A group of parents in Arborfield is planning a lawsuit to prevent the NESD from permanently closing Grades 7-12 in the school. (Facebook/Arborfield School)

By Susan McNeil

Arborfield School changes

Arborfield residents vow school fight will continue and say NESD is violating its own policy

Sep 21, 2023 | 2:00 PM

Residents and parents of Arborfield say they are willing to go as far as they can to stop the closing of Grades 7 – 12 at the local school.

According to George Schroepfer, one resident helping lead a legal challenge to the closure, the North East School Division (NESD) is using unfair tactics to make it seem enrollment is lower than it actually is by allowing students to transfer when boundaries say they should stay in Arborfield.

“We had some students illegally transfer last year because they wanted to play football. Well that’s not a reason to transfer students,” said Schroepfer.

“The goal of the lawsuit is essentially to annul the decision of the board of the closing of Grade 7 to 12,” said Schroepfer.

“The school is essentially the heart of the community. We looked at other communities that have lost their school in the past… and there’s nothing left in the community.”

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He added that real estate is being impacted by school closures and home prices drop when educational opportunities are reduced.

“A decent house in Arborfield will cost you $130, $140,000 but a similar house in Zenon Park will cost $60,000,” Schroepfer explained.

Along with the loss of the school, businesses often follow suit, and it is very difficult to attract new families with no education to offer.

Despite those reasons, judges have not considered them as valid reasons to stop a closure or change of service.

On Aug. 25, a Court of King’s Bench judge dismissed an injunction request by the Town and RM of Arborfield and a private citizen that sought to stop the re-location of the junior and senior high.

“It is also noteworthy that, despite their ability to do so, the Board did not close the entire school. They only discontinued certain grades. Given the attendance numbers and the evidence provided, I see nothing unreasonable in that exercise of discretion,” wrote J Morrall in a published decision.

“In balancing all these equitable considerations, I also consider the fact that the Plaintiffs do not have a strong prima facie case, there was no meaningful risk of irreparable harm to the Plaintiffs and that the balance of convenience favoured the Board.”

Schroepfer said that regardless, they will appeal and have found new evidence that shows the school division moved some students that should have attended Arborfield to school in Carrot River.

“A total of 10 students in our catchment area were illegally transferred to Carrot River, prior to the school review,” said a letter addressed to NESD board chair, Kevin Graham.

According to Schroepfer, the school division should have refused to relocate the students as long as their needs were being met by the Arborfield School and that is what the NESD’s policy states.

Three kindergarten students were also transferred, but only one had educational needs that could not be met in Arborfield, he stated.

The NESD review policy said that in 2022, 65 students were registered in Arborfield and that number was actually projected to increase to 67 students this year.

The number to trigger a review is 88 students, which Schroepfer said the school would have met had some students not been diverted to Carrot River.

“I believe these children were transferred because with those students we would have had 88 students. It is my view that this was done on purpose to harm our school and close it permanently and with full knowledge of doing so, causes harm to our community,” he wrote in a letter to the NESD board chair, Kevin Graham, dated Sept. 18.

A large group of residents of the town of Arborfield are behind the legal challenge to the closure.

In addition to planning a lawsuit and an appeal of the injunction based on evidence obtained after the first one was denied, they are asking NESD to investigate the actions of the director, Stacy Lair.

Questions they would like to have answered include more details on what rationale was used to transfer the previous students, discrepancies in the amount of public notification that should have been given and why bussing some students to Carrot River is being allowed against the division’s own policy.

They also want a meeting of the electors and for the NESD to follow the policies it created.

A meeting earlier this year did not have proper notice, they said.

“We are asking the NESD to correct the mistakes that were made. We are asking the NESD to fulfill its public duty and to correct this wrong and avoid further litigation,” reads the letter.

northeastNOW reached out to the NESD several times and did not get a comment in reply.

When queried, the Ministry of Education said “Saskatchewan boards of education are responsible to administer and manage the educational affairs of their school division, including decisions relating to school boundaries and transportation.”

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com