……..but not a fatal one for Osoyoos Independent School

By ROY WOOD

The delays caused by going to a referendum on financial help for an independent high school in Osoyoos would be an obstacle for the school’s proponents, but not necessarily a fatal one.

Osoyoos Independent School (OIS) committee chair and spokesperson Brenda Dorosz said in an interview Wednesday, “As far as our committee is concerned … we’re just moving ahead assuming everything will fall into place.”

The earliest a referendum on funding could be held is mid-to-late August, just days or weeks before scheduled school opening on September 6.

Osoyoos chief administrative officer Barry Romanko said in an interview Wednesday that doing the preparations necessary for such a referendum – advertising, buying supplies, and setting the voting process – will necessarily take close to the 80 days allotted to the process. At best, he said, There is no minimum time, but Romanko said that at best it might be possible to “shave a few days” off the time.

Council’s discussion and decision about a possible referendum question must be done at an open council meeting. The next one is scheduled for June 6, although it is possible that council could schedule a special meeting sometime next week.

Even if council held a special meeting and approved a referendum question on Monday, 80 days takes the timing into the week of August 22.

“It’s pretty obvious,” Romanko said, “that holding a referendum will really handcuff the (OIS) from going forward with municipal support.”

The OIS committee has asked the town for $176,000 a year for three years along with use of the upstairs at the Sonora Community Centre as a campus for the independent high school. Dorosz said taking the funding issue to referendum would make things harder for her group.

“Yes, it would be a lot harder if we had, for example, only two weeks to get going. … (But) can we do it? I think if our entire community came together, I think we can, provided the answer is ‘yes,’” she said.

The idea of a referendum emerged last week when council passed a motion saying: “The Osoyoos Independent School committee be advised that staff have been requested to prepare a report on a possible referendum for funding and use of the Sonora Community Centre and that a decision will be made at a special closed meeting.”

Romanko pointed out that it remains possible for council to decide to go ahead with financial and other support to the independent school committee without seeking taxpayer approval through a referendum.

Council is meeting in-camera on Thursday to discuss Romanko’s report.

Dorosz indicated there have been some communication gaps with the town: “We asked for a decision by May 20. We didn’t get it. Then we’ve sent another letter asking for an urgent meeting with them … but so far we haven’t been asked to come in for a meeting.”

As well, the committee asked for help in collecting donations. “We asked the town to take money on our behalf and administer receipts and so far we haven’t been given a yes or a no. That was (at least two weeks) ago.”

One of the key issues involving the town is the Sonora Centre, which operated by the town, and its potential use as a campus.

Prospective partners require that the OIS group secure a facility. As well, she said, prospective donors, including possibly Vancouver’s Jim Pattison, need to know the school as a home before committing.

The committee has been working with the Good Shepherd Christian School about a possible partnership that would see the kindergarten-to-grade-7 school expand to include a second campus for high school students.

The committee indicated that agreement is close. However, Pastor Darren Siegle of Grace Lutheran Church told a meeting Tuesday that the Voters Assembly has only agreed to continue talking with the committee and there remain serious issues around who would hire teachers for the high school and whether they would have to be Christian.

OIS is an ad hoc committee of residents aiming to open an independent high school in September to partially replace Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS), which the school board voted last month close at the end of June.

The grade 8-12 students are to be transferred to Southern Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver