Monday night, the school district unceremoniously dropped Rossland's hope for kindergarten to Grade 12 education in the city.
Though K-9 in Rossland Secondary School (RSS) is still an option, there was a noticeable sigh of frustration from the small group of Rossland residents who had made the trek to the Trail Middle School gym to watch the first readings of five bylaw options.
At the meeting, the board voted 6-3 against passing option one of the bylaw to the second reading.
"This is the (option) that would close MacLean Elementary, and Rossland Secondary becomes K-12," Darrel Ganzert, board chair, said at the meeting, before calling the motion to question.
Trustees Gordon Smith, Mickey Kinakin and Jen Carter voted for the motion.
Ganzert, as well as trustees Kim Mandoli, Mark Wilson, Lorraine Manning, Toni Driutti and Jo-Ann Bursey voted against the motion.
That means that, next Tuesday, when the board holds its reading in the Rossland Secondary School gym, K-12 is effectively off the table, with no discussion necessary.
The two options left on the table for Rossland, both which passed first reading, see a portion of the upper grades being bussed to J. Lloyd Crowe Secondary School in Trail.
The second option in the bylaw closes MacLean and makes RSS into a K-9 and sends grades 10 to 12 to Trail.
The third option makes MacLean a K-7 and sends grades 8 to 12 down the hill as well.
Kinakin and Carter were the only trustees opposed to option 2, while Smith, Kinakin and Carter were opposed to option three.
"What that means is these two motions move forward to the debate stage and at that debate, the pros and cons will be given, trustees will be given the opportunity to speak," Ganzert said, after the two bylaws passed the first reading.
Options 4 and 5 dealt with Castlegar Primary School.
Option 4 didn't make it past first reading, while option 5 did.
For Monday's story leading up to the meeting, click here.
On Tuesday, the school district will debate the remaining options at Rossland Secondary School special board meeting, before passing the second reading of the bylaws. That meeting is at 6:30 p.m.
On Feb. 25, the board will vote on any bylaws that make it to third reading and adopt them.
For the full schedule can be found here.
Correction: The article has been edited to correct a mistake on the part of bylaw options 4 and 5. The original article stated that both passed, while only 5 did.