A request to create a working group that would focus on a new Sorrento high school wasn’t supported by School District 83 trustees.
At its Feb. 15 meeting, the school board received a presentation from the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Electoral Area C (South Shuswap) Director Paul Demenok and Electoral Area F (North Shuswap) Director Jay Simpson. The two provided a case for building a secondary school in Sorrento.
Simpson began the presentation with a focus on travel conditions and the time involved for students who are bused from North Shuswap communities to Salmon Arm and back on school days. He said children can be on a school bus for up to four hours. Consequences of this include a lack of opportunity for extracurricular activities and to do home work, and a potential drop in school performance.
Simpson referred to recent census figures showing growing populations in both the North and South Shuswap. He said Area F grew by about 30 per cent to over 3,000 people, while Area C grew by 12 per cent, and is just around 9,000 people.
“So in total, we’re about 12,000 people, so this is the largest under-serviced population in School District 83, in terms of a high school anyway,” said Simpson, adding the two electoral areas combined also contribute more through taxation than Salmon Arm.
“We pay $9.2 million a year in annual taxes; Salmon Arm pays $8.8 million,” said Demenok. “Salmon Arm has 10 schools, we have three schools. Give that some thought please. I don’t think it’s fair.”
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The South Shuswap director proceeded to take shots at the school board’s creation and selection of the “E5” long-range facilities plan option for Salmon Arm. Under E5, Salmon Arm Secondary Jackson and Sullivan campuses both become Grade 9-12 schools, while Shuswap Middle School continues with Grades 6-8.
Demenok was concerned this decision would set back development of a Sorrento high school for many years. He called the process behind the selection of E5 “flawed,” noting it “wasn’t discussed during community consultation, but added in afterward with no opportunity for traditional public scrutiny – questions or input; it was electronic at best.”
Demenok asked why work hasn’t started on finding land and “some of the basic stuff that would be necessary for a Sorrento high school.” He and Simpson proposed the school district create a “West Shuswap” working group which could do just that.
Later in the school board’s meeting, Trustee Marty Gibbons suggested establishing an Area C and F LRFP working group that could look at land options and issues including transportation. However, when the matter came to a vote, only Gibbons was in favour. Trustee Tennile Lachmuth abstained, and trustees Quentin Bruns, Marianne VanBuskirk and Amanda Krebs were opposed.
Krebs, the board chair, suggested a decade could pass before a Sorrento high school comes to fruition – if the school district is lucky and the project is fast tracked. She stressed school district staff are already “overworked right now,” and questioned starting the group when staff’s plates are already full.
“I just wonder if this is something we would want to start knowing that plates are already quite full,” said Krebs.
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