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.
A petition to have the Creighton School Board revisit the high school issue seems to be gathering steam. Buz Trevor, the author of the petition, said yesterday that between 60 and 70 per cent of Creighton and Denare Beach residents approached with the petition have signed it. "Certainly in Denare Beach, I really haven't been surprised (with the response)," said Trevor, a resident of the northern village. "Personally, I would say I have had 25 signatures and seven people who said no. The level of support for this is kind of what I expected." About 30 volunteers have been taking the petition door-to-door in the communities over the past week, said Trevor, who has asked that the papers be delivered to the designated drop-off points by tonight. Trevor is optimistic that the volunteers' goal of 700 signatures will be achieved. That goal represents roughly 30 per cent of the population of Creighton and Denare Beach. Trevor and other members of a group calling themselves Citizens for Better Education plan to present the petition to the Creighton board at the board's January 29 meeting. About 70 per cent of people approached in Denare Beach have put their name on the petition, with between 60 and 70 per cent in Creighton, said Trevor. The petition calls for the board to rescind its vote to establish a Creighton high school "pending a further and more refined analysis of available options" that would include residents of Flin Flon. Meanwhile, a similar petition has been circulating throughout Creighton Community School for about the past week. Requesting anonymity, a Creighton student who helped draw up the petition said it has so far gathered between 50 and 70 signatures among the grade 7, 8 and 9 students. The petition is set to be forwarded to the Creighton board. The student said 90 per cent of her peers oppose the high school. On December 16, 2003, the board voted 4-2 in favour of adding grades 10, 11 and 12 to Creighton Community School, one year at at time beginning in September of 2004. The vote came after a task force assembled by the board concluded that it would be feasible to add the grades. Following the vote, Terry Brown, chairman of the Creighton board, said he felt a "silent majority" of Creighton and Denare Beach residents support the high school. One reason Brown said he supported the controversial vote is that the board projects additional funding from having a high school program. "I don't want, four or five years from now, to start gutting the system because of lack of funding," he said.
