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Families accept tiny school closure
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With just 10 students left, Giscome Elementary can’t offer everything kids need TED CLARKE Citizen Staff
CITIZEN PHOTO BY TED CLARKE
Danielle Malais and her daughters, eight-year-old Cooper, left, and 10-yearold Hadley, don’t want to leave Giscome Elementary School but with only 10 students and the student population expected to drop, they have no choice but to switch to a larger school in Prince George.
Kyle and Kylea Carr don’t want to send their three boys away from Giscome Elementary School, close to where they live, to another school that’s a 20-minute drive away in Prince George, but they really don’t have a choice. With only 10 students, one teacher and one classroom, Giscome can’t provide the educational opportunities and extracurricular activities kids in larger schools take for granted, they said. They support School District 57’s proposal to pull the plug on programming at Giscome and are willing to send their sons to Blackburn Elementary, which would be the catchment school if Giscome closes. “I think it would be a good idea,” said Kylea Carr. “There’s just not a lot of kids in the school and I don’t think they’re getting the same kind of socialization as some of the schools.”
Teacher/vice-principal Christine Anderson oversees a class that includes three Grade 7s, one Grade 6, one Grade 5, two Grade 4s, two Grade 3s and one kindergarten student. The Carr kids are six, eight and 10 and ever since the older classroom was blended with the younger one two years ago the brothers have been fighting with each other more often. “There’s no consistency,” said Kyle Carr. “Markus has had four or five different teachers. As soon as we went from two classes to one class the behavioral changes in my boys were noticeable. “Everybody raised money to have this place built but we’re at a point now where my boys are a third of the population of the school and they’re not getting a proper education, and it’s unfair to the teacher, unfair to the staff and unfair to the kids. They want to be in a classroom.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2