Lac la Hache parents and residents are celebrating School District 27 (SD27) trustees' decision against reconfiguration of their elementary school.
At SD27’s special board meeting April 12, a motion to reconfigure Lac la Hache Elementary School to kindergarten to Grade 3 and then bus Grades 4-7 to Mile 108 Elementary School was defeated.
Amy Schmid, who has serious health issues and three young children in Lac la Hache, says her whole family depends on the crucial support the school provides.
"I thank the school board from the bottom of my heart for making this decision. Our kids are very close, so they always support each other, and that's the biggest thing for us with the hardships we've had."
Lac la Hache Parent Advisory Council president Cindy Grant says the board made the right decision, but notes the school could still be in jeopardy of closing later.
"I encourage all parents to try to keep their kids in the catchment area in Lac la Hache. It's certainly going to help the school down the road."
School board chair Wayne Rodier, who voted in favour of the reconfiguration, says SD27 now needs to find the $180,000 savings it would have realized elsewhere in the budget.
He adds the mitigating factors in the trustees' decision for Lac la Hache were strong community support, students staying in their school's catchment area, and the risk to the school's viability if parents send primary students away with the older siblings.
He notes the board decided to reconfigure Wildwood Elementary School, north of Williams Lake, as a pilot project
Among those trustees voting against this school's reconfiguration were Will van Osch, maintaining his previous position, and Pete Penner, who took this stance after mulling over the other factors reviewed at the meeting.
Both Van Osch and Penner say the $25,000 in PAC fundraising for the school since May 2010 for a student educational field trip affected their vote.
Penner says this support gives the school more viability than Wildwood, but adds that after reviewing the pilot results, the board may look again at a Lac la Hache reconfiguration in future years.
Van Osch notes if the parents choose to transfer their children to another school close to capacity, rather than to the Mile 108 Elementary, it could ultimately result in hiring more teachers anyway.
He added Lac la Hache Elementary already operates at well below the funding it generates, leaving other issues affecting the school board's budget.
Van Osch notes the school is granted $90,000 in rural school funding that is used elsewhere in the district, and is already allocated in the budget.
"If Lac la Hache was to close or we didn't have the numbers to maintain it, then we would lose that extra funding and we would be making an extra round of cuts."
The third south-end trustee Patti Baker missed the meeting due to illness.