The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Creighton School Board will again review the high school issue after a petition calling for more time was discussed at their meeting last night. Bev Hill, a petition organizer, told the trustees that about 50 per cent of Creighton and Denare Beach voters have signed a petition to have the board rescind its high school vote and analyze the matter further. "A very substantial number of parents, electors and students are in favour of requesting the Creighton School Board rescind the motion," said Hill. The petition was taken door-to-door earlier this month by members of a volunteer group calling itself Citizens For Better Education. Organizers said the petition has 676 signatures, which represents about half of the electors within the Creighton School Division. Board Chairman Terry Brown said the board would include the petition in its review of the high school issue pending the trustees' receipt of the original petition. "Any organization that deals with a petition has to see the petition and have a copy of it," said Brown, adding that a verification process would take place. Hill replied that organizers were not prepared to let the board see the petition at that moment because some people who signed it asked that the trustees not see their signatures. "What we could do is have a statement audited with the number of (signatures), with a mutually agreed upon individual doing that for us," she said. Hill pointed out that the petition did not reach every voter. She also said a sheet containing 15 additional signatures was somehow lost. The Creighton School Board voted 4-2 last month to incorporate grades 10, 11 and 12 into Creighton Community School, one year at a time, beginning in September 2004. The vote followed the release of a feasibility report concluding that the program expansion was feasible. Hill and other members of Citizens For Better Education constituted most of the 30 Creighton and Denare Beach residents on hand at last night's meeting, held in a multipurpose room at Creighton school. Denare Beach resident Buz Trevor, who initiated the petition, asked the board how long it would take for them to conclude their review of the high school issue once they've seen the petition. "I really can't say," replied Brown. "Until we've seen the petition and gone through the petition ourselves... we'll go from there." Creighton high school opponent Greg East asked Brown for an assurance the trustees would give "serious consideration" to the petition during their review of the issue. "All I can say is that the board has made a decision and we will review it," replied Brown. During her presentation, Hill made reference to three other petitions, which also called for more time before a vote, that were circulated throughout Creighton Community School, Hapnot Collegiate and Many Faces Education Centre. Hill said the petition at Creighton school, which was limited to grade 7, 8 and 9 students, garnered 44 signatures. That represents approximately 44 per cent of the total number of students in those grades. Hill said the petitions at Hapnot and Many Faces, which were limited to Saskatchewan students, garnered 71 signatures. That represents approximately 55 per cent of Creighton and Denare Beach students who attend those high schools (about 65 per cent at Hapnot and about 25 per cent at Many Faces). As with the door-to-door petition, the high school petition did not reach all of the students. Yesterday's meeting was at times tense, with emotions running high. At one point, Buz Trevor accused Creighton Director of Education Austin Gerein of using "funny math" in a letter to Creighton school staff regarding the amount of public support for the high school concept. "I'd like to meet with you, Buz... I want to hear about this 'funny math' that I've been doing," Gerein said to Trevor, who sat a few feet away in the crowd. "I don't want to discuss it at a public meeting with you, but you accused me in front of all these people of 'funny math.' "If you want to make accusations at a public meeting, I expect to have an opportunity to discuss them with you." Trevor agreed to meet with Gerein on the matter. A parent made her own accusation about funny math. She said the feasibility report on the Creighton high school did not use actual enrollment numbers, a charge Gerein denied. See 'Answers' P.6 "Those are real numbers," he said. "They're not numbers that we made up." Another parent had a problem with the feasibility study being written in part by Creighton School Division employees. She said it's "pretty hard" to produce an unbiased report by involving people who could "benefit" from the findings. The feasibility report involved the research and input of 16 educators, administrators and trustees from within the Creighton School Division. Also part of the report were seven external task force members. It was clear at the meeting that some parents strongly feel the high school issue was rushed. One mother told the board she has too many unanswered questions about the high school. "I need answers. That's my child's education," she said. When the issue of educational quality at the potential high school came up, Brown shared his belief that some people underestimate Creighton school's ability to offer a top-notch program. "...we've done such a great job in K-9, and we're going to continue to do a great job in 10, 11 and 12 if we go ahead with (the high school)," he said. "That's the part that I have a hard time understanding, why people think that with grades 10, 11 and 12, we're going to screw up." Near the conclusion of the meeting, longtime Creighton resident Doug Gibson shared his concern that the problems Creighton school could encounter without the high school program are being overlooked. "If Creighton school closed, Creighton would lose probably another 40 good paying jobs," he said. Gibson also shared his opinion that residents asked to sign the door-to-door petition may not be properly informed to make their decision. Near the end of his speech, Gibson called on high school opponents to "stop vilifying our school trustees."
