By ROY WOOD

If the organizers get their way, an independent high school in Osoyoos in September will be a branch of the Good Shepherd Christian School located upstairs at the Sonora Centre.

Osoyoos Independent School (OIS) committee chair Brenda Dorosz said in an interview Sunday there are two partnership options on the table: Good Shepherd and Kelowna-based Studio 9. “(But) the general consensus of the executive is that we’d like to stay local.”

The committee met last week with officials from the Lutheran church, which operates the school, and has two more meetings planned for this week.

While Good Shepherd is a “faith-based school,” at the secondary level religious instruction courses are elective, she said.

The details of how students of various faiths would co-exist in the faith-based environment are not yet clear, Dorosz said. “So, at this time, we (will) have to talk and see exactly what they would want to do.

“The parish board, if they decide to partner with us, will come back to us and say what they will allow and what they will not allow. We’re hoping that by Friday we can have a partnership.”

Dorosz said the executive has not ruled out Studio 9 and has asked a representative from that organization to come to Osoyoos to make a presentation.

But part of the push toward Good Shepherd comes from the Indo-Canadian community, which represents about 40 per cent of the student body, said Dorosz.

“If they are going to be donating to this, they would like their money to stay here in Osoyoos. If the partnership is in Kelowna our money’s going to go there,” she said.

The school the OIS envisions is a two-campus structure, with the elementary students in their current location adjacent to the Lutheran church and the secondary students at another location. The leading candidate is the Sonora Centre, said Dorosz. “We’ve asked only for the upstairs at this point with possibly sharing the gym.”

Access to Sonora Centre will require approval from the Town of Osoyoos. The executive has submitted all of its requests to the town but don’t expect a response until the week of May 18.

Meanwhile, said Dorosz, the executive has drafted two tentative timetables, — a five-day and a four-day — and a one-year budget based on a partnership with Good Shepherd. They expect to complete a five-year business plan in the next day or two.

The executive, which was elected at a Friday meeting, includes Dorosz, vice chair David Adamson, secretary Angela Paolera, treasurer Michele Nehring, education advisor Angela Westcott and members at large Chad Jensen, Kuldeep Rai, Jas Sidhu and Rajveer Dhillon.

Prominent local dentist Jason Bartsch started the independent school committee when the Okanagan-Similkameen school district decided earlier this year to close Osoyoos Secondary School and transfer students to Southern Okanagan Secondary in Oliver.

He decided to step aside, citing other commitments and a lack of time. “I told them I’d offer my support. For me it’s more of a time thing. They need to put together a school for September (and) I don’t want to be the one who’s not available for conference calls and whatever,” he said in an interview.

“Right now I’m finding it hard to balance my personal life and all the other things I’ve got going on,” he said.

In a press release this weekend, the OIS said it would schedule a public meeting soon, at which pre-registration for the school will be available.