Arborfield School. (George Schroepfer/Facebook)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Last Ditch Effort

Town & RM of Arborfield file injunction against North East School Division’s plans for community school

Jun 1, 2023 | 2:00 PM

The Town of Arborfield and the Rural Municipality (RM) of Arborfield have officially filed an injunction against the North East School Division’s (NESD) decision to discontinue grades 7 to 12 at the community’s school.

Back in April, the NESD’s Board of Education approved changing the school to a K-6 starting in September.

This decision didn’t sit well with many in the community including George Schroepfer who’s started multiple fundraising efforts to pay for the legal challenge.

He told northeastNOW he believes this will lead the area down a slippery slope they may never be able to get up from.

“(If) the school closes, it’s not long before your bank’s closing, then all of a sudden the bar’s closing, and all of a sudden you got nothing left in your town.”

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The Town and RM both agree with Schroepfer, claiming in a statement that this decision detrimentally affects the growth of the area as people won’t want to move there just to send their kids to school in another community.

Schroepfer also thinks this will negatively affect the students as they’ll be forced to spend much of their time on the bus traveling back and forth between home and school.

The NESD states this decision was done to ensure all students continue to receive the best education, however, some believe it may have to do with money. The Town and RM claim the division cut maintenance funding to the school back in 2015.

“This decision has had a detrimental effect on the condition of the building, and it is believed this was done on purpose to facilitate the closing of the school, by using the current condition as criteria to put the school in the review process,” read a statement from the Town and RM.

The NESD previously told northeastNOW the review was started since there were only 67 students at the school when the minimum target is 88.

Schroepfer understands the low enrollment would be a concern for any school division, however, he believes the NESD didn’t consider projections that have the number of students increasing well above the threshold.

Through a community survey and birth records, it was determined there would be around 82 students for the 2023/24 school year, 92 for 2024-25, 93 for 2025-26, 96 for 2026-27, and 104 for 2027-28.

“We’re renewing and we’re getting hit at the wrong time,” said Schroepfer.

Merchant Law Group LLP in Saskatoon has confirmed to northeastNOW that they’ve been hired to oversee the injunction. Due to it being a legal matter, they said they couldn’t share too much information.

Community members have already raised around $15,000 for the challenge, according to Schroepfer. He noted people have stopped by his business to donate to the cause, while others have donated through GoFundMe. It’s believed they’ll need between $20,000 and $25,000 throughout the entire situation.

“I think we have a strong case, but we’ll see how things go,” Schroepfer added.

Meanwhile, the NESD is hoping to have this resolved sooner rather than later.

Stacy Lair, the Director of Education for the division, said they’re optimistic a resolution will be met over the next couple of months.

“We’d like this taken care of as soon as possible because anxiety is created when people are uncertain of changes,” she added.

In the meantime, the NESD continues to work on getting everything up and running for the next school year. At a board meeting earlier this week, a transition plan to officially change the school to K-6 was passed, while discussions were had about the new catchment areas for all the schools in the area.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow