A delegation from Pangman School attended the Southeast Cornerstone Public School Board monthly meeting on Thursday, where community members listed reasons why they felt it was important for Cornerstone to keep operating the school.
Pangman School was one of two schools placed into the review process by Cornerstone, a process they are legislated by the Ministry of Education to perform every year.
There are many criteria that will be considered by Cornerstone board members during the review process, but one of the main reasons for placing a school in review is when it falls below the enrolment thresholds set by the provincial government.
It is very challenging for communities since many rural schools are required to meet a minimum provincial standard for enrollment, when each school has its own situation and its own story.
There is already so much mandated by the provincial government: the date that school starts each year, the minimum amount of instructional hours during the school year, and of course the Outcome-Based Reporting Scale.
But there are still lots of differences between school divisions on how they establish their school year.
At least here in the Weyburn area, Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division and Cornerstone work together to create a shared calendar, so that there are no more different Professional Development dates when it comes to local schools.
There is so much more to the rural school story than their enrollment numbers. It is fortunate that the Cornerstone board is going to look at all the different criteria, that they are going to consider the facility itself, the staff, the students and different community aspects of the school.
We must remember that for many rural communities, their school is the heart that helps promote growth and prosperity for business and local organizations. Many communities start to have their residents leave when there is no longer a school available.
Of course, we want to ensure there is plenty of learning opportunities for our students. Plus, we want to ensure there is opportunities for arts, culture, sports and music in their schools.
The important thing to consider is that if a school is constantly placed under review year after year — it is going to struggle attracting more families. It will be a challenge to increase enrollment when there is a threat of a possible school closure.
We need to look at our rural schools in a much different way. While some guidelines are important to keep in mind, there should be two different enrollment numbers based on the size of the community itself.
When we drive people away from the rural schools, then it becomes an overcrowding situation for the schools in Weyburn itself. That is not a good situation either for those families.
The important thing is to ensure that education is available to our youth — after all they are our future and deserve to be encouraged.
