Dear Editor:
I’m not usually in the habit of responding to letters to the editor, but Mr. Wotton’s last rant in your paper regarding the Board of Education seems to have gone over the top. The first rant I was willing to forgive as coming from someone who was being fed incomplete information or disinformation by a third party and let it pass. This second rant on the competence of senior staff and Board decisions, in the face of severe budget shortfalls, deserves a reply.

I’ll start with Mr. Wotton’s concern over the closing of the school in Tulameen. Yes, we did close a school, a school that was going to have about six children spread through four grades. What Mr. Wotton failed to mention were the discussions we had with the local community, over about two years, regarding the school’s declining enrollment and educational options. Would he have preferred that we continued to operate a school with six students and taken resources away from another facility, say Central or Diamond Vale elementary? We chose to bus the students to a full service school where we could offer additional educational opportunities. A bus, by the way, that their siblings and neighbours already rode each and every day.

Next, Mr. Wotton talks about denying educational opportunity for students with the closing of the Directed Studies Centre. What he doesn’t mention is the year long review that was conducted to look at our alternate programs and how best to meet the needs of the majority of students within the limitations of our budget. What Mr. Wotton failed to mention was that the site in question was converted to a program to meet the needs of young moms and provide care and support to their children while they completed their high school graduation. An extra learning lab was added to Merritt Secondary School to attempt to accommodate the very real needs of the students that previously attended the Directed Studies Centre.

In addition, opportunities continue to exist at the Community Learning Centre and SCIDES. Did it cause some angst? Of course it did. Was everyone happy with the outcome, no. Did I have conversations with the current union president about his concerns — you bet I did. But here’s the question I pose to Mr. Wotton. In light of close to a $1-million deficit, would you have done nothing and simply told these young moms, too bad? Or would you have done what this Board of Education did? That is review program areas, have open budget discussions with the communities of Merritt and Princeton, solicit feedback from all partner groups (and by the way, draw down $600,000 from reserves to lessen the effects of underfunding on programs) and then make a decision based on the needs of the many.

I would also ask Mr. Wotton where he was during the budget and program deliberations? I don’t recall seeing him at one board meeting or budget consultation. I do recall having parents, business owners’ support and professional staff, throughout the community, tell me that they knew we had tough choices to make and were confident that we would choose wisely, in the students' best interests.

Lastly, Mr. Wotton has expressed concern over the educational competence of our superintendent. Having not been a teacher with our school district for several years and when he was only having limited interaction with Mr. Peacock, I’m not sure where he is drawing his “considered opinion” from. What I can tell you is that I have confidence in the leadership of Mr. Peacock, as do, I believe, the majority of the professional staff within our district.

Gordon Swan
School District 58 Vice-Chairman