Erin Ward has been putting all her energy in recent weeks into keeping the program at Q’Shintul Mill Bay Nature School open.
Ward is the mother of eight-year-old Eric, a Grade 3 student at the school that has a nature-based learning program and has been there since Kindergarten.
She has been working hard since early April to organize parents and petition the Cowichan Valley school district to keep the program going after the district announced that it intends to discontinue it at the end of this school year.
Ward was among approximately 20 parents with children in the program and their supporters who picketed the school board office on Beverly Street on April 30 while parent delegations met with school officials to discuss the issue.
RELATED STORY: MILL BAY NATURE SCHOOL PAC APPEALS SD79’S DECISION TO END NATURE-BASED LEARNING PROGRAM
“Eric loves that program and he’s thriving in it,” she said.
“The district made this decision without even consulting with us. I’ve put my last four weeks entirely into contesting this and haven’t even gone to work. The community at QMBNS is our family and this is like someone telling us that we have to leave home and lose contact with our family.”
Ward said there has been a significant amount of research about how outdoor education can provide much better outcomes for students as it encourages both mental and physical health.
“Eric feels supported and safe in that environment, and he’s made strong friendships,” she said.
An email from the school district that was sent to the school’s parents on April 2 said that the nature-based learning program will be reduced from its current Kindergarten through Grade 7 configuration to a K-2 satellite school for George Bonner Elementary in September.
The decision was made during a closed meeting of the Cowichan Valley School District’s board of trustees.
A news release issued April 11 by the school’s PAC said parents were given an April 15 deadline to notify the district of where their children would attend school next fall.
RELATED STORY: NEW SKILLED TRADES PROGRAM IN COWICHAN GREETED WITH ENTHUSIASM
The PAC said parents and teachers met with representatives from the Cowichan Valley School District on April 4 and were told the reconfiguration was due to projected population growth in the community and the decline in enrolment seen at the school this year.
They were also told that because the school district was only cancelling a program/learning model and not closing the school outright, they were not required to consult with the community prior to making their decision.
Sara Pedscalny and Steve Cutler are the parents of Makeda, another Grade 3 student at the nature school, and they also attended the demonstration at the school district office.
Pedscalny said there has been a lot of sadness and anger in the nature school community since the district announced they were discontinuing the nature program and she’s proud to stand with her colleagues for the teachers and children at the school to try and save it.
“Makeda really loves it there and really enjoys and needs the outdoor, hands-on, tactile kind of learning that takes place at QMBNS,” she said.
“She’s a super physical kid and I think that if all kids were allowed outside they’d learn a lot more. I think it’s wonderful the way children are honoured at the school and their voices are heard regularly during the weekly circle gatherings. Bullying is way down there and the kids feel supported.”
Pedscalny said enrolling Makeda in a regular school this fall is an option, but she and Cutler have already enrolled her in the nature school in the hope the program will be saved.
School district spokesman Jeff Rowan said school superintendent Robin Gray and board chair Cathy Schmidt met with the parents in two groups on April 30, with one meeting for the K-2 parents and one for the Grades 3-7 parents.
“The parents were invited to have a face-to-face conversation and voice their concerns and say whet they want to say,” he said.
“We want to hear from everyone.”