Save the Dunster School
On January 19, 2010, School District 57 released its Sustainability Plan to reduce its budget deficit. Among other measures, the plan includes closure of 14 schools, including the Dunster Fine Arts School. These recommendations were accepted by the School Board on January 26, and consultations with affected communities will follow during the month of February. On Thursday, January 21, many parents of school children along with community members met to discuss how to keep the school open. It was a positive discussion, and many ideas were put forward. One important thing that arose was the need to keep positive, and to take the fight to the next level. It is not about whether they close this school or that one, it is more about the fact that education needs to be better funded by the province. Much more information is being gathered and will be provided as soon as we have it. In the meantime, if you are inspired to action please consider writing letters. Snail mail instead of email is preferred, but do whatever you can. Talk about what the school means to you, your children, your community, but also try to address the larger picture that this is happening all over the the province and is yet another blow to rural communities already suffering from the decline of the forest industry, mill closures, and the general economic downturn. Education needs to be better funded and rural schools need to remain open is the message we want the BC government to hear.
Awesome News!
The district-specific budget tables were released March 16 (http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/k12funding/funding/10-11/estimates/welcome.htm ) and the province has INCREASED the small community supplement for small elementary schools from 134,400/yr to 157,500 - a 17% increase! This means the District is getting an added $23,000 for Dunster just from this, and over the whole district an added half-million specifically for its small, rural schools. Clearly a statement by the Province about how they value small rural schools, and one we need to flog over the coming two weeks as further evidence we are NOT a problem to SD57.
I'll be reworking my numbers for our sustainability report, this is truly great news. Lelani
BC Premier Supports Rural Schools
Funding Up, But SD57 To Stay The Course
School District 57 Moves Forward to Consider Closure of Schools (Opinion250, January 27)
If you support keeping Dunster Fine Arts School open and have not written a letter stating so yet, please do it sometime soon as the decision at the School Board will be made near the end of this month (March). It would be good to write to the following people stating why you think it is good to keep the school open.
You can say in your letter "I hear you're considering closing Dunster School," as a final decision to adopt that recommendation won't be until Tuesday, March 30, and then write why the school was/is important to you, why it was different, AND also why rural communities are important and how schools are important to them. Make it personal - that's what makes all your stories important. Use Dunster as an example but think bigger picture - WHY are rural communities/schools important? What has living in a rural community/attending a rural school/having children attend a rural school meant in your life?
We are trying to keep the message positive as opposed to dumping on the government for bad decisions, instead, here's a chance to make some good decisions, because education is a critical thing and something they should be spending more money on.
Thank you so much for joining us.
A tip from a former student of Dunster Fine Arts School:
During my most recent run of dealing with letter-writing to politicians we were told by "the ones who should know" that there are two important points to keep in mind - 1) formatted, type-written, signed and stamped letters rather than emails work best, but what REALLY makes the difference is 2) when they reply (because they almost always do with that cheesy form letter "Thank you for your concerns, the PM cares deeply..." blah blah) send a second letter in response. This is something that very, very few people do - even the most concerned of us might not think of it (I know I didn't) - and it's the second letter that can make all the difference. So... sorry to have just doubled the workload! but those were some tips I heard and thought they could be passed on.
And another tip:
Just a thought, while I was working with my lawyer this summer, she gave me some advise which I think is really important for people to remember when writing their letters. The advise was to use words that project the outcome of what you want to happen.
For example if all the letters we write say 'we heard that there is a possibility of Dunster School closure' and this is what our politicians read over and over in the hundreds of letters written, what kind of thought is put into their mind? In my letter I never mentioned the closing of the school but that I want the school to remain open. Remaining open is the message that I want to get across.
Just thought I would pass that on. If it works for judges, maybe it will work for politicians too!
Click here for a list of contacts to write to
You can also find us on Facebook
"Save our Schools" Facebook group
Stop BC Education Cuts! A forum on Facebook
to help all BC parents and public education advocates stand up together and send a strong message to
our
MLAs and provincial government that our public school students cannot afford another devastating round of budget cuts.
School District Sustainability Committee Report
School District No. 57 (Prince George)
More news will be posted to this site as it becomes available. Thank you for your support!
Contact Information
The Board of School District 57 |
Our School Trustee liaison: |
Our MLA: OR Room 248 |
Our MP: |
| The Honourable Margaret MacDiarmid Minister of Education Po Box 9045 Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC, V8W 9E2 Phone: 250 387-1977 Fax: 250 387-3200 Email: minister.educ@gov.bc.ca |
The Honourable Rich Coleman (rural communities/social development are part of Minister Coleman's portfolio, and rural school closure is a big part of that. Also he is familiar with Dunster, as he was Minister of Forests at one point and “helped” get Dunster our community forest. So worth writing him) |
Our Regional District Representative: |
Premier Gordon Campbell PO Box 9041 Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC, V8W 9E1 Phone: 250-387-8715 Fax: 250-387-0087 Email: premier@gov.bc.ca |
Page last updated March 18, 2010
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