ATHABASCA — Almost three months exactly after the question of Rochester School’s viability was raised yet again, Aspen View Public School’s (AVPS) board of trustees have an answer: the school will remain open until the end of the 2024-2025 school year, after which it will close it's doors.
“Next year we could, and very likely would be falling below our 35 students (weighted moving average), which takes a significant portion of our rural small school funding away,” said AVPS board chair Candy Nikipelo. “We’ll remain status quo with our funding, to give the community and the school time to prepare for the eventual departure out of the greater community. It gives ample time for thoughts into what the next step will be.”
During AVPS’s board meeting held today, Jan. 25 at Edwin Parr Composite Highschool, trustees voted 5-2 — trustees Dennis MacNeil and April Bauer were opposed — to keep the school open for another year and a half, following an administrative recommendation that the school be closed.
MacNeil raised the question of whether closure would be reassessed if enrolments rise in the fall of 2024.
"I would never want to have to put the community through this again." Kastrinos replied that any board motion could be rescinded or revisited at a future date.
The board’s decision mostly goes along with AVPS Supt. Constantine Kastrinos recommendation, which he submitted alongside a summary of community engagement efforts, a 37-page analysis of the school’s roof, and a 45-page asset overview provided by the provincial government.
“The school has continued to decline in enrolment as predicted by the viability report; it is for this reason that I support the recommendation of the report to close the school,” wrote Kastrinos in the background summary.
“If we were to start a new weighted moving average next year, with what is currently enrolled, we would be beginning our first year of a weighted moving average (WMA) cycle below the level that is needed to secure extra rural small school grant funding,” said Kastrinos as he made his recommendation. “Instead of a (deficit) of $140,000 and change, it would be over $400,000.”
Emotions during the meeting were high, with many trustees wiping away tears while expressing sincere sentiment about the weight of the decision. "We are not in the business of closing schools, we are in the business of educating students," said Bauer.
More to come …
