No progress on school cuts

By Meg Olson & Tara Nelson

“Haven’t we been grilled enough about this already?” Blaine school superintendent Mary Lynne Derrington was dismissive and school board members rolled their eyes when asked by a reporter from The Northern Light if the board was going to further consider the ramifications of eliminating a teacher and the third grade from Point Roberts primary school.

As kindergarten enrollment in the local school risked falling to one student from an anticipated six, and total school enrollment dipped to 10, Derrington was asked by the All Point Bulletin in a telephone interview for her opinion on how low enrollment would need to go before it was no longer a viable school. “I don’t have one on that,” she said. “I don’t feel comfortable saying.”

Nancy Bakarich, principal of both the Blaine and Point Roberts primary schools, said four of the students previously enrolled in the Point Roberts had opted to attend the Blaine campus. Parents of one of the two remaining kindergarten students said they would look at options in Canada and had started discussions with the Delta school district as well as visiting several of the private schools in the Ladner/Tsawwassen area.

Asked why parents were voting with their feet and pulling their children from the Point Roberts school, she said the board had not discussed it and had no plans to discuss it. “Part of it is people’s choice and right now people are angry,” she said.

The anxiety of local parents made front page news in the Seattle Times June 13, where the question was again asked how low can enrollment go before the “downward spiral” points to the closure of the school.
School district board member Barrie Hull wouldn’t discuss the possibility that the district needed a strategy to continue the survival of the school. “We’ve already said we aren’t closing the school! What do you want?” he said, adding any inquiries be directed to the school board in writing.

Members of the Point Roberts parent teacher organization have asked to meet with Derrington in hopes of getting the district to work with them. “Our group intends to keep focusing on the needs of the campus and its relationship to the entire community and hopefully succeed in re-instating services and grade levels in the future,” said association president Linda Hughes. “We have not thrown in the towel quite yet.” She said a July meeting was now planned.

At the June 20 school board meeting Derrington was guardedly open to the possibility recently cut services could be added back if the school got more use. “It’s a possibility, but there needs to be enough people,” she said. “We’ll have to see.” Derrington had previously said that decisions about staffing in all schools were a function of enrollment.