Tomorrow night, Neighbourhood of Learning will discuss the possibilities that the community can pursue to keep K-12 in Rossland.
The mandate that the committee has taken on is exactly that, to keep K-12 here, and so despite a middle ground outcome from Monday night’s school board meeting, one which creates a K-9 Rossland Secondary, the battle will continue.
The meeting will introduce a survey that NOL has put together, it is partly an informal version of the one the city may send out, asking how much residents would be willing to fund the remainder of the grades for K-12.
As for the city, the community has definitely shown a strong voice on the school front, one which council will not be able to ignore.
However, the implications of other taxes coming to Rossland are still not known, and so whether residents can stomach another raise on top of those things will be a different matter.
There are of course other options, including charter and private schools, a municipal school district and just plain homeschooling, if negotiations with the district fall apart. Much of that would still depend on the Ministry of Education’s word, but there is some room for movement, if the countless hours NOL volunteers have spent researching the topics are to be believed.
So the battle with the school district is finished, but there may be still be some hope in the future of K-12 in Rossland.