Hussar Parent Council addresses GHSD
Amy Gregson – Times Reporter
The Hussar Parent Council spoke to the Golden Hills School Division about the recent county decision on the land re-designation and their ideas for schools in the fall at the April 13 board meeting.
The parent council was disappointed about Wheatland County’s rejection of the land re-designation, but realized schools still need to operate.
“No matter if it gets miraculously announced tomorrow morning, our kids still need an education in the next two to five years,” said CoreyAnn Sandum, chair of the parent council. The group suggested to GHSD that starting in the fall, Central Bow Valley students be bused to Hussar School and Standard students be bused to Rockyford School.
They suggested Hussar and Rockyford Schools have the potential and space for students from kindergarten to grade 9 to learn, while busing the grade 10 to 12’s to other schools.
“The 10 to 12’s are already choosing Strathmore and Drumheller anyways. We said let’s try to keep the core K to 9 here at least,” said Sandum. “We see this as being a real possible interim solution.”
They came to this idea after looking at numbers and different information on the sustainability report that was issued last year.
“To say that even in the interim fiscally and programming-wise it looked like a good idea to close two schools even if it was really, really tough for us to come across with,” said Sandum.
Ron Kenworthy, chair of GHSD, said these ideas have been examined and considered already.
“We’ll talk about it a bit amongst ourselves,” said Kenworthy. “I don’t know whether it will go any where or not, but we will consider it.”
While the Hussar Parent Council is suggesting this interim solution, they are fully supportive of the East Wheatland stand-alone school and see this as the ultimate solution to the declining condition of schools and declining enrollment.
“We’ve always stood behind the fact that the stand-alone is the only fair solution to all the villages,” said Sandum. “We’ve never wanted it to be in one community.”
She said it’s the best opportunity for all villages to continue to have an equal ability to draw new people to live in their area.
The parent council is planning to speak before Wheatland County to express their disappointment with the decision and continue to fight for an East Wheatland School.
“You can write all the letters you want, but when you’re standing there, looking them in the eye and express our disappointment as parent council,” said Sandum.
Overall, Sandum said it’s been so emotional for so many years and they would like to see the East Wheatland School built eventually.
“There’s a lot of kids out here in my area [east of Hussar] and so that’s who I’ve been representing all this time,” said Sandum. “These eastern kids need a voice.”