School District 46 (SD46) board voted Tuesday night to amalgamate Davis Bay Elementary School's Grade 6 and 7 populations into Kinnikinnick this fall, leaving Davis Bay as a K-5 school.
District superintendent Deb-orah Palmer launched the discussion by recapping a meeting held two weeks previously with Davis Bay parents to discuss the potential amalgamation of the school's 18 Grade 6 and 7 students. Palmer listed the key reasons SD46's administrative staff have been recommending the amalgamation: to create larger peer groups and teacher choice for students and to increase students' access to resources, extra curricular activities and sports league play.
She also noted some of the concerns which Davis Bay parents raised at the meeting, including the possibility that parents with Grade 6 and 7 students being amalgamated might choose to also move their younger children to Kinnikinnick, further reducing Davis Bay's population.
"It's a valid concern," she said. "And we're not sure exactly what would happen until we make the decision to move them."
During the course of the meeting, trustees Greg Russell and Fran Heppell spoke in favour of the amalgamation.
Russell argued that the decision falls into the greater issue of running too many small schools and spreading educational resources too thinly in a time of declining enrolment and tight budgets.
"It's not really all about Davis Bay," Russell said. "It's all about how it affects the education of the children throughout all our schools. I get the feeling that we're really looking at trying to concentrate on having school sites as a priority over the educational needs of our children."
Board vice chair Dave Mewhort argued against moving the students, stating that next year's small Grade 6 and 7 population at Davis Bay is a one-year "blip" and that the numbers are projected to bounce back for the following four years.
Mewhort contended that the meeting with Davis Bay parents had largely focused on the cost savings of moving the older children, and he recapped other parent concerns: the loss of mentoring the 6s and 7s provide to younger children, a concern that the gain in extra-curricular activities at Kinnikinnick is being exaggerated and a fear that the "stigma" of Davis Bay being "only" a K-5 could affect the school's overall chances of survival.
"This is speculation," he said. "But there were two or three comments that parents believe that if we go K-5 then people won't want to go there and the school will die out -that it's just a slow death for the school if we do this."
Trustee Lori Fielding initially argued in favour of the amalgamation, emphasizing the gains in students' peer group size.
"They need almost a bit of a buffer and a little bit of a bigger zone before they get thrust into the high school, which is just so much larger," she said.
When Mewhort suggested that the decision be deferred a year, and that the board also consider making other elementary schools K-5s rather than "stigmatizing" Davis Bay, Fielding supported delaying the decision.
The motion to amalgamate Davis Bay's Grade 6s and 7s into Kinnikinnick carried with Russell, Heppell and board chair Silas White voting in favour, and Mewhort and Fielding voting against. Trustees Ken Sinnott and Jason Scott were absent from the meeting.
The board then voted unanimously to amalgamate Davis Bay's staffing and budgeting with Kinnikinnick for the 2010/11 school year.
