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NOVEMBER 6, 2014 | Volume olum me 27 7N No. o.. 1 o 132 32 3 2
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School closure ‘legally invalid’? LAWYER FOR RESIDENTS’ GROUP SAYS YES; SCHOOL DISTRICT DISAGREES DALE BASS
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A downtown Kamloops residents’ association believes the board of education’s decision to close Stuart Wood elementary is “legally invalid” and has a lawyer’s assessment to back its assertion. In a letter to the Kamloops-Thompson school district, Micah Rankin of Jensen Law Corp. said “the board’s process did not comply with the School Act, Ministerial Order 194/08, or its own internal school-closure policy.” Among various arguments, Rankin noted the board has not yet adopted a bylaw dealing with the closure of Stuart Wood, as mandated by the School Act. However, Karl deBruijn, superintendent of the KamloopsThompson school district, disagreed with Rankin’s view, noting there is plenty of time to pass a formal bylaw to close Stuart Wood as the doors will not be shuttered until September 2016. DeBruijn said the board of education’s
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Downtown and West End Residents’ Association members, including executive member Jenny Reid (left), acting chairman Bruce Thompson and Ruth Madsen, told media at a press conference yesterday (Nov. 5) that the associtaion believes School District 73’s decision to close Stuart Wood elementary is legally flawed.
June 23 decision to close Stuart Wood included several other reconfiguration decisions that flow from the decision, including moving Stuart Wood students to Beattie School of the Arts elementary, then moving those Beattie kids to the Beattie secondary building on Ninth Avenue, creating a kindergarten to Grade 12 fine-arts school.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Education, speaking on background only, said closing a school is ultimately a board of education decision, noting the ministry simply needs to be kept informed of the process. That is particularly true if the physical building is owned by the school district, as there are rules about alternate uses or sale.
But, the Stuart Wood situation is unique because the school is in a building owned by the City of Kamloops, with the land title including a clause that the building must be used for educational purposes for it to remain in city hands. Rankin, who was retained by the Downtown and West End Residents’ Association (DWERA),
said the board “held only a single public meeting — in North Kamloops — and placed limits on how individuals could participate.” Rankin included in his list of deficiencies in the board’s action its refusal to accept additional information after its stated June 9 deadline for public input, its refusal to allow DWERA to make a presentation to the board on June 23 and the emails that suggest the “closure process was tailored to avoid negative media attention and not to facilitate public participation in its decision.” Noting the ongoing municipal election, Rankin has asked for a response from the district by Dec. 1. His letter is now in the hands of the school district’s legal team. DWERA executive member Jenny Reid said while the bylaw issue is considered important, she is more concerned with email correspondence the association received through a freedom-ofinformation request.
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LAWYER’S ARGUMENT CITES SCHOOL ACT The ministerial order lawyer Micah Rankin refers to in his legal opinion on the closure of Stuart Wood elementary is part of the province’s School Act. It states when a school is being permanently closed, a board must allow for public consultation that is “a fair consideration of the community’s input and adequate opportunity for the community to respond to the board’s proposal to close the school permanently.” It also requires trustees to consider possible alternative community use for all or part of the school. The building that houses the school is owned by the City of Kamloops. On Oct. 3, Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar held a press conference to announce city officials had learned earlier of a covenant on the property that would see it revert back to the province if it is not used for educational purposes. At that conference, Milobar also announced an agreement with Thompson Rivers University to pursue the possibility of the post-secondary facility using the St. Paul Street building. At that time, Kamloops-Thompson board of education chairwoman Denise Harper said trustees had been unaware of the building’s covenant until mid-September and knew nothing about talks that might lead to a downtown university campus. Milobar said then the information was not provided to trustees so they could make their decision on the future of Stuart Wood in a transparent way. In a package of emails of correspondence between schoolboard administration and trustees — obtained by the Downtown and West End Residents’ Association — a June 24 email from Kamloops-Thompson school district secretary-treasurer Kelvin Stretch to then-superintendent Terry Sullivan and Harper addresses a “courtesy telephone call” to the city’s CAO, David Trawin. Stretch’s email said he notified Trawin of the board’s June 23 decision to close Stuart Wood and relocate the staff and students to a school on McGill Road by September 2016. In his email, Stretch said Trawin “was pleased the board made a decision — he was OK one way or the other . . . He indicated the mayor may be making an announcement over the next day or two indicating what the city has planned for the closed school in 2016 . “David passed on his thanks to our trustees for their unanimous decision,” Stretch said in his email.
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