As the Prince George School District gets set to re-open Springwood Elementary school in the next five months, parents in the Hart region are concerned over the “abrupt” announcement.
#SD57 April4 meeting begins with parents concerned over “sudden” announcement of possibly re-opening #Springwood Elementary @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/zHvp569zOU
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) April 5, 2017
That’s according to the SD57 Parents Advisory Council (D-PAC), who say the Board of Education should’ve brought this to its attention sooner.
“We heard that there were a couple of other options that perhaps could have been considered,” says D-PAC Chair Gillian Burnett.
“It would have been nice if the communities had the opportunity to weigh in; is this what works best for them? That piece hasn’t been considered.”
The motion was made Tuesday night, hours after an official release was sent out about the vote, where SD57 trustees voted an unanimous ‘Yes.’
Moving forward, Burnett believes the decision was too short notice and hopes the board will be more inclusive and communicative.
“Some families will be going through a transition for the second time, and it’s important that we acknowledge that and do whatever we can to make this as smooth as possible for them.”
#SD57 PAC chair says re-opening of #Springwood should have better communication from the board; partner groups need to be involved @mypgnow
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) April 5, 2017
SD57 will use the next week to inform local parents about any changes, including a transfer process beginning on April 10th.
Burnett adds she wants to see more ideas come forward before September 1st for other partner committees.
“We need to do better in the future for other communities because if you have a look at our district, there are other areas of our city that are going to feel capacity constraints very soon.”
She understands the positive anecdotes that could come out of this re-opening, such as more classrooms with smaller size and capacity.
#SD57 presentation focusing on upgrades for #Springwood; timeline could be rushed as there’s only 5 months to open; “small window” @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/PrI5C6Pil9
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) April 5, 2017
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