PAC > School Closure > Correspondance > Letter to Minister of Education May 15, 2008

Background of Letter

Upon hearing that trustees were going to close Mount Benson School, parents found that there was no known channel through which to appeal the closure. To find out what avenues were open to them to appeal the closure they sent a letter to the Minister of Education.

Letter

Mount Benson Elementary School PAC                 Wellington Action Committee
4355 Jingle Pot Road	                           4285 Jingle Pot Road
Nanaimo BC  V9T 5P4                                Nanaimo BC  V9T 5P5


May 15, 2008

The Honourable Shirley Bond
Minister of Education
PO Box 9146, Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC  V8W 9H1

Re: Mount Benson Elementary School Closure

We would like to thank the Minister and her departmental officials for their correspondence and 
courtesy over the last year. 

As you will already be aware (due to Ministerial order 320-02), on April 23, 2008 School District 68's 
Trustees elected to close Mount Benson Elementary school.  Parents are extremely disappointed with 
this decision as it runs counter to every principal, policy and value expressed by both the government 
and the community.  Additionally we believe that the process was unjust and at a minimum violated 
common law.

Mount Benson Elementary school was first established as Wellington Public School on the same site in 
1875 by Robert Dunsmuir.  We are the oldest operating elementary school site in the province, with the 
highest per capita number of children in our district, with increasing enrolment, in a central location, on 
a large site, with a well maintained building with no other school within 2km.  There is no logic in closing a 
school in the centre of a city only to bus the children to a school on the edge of the city, which is what 
SD68 is now planning on doing.

Parents were not provided with any valid explanation for the closure.  Some Trustees blamed the school 
closure on the Government.

Using virtually every criterion conceivable, there was no justification for our district singling out our 
school for closure.  We would like to contest this closure, and would like the Ministry to advise us of 
what options the Ministry is aware of which allows the parents to get an unjust closure decision set 
aside.

As the school year is coming to a close and our time is limited, our community would be most grateful if 
the Minister could consider this matter with as much urgency as can be afforded. 


Sincerely and Respectfully,

Sharon Preston					   David Murchie
PAC President					   Wellington Action Committee Treasurer


On behalf of Mount Benson Elementary School Parents and Wellington Community Members

Ministers Response

Pending

Related Documents/Links

• Ministerial Order 320-02 which defines some processes around school closures (gov't copy)
• Ministerial Order 320-02 (local copy - cached April 2008)
• Resume of Ministerial Orders for 2007, including M235/07. M235/07 affected M320-02, but how it affected it does not appear to be documented in any currently obvious location