Since School District 57's vote on the district sustainability report last spring, Central Fort George traditional school has been in limbo, leaving parents and children in a state of frustration and uncertainty, making families unsure whether or not to move to the neighbourhood or enroll their children in a program that might be erased from existence next year.
The school board announced that it would begin with discussions about making Spruceland elementary traditional. In essence, closing a small, yet nearly full CFGTS to fill the now half-full Spruceland, since the departure of its French immersion program.
Our traditional program is an integral part of its current inner city location as we are able to put identical uniforms on kids from both the "Heights" and the "Hood," teach them virtues, give them academic structure, and unite them in community through our nation's anthem. This couldn't happen anywhere other than right downtown, as lower income families are less mobile than upper income ones. This board has publicly stated it supports the traditional program, and several on the board have said the traditional program would never work as a dual track school in Spruceland. Forcing kids with uniforms to go to school beside those without defeats the whole purpose of equalizing kids with uniforms and is only an invitation for bullying.
Forcing Spruceland to go single-track traditional is risky politically for the board, as some families will not want to change to a traditional approach to education.
This board needs to make a choice now, and stop bleeding our neighbourhood of students and families by continuing the uncertainty perpetuated by their dithering.
As a "choice" school, Central Fort George receives no extra funding and costs nothing extra to the district, has had stable levels of enrolment, illustrating its success and sustainability as a program, and offers a front-line solution to rebuilding this city's downtown by erasing the stigma of poverty in the classroom and breaking its cycle at its roots. With rumours of a pending surplus for the district next year, the only politically prudent choice and the one that's best for our downtown kids is to announce the traditional program is staying where it is, and let us rebuild our school and community that has been damaged by this school board's dithering.
Kurt Nicholson
downtown resident
