Kyle and Kylea Carr don’t want to send their three boys away from Giscome Elementary School, close to where they live, to another school that’s a 20-minute drive away in Prince George, but they really don’t have a choice.
With only 10 students, one teacher and one classroom, Giscome can’t provide the educational opportunities and extracurricular activities kids in larger schools take for granted, they said.
They support School District 57’s proposal to pull the plug on programming at Giscome and are willing to send their sons to Blackburn Elementary, which would be the catchment school if Giscome closes.
“I think it would be a good idea,” said Kylea Carr. “There’s just not a lot of kids in the school and I don’t think they’re getting the same kind of socialization as some of the schools.”
Teacher/vice-principal Christine Anderson oversees a class that includes three Grade 7s, one Grade 6, one Grade 5, two Grade 4s, two Grade 3s and one kindergarten student.
The Carr kids are six, eight and 10 and ever since the older classroom was blended with the younger one two years ago the brothers have been fighting with each other more often.
“There’s no consistency,” said Kyle Carr. “Markus has had four or five different teachers. As soon as we went from two classes to one class the behavioural changes in my boys were noticeable.
“Everybody raised money to have this place built but we’re at a point now where my boys are a third of the population of the school and they’re not getting a proper education, and it’s unfair to the teacher, unfair to the staff and unfair to the kids. They want to be in a classroom.”
The school is located on Upper Fraser Road on the west shore of Eaglet Lake, 40 minutes from the centre of Prince George. The Carrs have lived in the area nearly 13 years and Kylea worries for the future of the community, which was thriving when the nearby Upper Fraser Sawmill east of Giscome was in operation. The mill closed in 2003.
“One of our key selling points out here is that there’s an elementary school that’s local and if it closes that could impact everybody, not just the kids but home sales and things like that,” she said.
When Danielle Malais moved to Giscome in 2019 the school had 28 students and two teachers. But with just 10 students there are not enough resources available to her daughters Hadley, 10, and Cooper, eight.
“My oldest daughter has been struggling a little bit and she’s not able to get the help she needs, there’s not enough teachers, and it’s hard when they’re at different levels of learning,” said Malais. “They don’t want it to close, they like it, and it would be a hard adjustment for them to go to a bigger school, but it’s necessary.”
Giscome opened Jan. 16, 2015 and the people who spoke at Monday’s meeting agreed it would be a huge loss to the community if the building itself is permanently shuttered, assuming trustees approve to end Giscome’s educational program as of June 30.
The building was partially built with locally raised funds as a community centre and is two-thirds owned by the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George. Residents are hoping the building will remain open for community functions.
Closing Giscome will save the district an estimated $370,000 in the first year and $170,000 in the second year. That reflects the loss of a $200,000 annual provincial grant. But superintendent Jameel Aziz says saving money is not why Giscome is on SD 57’s chopping block.
“This is not budget-related at all, this is really related to the fact that we don’t feel we’re offering kids an equitable education program,” said Aziz. “The school at one time had as many as 35 students and it’ll be down to seven students next year and possibly four and we just don’t feel that quality program can be offered kids with that low of a number.
“We’ve even heard from the kids that they would like to participate on (school) teams and have more engagement with kids their age and we can’t offer that here.”
Policy dictates that after the school board passes a resolution to indicate a school closure a 60-day consideration period must follow before any decision is made.
Highlights of the discussion in Monday’s meeting will be shared at the April 16 school board meeting. A final decision will be made at a special meeting on April 22.
If the closure is approved Aziz said the district will work with parents who want to send their kids to other schools out of the catchment area to try to give those families priority.
Ashley Feniuk, an Indigenous educator at Westwood Elementary, said she wants her nine-year-old daughter to attend school there.
“I work in the district and I know how much they’re missing out on,” said Feniuk.
