Nanaimo District Secondary Better Known as NDSSConsidered for Closure
The local press reports that after 80 days of consultation the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district staff are making few changes to their original proposal.
In a plan to remove aging buildings from the system and eliminate 1800 empty spaces, the staff are recommending the closure of four elementary schools and two secondary schools over a four year period. It is estimated this would save the district $1.7 million each year.
The plan calls for the building of a new 1100 seat secondary school at either Woodlands or NDSS with the Woodlands site being favoured over the NDSS site as it would save $4 million.
Issues of student safety with having to go greater distances to elementary school were also raised, and the possibility of increased bus service was a solution offered.
The schools to be closed are NDSS, Woodland Secondary and Dufferin Crescent, Mount Benson, Rutherford and Woodbank elementary.
Trustees will make a final decision at a public meeting Wednesday at Wellington Secondary School.
The school board's decision on closing Mount Benson was retarded. Mount Benson Elementary was one of the most central schools in the divers lake/long lake area. I live literally 5 minutes away, as do a lot more people. I attended that school from kindergarten to grade seven. Clearly, the school board didn't think about the future; More housing is going in, in the area, and there's going to be young children ready for school, but have to drive practically a mile, because I'm sure their parents wouldn't want them walking such a distance. The School Board speaker which was at Mount Benson showed nothing but disrepsect, because he was THE big mouth, and just dwelled on certain information. The trustee's did nothing but basically listen to their "walkman's", and didn't consider anything about what one single person said. Instead, they'd prefer to just brush everything off their shoulders. All I can say; It was really freakin' retarded.
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