Vote against selling the school to the city
The Free Press (Fernie)
September 25, 2008
Opinion By: Ronan Mac Con, Chair, Fernie Child Care Society

To the Editor,

On behalf of the Fernie Child Care Society I would like the citizens of Fernie - and for that matter all that live in the Elk Valley who struggle with day care and cost of living - to know the facts regarding the recent vote against selling the recently closed Max Turyk school to the City of Fernie. With all quasi-government institutions the school board has their own set of rules and guidelines to follow. It is shameful that such an important community issue cannot even be expanded upon by board members or school district representatives. Max Turyk could be used by the community in innumerable ways rather than increasingly becoming an eyesore.

For the record, the Fernie Child Care Society is not an agent of the City nor does it particularly have a great interest in City ownership. This seemed to be the quickest route to meet our objective of opening a non-profit daycare which is desperately needed. Actually, it looked quite favourable that we would have been tenants of the school district only a few months ago before that contract was quashed with the explanation that the school district has no interest in administering a lease agreement within a school, which will be "transfered to the City as our number one priority" to quote a school board official in email correspondence.

One explanation was a new provincial initiative to use old school spaces as community spaces - exactly what we are trying to do. Hanging on to a school when the policy is aimed at three "pilot" projects around Vancouver is a weak and tenuous explanation at best. Another was that school space would be too expensive to buy in Fernie down the road if the need arose. It is not my job to explain or speculate on the school board's reasoning for voting down something that seemed very promising to all parties involved. I invite the school board to explain themselves to citizens exactly what they envision for the increasingly decrepit Max Turyk elementary school - and to let us know if we should send $143,000 to another community in B.C. to use for childcare spaces….