At least one parent from Burkeville was not impressed by the Richmond board of education wearing “Erase Bullying” T-shirts at last week’s meeting, saying Sea Island elementary parents are feeling bullied.
Braham Teja received a letter from the school district that afternoon, informing him the elementary school will not have a kindergarten class this fall because only three children were registered.
“When I see the slogan on your shirts that say ‘erase bullying,’ I can’t help but speak on behalf of Burkeville people,” Teja said to the school board.
“We’re kind of tired of bullying, too, in our community; we feel like we’re being bullied as a community.”
His family has lived in Burkeville for four years and he has a son in Grade 1 and was hoping his daughter would join him there this fall.
Instead, he’s been told that she will be bused to Brighouse elementary, something that’s not a “viable option,” Teja said.
Shauna Gordon, who grew up in Burkeville and now lives there with her young family, said removing the kindergarten class will undermine the possibility of any return for kindergarten at Sea Island.
“As the school population decreases, due to constraints placed by the restricted catchment, strict adherence to boundaries, it gives the appearance of a dwindling school age population, which is not representative (of the community),” Gordon said, adding that, next year, the kindergarten population is expected to go up.
Burkeville, being on a separate island from the rest of Richmond, won’t densify, but the school could absorb students from other catchments, like Brighouse, Gordon said.
The letter to the Sea Island parents states that primary programs, especially kindergarten classes, are intended to be “highly social in nature” so that students interact with lots of other students.
At this point, there are only four students registered in Grade 1 for next year.
When asked by an audience member at the board meeting what the “magic number” was to form a class, the superintendent, Sherry Elwood, said “more than seven, closer to 15.”
One trustee suggested that a separate meeting be held at the school for Sea Island parents.
However, board chair Ken Hamaguchi said, because the parents were at the meeting, they should be allowed to ask their questions there.
The letter, according to the parents, has a perceived threat of school closure if a kindergarten class isn’t offered next year, but explains that there a formal process the district must adhere to if it’s considering closing schools.
Sea Island elementary is at about 20 per cent capacity. The school district has just launched a Long-Range Facilities Plan consultation process. The plan will be made public after the March 13 school board meeting and public open houses are expected in March and April.
Teja told the Richmond News after the meeting that it feels like the board has already made a decision on not running a kindergarten class at Sea Island elementary.
“I think their decision’s been made and I think it’s very sad because the school is an integral part of Burkeville,” Teja said. The neighbourhood’s sense of community is based around the school, he added.
As a safe, child-friendly neighbourhood, Teja said he thinks “there should be some effort to keep the school flourishing rather than burying it.”
Teja said it was in “poor form” to send a letter to Burkeville parents on the afternoon of the board meeting when they were coming to present to the board of education.
“They sent that out to try to squash anything we put forward,” Teja said. “There’s been no transparency to this entire process.”
David Sadler, spokesperson for the school district, said they will review the comments and feedback from the parents.
