Re: Decline of 4,500 in School District Enrolment
Our SD 57 DPAC executive has become aware of recent public comment made by Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid and MLA's Shirley Bond and Pat Bell, and wish to point out an omission of fact in their public comment which leads to the perception that the current school closures are the result of a decline of 4,500 in student enrolment.
While Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid does point out that there has been enrolment decline of 4,500 students since 2000-01 in this district, she fails to mention the 15 schools already closed within this district to offset a significant portion of the 4,500 student enrollment decline.
If the education minister and MLAs Shirley Bond and Pat Bell wish to quote the enrolment decline of 4,500 students from 2000-01 then it should also be fair to disclose the total number of schools closed in this district since 2000-01. The presentation of all facts is important to the issue of the proposed closure of 14 schools for next year as the total number of schools closed in this district since 2000-01 will be 29 schools.
According to the education minister's enrolment numbers, there has been a 25 per cent decline in the district's student enrolment since 2000-01; however, the government's response to this declining enrolment will be the closure of 47 per cent of our district's schools since 2000-01.
We would like to extend an invitation to both MLAs Shirley Bond and Pat Bell to attend our special parent meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23(at 5:30 p.m.) at the Van Bien Training Centre located at 311 Wilson Crescent in Prince George to discuss the issues currently facing our school district.
Respectfully submitted,
District parent Advisory Council No. 57 Prince George
Don Sabo
Chairperson
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