Students to be sent to Grand Falls or Plaster Rock

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The fate of New Denmark Elementary School now rests in the hands of Education Minister Kelly Lamrock, following District 14's final step in Policy 409. Should Lamrock follow through on the district's decision, the future looks grim for the tiny school.

At the March 18 District Education Council (DEC) meeting, Superintendent Lisa Gallagher delivered her recommendation to close the school for the 2008-09 school year. She added New Denmark parents would have the option to send their children to Donald Fraser Memorial School in Plaster Rock or John Caldwell School in Grand Falls.

Gallagher pointed out to council and concerned community members her decision was not an easy one. Several issues came to the forefront that concerned her.

She said with the declining enrollment in District 14, she had real concerns about the education of the 24 students in two combined-classes of three grade levels. She said that kind of environment is not acceptable and is unfair to the students.

"I believe the students at the New Denmark School could be better served at John Caldwell School or at Donald Fraser School," Gallagher told the council and PSSC (Parent School Support Committee).

In terms of finances, Gallagher said the closure of the school would mean projected savings of $57,921 to the district by the fall of 2008. Those savings could be redistributed to help the neighbouring schools.

"When you look at the extensive review of the facility, it offers clear and compelling evidence there is a lot of work to be done in that school to ensure all mechanical and electrical systems, including interior and exterior renovations, are brought to standard," she explained.

Gallagher's recommendation projected it would cost the district more than $500,000 over time to make the necessary repairs and adjustments to the school, and it would not happen in just a year or two.

She pointed out children, travelling from New Denmark to John Caldwell, would only be on the bus for an extra 10 to 15 minutes.

Gallagher also recognized the school's playground equipment is in excellent shape. Instead of it going waste, she explained the equipment will be transferred to John Caldwell School and set up by September 2008 at the expense of the district.

The superintendent also pointed out the educational achievements of New Denmark students have been a concern for the district.

"In 2005 zero per cent were successful in the grade two provincial reading assessments. Since that time, this had improved marginally to 17 per cent and most recently to 20 per cent experiencing success," Gallagher stated. "In a school with small numbers writing assessments, this kind of variance is common. The concern with this situation is the lack of a school-based resource team to provide meaningful interventions for these students to ensure they are caught up."

Gallagher said having the 24 New Denmark students attend larger schools in Grand Falls or Plaster Rock would give these students an advantage with more specialist teachers "to enhance the quality of their educational experience."

Gallagher also noted that during the parental consultation several people talked about the unique cultural identity of New Denmark School.

"In meeting with the principal in September 2007, I inquired as to the possible nature of ethnic programs or extra/co-curricular activities.

None was reported. In fact, the principal reported that parents were choosing to enroll their children in neighbouring schools at an alarming rate. Further, the lack of parental and community support has been mentioned by preliminary external reviewers, employed by the Department of Education, as recently as February 2008.

Gallagher said the parental participation in the consultation meeting "was exceedingly small", but the parents who did attend wanted to see the school remain open.

"They shared their concerns in a spirit of reflective listening and asked questions with a respectful tone. The overriding concern is a lack of parental support… their primary concern was that their children would feel "lost" in a bigger school without the sense of family they now have."

Taking the factors into consideration, Gallagher made a motion for the council to accept her recommendation.

"It is my recommendation to the district education council of District 14 to follow through with the recommendation, included in their Space Utilization Study, to close New Denmark in the fall of 2008," Gallagher said. "Furthermore, I recommend parents be given the option to send their children in Grades 3 to 5 - when I say Grades 3 to 5, I mean Grade 2 this year - to John Caldwell or Donald Fraser as this is a possibility to a establish a transportation route. Students choosing to attend Donald Fraser would be grandfathered in Plaster Rock schools until they graduate from high school."

With that, council members were asked to cast their vote, by secret ballot, on whether to accept the superintendent's recommendation or not.

The motion was passed six to three, with one abstention.

"This is what we expected would happen," said Tanya Adams, PSSC spokesperson, following the DEC's decision.

With the loss of early immersion next year, she pleaded to the council to fight for more time to allow the school to increase its enrollment.

"We would like to be given a chance to fight immersion," she said. "Give us five years or whatever to fight that and bring our numbers up because we are a growing community, we're not declining. If we don't close, we like to have the chance to turn things around. Give us a year or something."

DEC chair Bob Parkinson acknowledged Adams request and said it would be noted.

The DEC's decision will now be turned over to the Minister of Education for final approval on whether or not to keep the school open for September 2008.

Adams, who has one child enrolled at New Denmark and another set to enroll in a couple of years, said she is not sure what the next step will be for the PSSC.

When asked by the media if the PSSC would lobby the minister to keep the school open, Adams replied, "we haven't thought any further than today, we are just going one day at a time."