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Education

Two North Okanagan-Shuswap school district properties up for sale

VERNON - The North Okanagan-Shuswap School District is putting two of its properties up for sale. The first is the former board office in Salmon Arm, which will be listed for $800,000, and the other is the old South Canoe School, on the market for $500,000. Board of Education chair Bobbi Johnson says Colliers International...

North Okanagan schools get provincial cash handouts

VERNON - Local schools are getting a cash infusion from the provincial government. The money will go toward several capital projects at schools in Vernon, Salmon Arm and Armstrong. Okanagan Landing Elementary is getting $600,000 for a geothermal heating plant projected to save 72 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, and about $15,000 in operating costs....

Do you know the difference between color and colour? What about your kids?

VERNON - Raise your hand if you pronounce the last letter of the alphabet ‘zed’ instead of ‘zee.’ What about colour versus color — do you spell it the first way or the second? Do you refer to the road less travelled, with two l’s or the road less traveled with one? Do you recognize...

Vernon MLA lambasted over comments about school cuts

VERNON - Vernon’s MLA is standing by comments he made about cuts to school bus routes after getting slammed by the NDP’s education critic this week. A number of bus routes were cut in the Vernon School District this year, leading parents to speak out in protest. The decision was the result of funding cuts from...

Salmon Arm mom pulls son from school after learning he was placed in locked room

SALMON ARM - A Salmon Arm mother is still in shock after finding out her seven-year-old son was being locked in a room at school as part of a behaviour management plan she knew nothing about. Jackie Graham found out about the practice when the principal of South Broadview Elementary School in Salmon Arm called...

Loss of school bus route leaves Cherryville mom in a quandary

CHERRYVILLE - A Cherryville mother is considering homeschooling her children after learning they will now have to walk over nine kilometres to get to the nearest bus stop. Kara-Lee Zeolkowski got a letter from School District 22 in June saying the bus stop outside the family’s home on Sugar Lake Road has been eliminated. The...

North Okanagan-Shuswap budget cuts ‘gut-wrenching’

NORTH OKANAGAN - Literacy programs, grief counselling and class sizes are all taking a hit next year in what the North Okanagan-Shuswap school board chair calls some ‘gut-wrenching’ decisions to balance next year’s budget. The school board approved two pages of reductions totalling $1.7 million at its board meeting Tuesday, May 12. "We have tried...

Shuswap school closure decision difficult for school district

SALMON ARM - The closure of a rural Salmon Arm elementary school has been avoided, at least for one more year. Faced with the decision of whether or not to close Silver Creek Elementary a majority of trustees voted to keep the school open for another year while exploring the feasibility of introducing a Montessori...

Decision on proposed Shuswap school closure expected tonight

NORTH OKANAGAN - Some tough decisions are expected to be made by the North Okanagan-Shuswap School Board tonight, May 12. It’s the meeting at which board members must decide whether or not to shut down Silver Creek Elementary School in Salmon Arm. The school was placed on the chopping block when the findings of a...

Teachers’ union to make last ditch effort to avoid job cuts

KAMLOOPS – The Kamloops-Thompson School Board meets Monday to vote on the district's job slashing budget and the teachers' union will be there to argue against the cuts. The local Teachers' Association will present a report from its provincial body in an effort to prevent the board's plan to layoff 17 teachers and three educational...

Vernon School District budget: What will be cut, what will be gained

VERNON - Three vice-principal positions are among the cuts being made at local schools to help balance next year’s budget. School District 22 announced what’s being kept, and what’s being cut, as part of the 2015/2016 budget in a media release. Three vice-principal positions, one each at J.W. Inglis, Hillview and Coldstream Elementary, will not...

HELSTON: Angry about school superintendents getting raises? You’re missing the point

Many reacted with shock when news broke that superintendents in three Okanagan school districts were given raises last year, but I think we might be missing the bigger picture. What I find more shocking than a superintendent with 30 years of education experience receiving a pay raise — the first for that position since 2006...

Vernon School District joins list of superintendents with pay raises

VERNON - Despite tight financial times, the Vernon School District’s superintendent was granted a raise last year, the first for that position since 2006. Joe Rogers is one of at least two other Okanagan superintendents (Kelowna's Hugh Gloster and Penticton's Wendy Hyer) to receive a fatter salary after the Ministry of Education lifted a restriction...

Vernon School District sees best aboriginal completion rate in years

VERNON - The Vernon School District is celebrating a six year high in the number of aboriginal students completing high school. The completion rate for aboriginal students in School District 22 has reached 71 per cent, the best in six years and higher than the provincial rate of 61 per cent. The good news came...

Shuswap Pro-Life Society’s request to show anti-abortion display on school property refused

SALMON ARM - The North Okanagan-Shuswap school board has turned down an anti-abortion group’s request to use school property for a pro-life display. The Shuswap Pro-Life Society asked to use school district property near Centenoka Park Mall for a one-day display of 10,000 little pink and blue flags, each representing 10 babies lost to abortion...

Vernon School District will use reserves to bridge budget shortfall

VERNON - The Vernon School District will dip into its reserves to cover next year's budget shortfall, but it's already worried about what to do the year after that. Once again, School District 22 is facing a budget deficit, this time in the amount of $950,000 due to cost pressures and a $400,000 cut in...

Vernon Breastfeeding demonstration made larger point

“I REALLY DO THINK WE HAD A POSITIVE OUTCOME FROM THIS NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE” VERNON - What began as a negative experience for a Vernon mother quickly became an opportunity to spread a positive messages about breastfeeding, says the organizer of a feed-in at the Village Green Centre. A few days after Megan Deuling was shamed...

Preschoolers tackle racial tensions using locally-designed dolls

ENDERBY - A troop of handmade, multicultural dolls called the Backpack Kids have been deployed to local childcare centres where they are bringing a message of diversity and acceptance to young children. The life-sized puppets, each representing a Canadian kid with a different cultural background, are part of a newly launched teaching curriculum designed to...

Reviewing the reviewers: TRU professor questions the university’s transparency

KAMLOOPS – The issue of transparency at a Kamloops institution is under the microscope after a professor who requested survey results on the university’s president was denied. An email to faculty and staff from the university's board of governors chair, Brian Ross, earlier this month suggested their 300 survey results reviewing Dr. Alan Shaver, the...

School board getting creative with budget cuts

KAMLOOPS - Another year, another round of budget cuts for the Kamloops-Thompson School District, which means staff will be forced to get even more creative with the budget. School district secretary-treasurer Kelvin Stretch says not only is the district facing a potential decline in enrolment to the tune of 300 students, the Ministry of Education...

More cuts on the horizon for Vernon School District

VERNON - More cuts are on the way in the Vernon School District. The provincial government requires $437,000 of cuts in non-instructional costs at School District 22 next year, rising to $814,000 in 2016/17. “Our School District has suffered many cuts in funding in recent years. We’re proud that we’ve kept much of the cost...

How a group of North Okanagan teachers took funding into their own hands

NORTH OKANAGAN - It’s not always easy in cash-strapped times for teachers to find spare change for programs, but a group in the North Okanagan has found a way to think outside the box. The Outdoor Learning program in the North Okanagan and Shuswap, unlike many other courses in School District 83 such as the cancelled adult...