The meeting begins with a brief introduction by School Board Chair Marieze Tarr. The gym is packed – 800 plus people. A crowd upstairs near the rafters. That’s another story for another day. No one counting as that could be problematic.

This crowd is hungry for answers. Is it final? One of our schools must close?

The audience treated to a 39 slide presentation of charts, cohorts, percentages, falling enrollment, higher costs, lower funding – darts mostly directed at a provincial government that likes to make school trustees take the tough decisions.

(Context: Rattler country – OSS gym, Osoyoos 7pm Tuesday – Board of Trustees – Consultation Meeting)

ODN has a reporter on the floor and we shall hear from Roy Wood in due course. The Publisher was there to get some quality crowd pictures, talk to people, teachers, administrators etc.

It would be safe to say the crowd included babes in arm, children, school kids, teenagers, cheerleaders, basketball players, teachers, administrators, town councilors, firemen, janitors, police offers, board members, parents, and interested taxpayers. A lot of people. A meeting that size not seen in a long long time.
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Organizer Brenda Dorosz speaking with Stu Wells in the crowd – school trustees behind. 3300 people signed a petition presented to trustees stating than no one wanted high school students bussed to Oliver.
The gym was adorned with many posters made up last night by students and parents and then hung today in the meeting hall.

Last photo – Thanks to Andrew Stuckey – Osoyoos Daily News