“It was inappropriate and there were things in there that were inaccurate , too.”
Bulkley Valley School District 54 (SD54) Chairperson Les Kearns did not mince words during Tuesday’s board meeting. He was speaking about the motion from Smithers council regarding the French immersion program.
Last month, Smithers council weighed in on the apparent cuts to the French immersion program at Muheim Memorial Elementary School. The motion stated that programs such as French immersion attract families to the community.
However, just over one year ago, Smithers council said they would not weigh in on the closure of Lake Kathryn Elementary School, citing it was not in their jurisdiction.
As for why council decided to take a stance on this board issue, Kearns doesn’t know.
“To be honest with you, I have absolutely no idea … it seems plain to me that it’s not in their jurisdiction, but obviously they didn’t see it that way,” he said.
Mayor Taylor Bachrach said council weighed in on the topic because it was a concern to them.
“Our understanding at the time was that the program was not able to accommodate the families who were on the waitlist. So there was more demand for the program then the school district was willing to accommodate and certainly … we’ve heard stories of families choosing to leave town because they can’t access the program and that was concerning to us,” he said.
When asked whether the motion that was sent to the school district was the right approach, Bachrach said it wasn’t.
“In hindsight it would have been better to sit down and have a conversation with them. The impression we were given by the folks who attended the meeting that there was a decision imminent … council makes decisions as a group and they chose to make the decision that they did,” he said.
Bachrach thinks the situation could have been handled better, but stated the motion was not inappropriate.
“I don’t think it was inappropriate … I think perhaps it could have been handled more diplomatically,” he said.
The school board will be drafting a letter to send to town council in response to their motion.
Bachrach said he’s tried to get school officials to meet with council to talk about french immersion and the motion.
“I invited them (Kearns and van der Mark) to come to council and meet with us to discuss their concerns. Unfortunately they did not accept that invitation,” he said.
Read more in the June 28 edition of The Interior News.