ATHABASCA — It may have felt like a bit of déjà vu as Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) trustees, Supt. Neil O’Shea and secretary-treasurer Aimee Hirtle faced a room full of Rochester residents almost two years to the day the trustees had a public meeting about closing part of Grassland School.
Chair Candy Nikipelo welcomed the crowd of over 100 people and reassured them that what was said would have an impact on the board's decision, and acknowledged feelings were running high at the prospect of losing the school.
“Every single board member here has rural roots and know what the importance of history, of the organizations, of the businesses, of the families to small communities,” she said. “I've said this at school councils, and I've said it to many people over the years, but I'll say it again, that the decision that we have to make about the future of this school weighs very heavily on us all as a board.”
She said there are three factors the board needs to consider when deciding about the future of the school: community, programming, and financials.
“Number three is financial, I listed this one last on purpose, as we may have been accused of just looking at the cost associated with keeping such a small school open,” Nikipelo said. “But I do want to stress if that was the only thing being considered Rochester School would have been closed many years ago due to the number of students.”
She then turned the microphone over to O’Shea who went through a Power Point presentation outlining the details of the viability study completed by Focus 10 Consulting before fielding questions and comments.
“For the last two years ... you can't use any of that information with COVID,” said Josh Kitchen. “(Like) so many parents, we’re keeping our kids home from school because of masks and vaccines, or policies. So, if you're going to use the last two years, within these numbers, it's not accurate.”
O’Shea explained most children who were being home-schooled were also registered with the division so while some may not have been registered, he suspects more were and were included in the study.
“What we need to see is that kids are registered in the school for next year,” he said. “So, if your kids are coming back we need to get a registration form filled out. Let's see what the numbers are actually going to look like.”
Michael Cathrea stood up and said he and his family recently moved to Rochester to get away from city life and he works remotely on his Edmonton-based business.
“I'm able to still run my businesses and work and nothing has changed and I'm not alone in that, a lot of people are leaving the cities and a lot of people my age in their early to mid-30s, are having kids,” he said to a round of applause. “I've got a two-year-old and another one is imminent. Having a school close by is going to be an asset, especially one with smaller class sizes, because that's just not something you can get in the city.”
The most passionate plea to keep the school came from Candice Jensen, wife of Clayton, who spoke openly about her daughter's rare condition.
“Our daughter has nephrotic syndrome, and that's a very rare disease and that means that she is on an immunosuppressant and that any exposure to (germs) could result in her relapsing and her kidneys shutting down and needing treatments,” she said. “The majority of the kids who have nephrotic syndrome do not go to school because of exposure of bugs and germs but we as a family decided that when it came time to decide what her educational journey would be, we decided that she would be OK to come to this school because it's smaller.”
Also in attendance were Athabasca County reeve Brian Hall, Rochester-area Coun. Joe Gerlach, Coun. Natasha Kapitaniuk who attended Rochester School, and Coun. Kelly Chamzuk who lobbied to keep the high school part of Grassland School open two years ago before she was elected to council.
“The recent census data shows a decrease in population in the county between 2016 and 2021 of 11.6 per cent – yes, I’m concerned about population decreases in rural areas across the province, and especially in Athabasca County,” Hall said in an e-mail Mar. 26. “It is especially important for us to continue to work to protect local jobs, and to ensure the region is an attractive place for investment.”
He added the council always wants to promote Athabasca County as a wonderful place to live.
"We have many things in our favour; affordable housing, excellent recreational opportunities, good schools, and in my view our physical location relative to our neighbours and other urban centres works in our favour,” said Hall. “Athabasca County has a role in promoting our region (and) council needs to have further discussion with each other and residents on the options available to the county, and the Rochester community.”
There will be another opportunity for the public to address trustees at Aspen View's April 14 meeting and a decision on whether to follow the recommendation to close the school will be made at a special meeting April 21.
