By ROY WOOD
School closures will take centre stage Wednesday as the Okanagan Similkameen School Board hears staff recommendations on how to deal with too few students scattered over too many classrooms.
The school district’s recently-released “facilities plan” paints a bleak picture of declining enrolments, an aging and disproportionate inventory of schools and an untenable financial situation.
The district has been able to run recently with an annual operating deficit around $500,000 because of an earlier accumulated surplus.
But the surplus is depleting and the facilities plan warns: “The district is currently in a structural deficit of $530,000 and if it does not take proactive steps to reduce operating expenses, could have a structural deficit of $1.4 million by the 2017/18 school year.”
A memo accompanying the facilities plan from superintendent Bev Young and secretary treasurer Lynda Minnabarriet says: “Recommendations regarding potential school closures will be provided by district staff at the (Wednesday) Board meeting.”
Based on recommendations contained in a consultant’s report in 2010, schools potentially on the closure list include Cawston Elementary, Okanagan Falls Elementary and Osoyoos Secondary (OSS).
The board at that time decided against implementing any of the recommendations from the Matrix Planning Associates report.
The only schools in the district that currently do not suffer from both excess capacity and “poor” or “very poor” condition are South Okanagan Secondary (SOSS) in Oliver and Osoyoos Elementary.
SOSS recently underwent a substantial renovation and, with a projected utilization of just 63% in 2017, is seen as a potential alternative for students at OSS, which is rated in “poor” condition.
A 2010 recommendation was for students from Cawston Elementary to be folded into Similkameen Elementary/Secondary (SESS) in Keremeos, which would become a kindergarten to grade-12 facility. A renovation to the currently “very poor” structure would cost about $1.6 million.
As for Okanagan Falls Elementary, the 2010 report recommended that it be closed and its 104 students moved to Oliver Elementary.
Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary in Oliver is slated to be 83-per-cent full in 2017. There is not room at Oliver Elementary for its 207 students.
According to a graph included in the facilities report, overall enrolment in the Okanagan-Similkameen district is projected to continue to decline. From a recent high of 2,292 students in 2011 it will drop to 1,910 in 2024. Enrolment in 2015 was 2,144.
The school board will not make decisions on the recommendations on Wednesday, but will engage the public in some form of consultation.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the school board office.