My Minute of Fame

I was on tv this past two weeks. Twice, in fact. It's my time to shine, my chance at the spotlight and all in the hopes of saving my daughter's school.

The Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) is in the process of doing what they call a RIEL project which is focused on looking at the schools in the division to examine the viability, etc, etc. There are 39 schools in the division, a number which the Superintendant - Terry Borys - feels is too many. He is in charge of the RIEL project and part of this project has had him designate some schools to go up for review for possible closure in June 2009. Dr. D.W. Penner, where my daughter currently attends, is one of those schools.

Dr Penner is a small school but a well loved school by all those who go there or have gone there. We have been fighting to save it and on June 19, the School Board Trustees vote to decide whether or not it should go under review. This doesn't mean it will close, only that it will go under scrutiny. If they vote yes, a committee will form to look at all the possible outcomes for our school. Last Monday, June 11, there was a public hearing so that concerned parties could voice their opinions to the trustees, offering them reasons to vote against the review. We had 14 speakers and I believe we blew them away with our hard work (and a lot of hard work it was) and cold hard facts.

Now we wait until Tuesday for the vote. The other 3 schools that were put up for possible review were voted on on June 12. They voted in favor to put all 3 schools up for review. Those 3 schools are all in St Boniface and don't impact our school at all so we are hoping that it is a good sign. Or they may just vote to put all of them under review and decide the school's fate next spring of 2008.

If so, our fight just may be beginning...