently over the past two years to create and present their two-year extension plan to Chinook's Edge, one they insisted would dramatically increase the school's enrolment over the next 24 months.
Trustees were told 28 students had already been registered for the 2016-17 school year, and that through a continued promotional marketing plan they would expect up to 50 students to be enrolled by the 2017-18 school year.
“We have put a heck of a lot of effort in, and I think if they close it they haven't listened and they don't plan on making the changes that we have provided. We have highlighted procedural flaws, funding issues,” said Mason in an interview on April 1.
“We have really dug into the meat and potatoes of this and they need to understand that what they are doing right now to all rural schools and how they are looking at them, there are some big problems that need to be fixed.”
Angie Schickerowski, a member of the committee who conducted extensive research to prove the viability of the plan to save the school, said the community's next step is look at alternative options.
“We've started down the path to see what it takes to open a charter school. I would be interested in pursuing that,” said an emotional Schickerowski following the board's April 6 decision. “I wonder if adjoining school divisions, like Wolf Creek, would be interested in buying or leasing the building and following through with our plan showing how we can increase enrolment and make this school the school of choice.
“The one common theme with parents in Benalto is that we don't want to send our kids to an urban centre,” she added.
In the meantime, committee members also expressed worry about what would be in store for Benalto's future, now that a decision has been made to close its school, which they say is an important selling point to maintain and attract new citizens.
“We are a hamlet that has lost our school,” said Mason. “We don't have much in this little town, but without it we really wouldn't have anything. It is going to be a ghost town.”
