By Adam Berls

rural education

‘We’re not being listened to’: Rural parents frustrated with access to rural education

Oct 17, 2023 | 3:27 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — A mother has been advocating for School District 57 to improve services for rural families, and has been conducting surveys and gathering letters of support, in the hopes of bringing about change.

Samantha Ludvigson is campaigning and advocating to improve education services for rural families, including a call to reopen Salmon Valley School. Samantha has had issues trying to get her son into his proper catchment school, which is Springwood Elementary, but is currently going to Heather Park. Before getting into Heather Park, there was the possibility that her son may have had to go to Nukko Lake. This is an issue that Samantha has heard from other families living in rural areas.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of families very concerned just about the travel time for their kids and how much it affects their physical and mental health as well … Sometimes our kids can’t get on the bus, the weather’s too bad on the highway or maybe there’s an accident on the highway and they can’t get to school.” – Samantha Ludvigson

Ludvigson created a survey and gave it out to rural families, particularly in the Salmon Valley area and gathered over 60 responses to her survey. 84% of respondents said that their family is directly impacted by not having a school within 5 to 10 kilometers, and 95% of respondents said that they believe that Salmon Valley School should be reopened. Salmon Valley school closed in 2010, with the school board blaming rising costs, declining enrolment and restricted funding from the provincial government for the closure. 75% of survey respondents said that they knew someone that left Salmon Valley due to the loss of a community school.

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At the September Board meeting, the board chair of SD57 Rachael Weber identified catchment and capacity as a priority.

“It’s wonderful that we have families moving to the city and that we have tons of kids that want to go to the schools. But on the other hand, where do we house them? Where do we support them? These catchment and capacity issues aren’t going away.” – Rachael Weber, SD57 Board Chair

Samantha says that as rural parents, they do not feel heard by the board and says that the onus is on the board to figure out what the solutions are.

“Maybe it’s time to look at the bigger picture. What can they do better to recruit staff? What can they offer to have more people want to work in this community? What can we do to make it better? It all goes back to what can the school district do and the fact that we’re not being listened to. It’s just very frustrating.” – Samantha Ludvigson

Ludvigson says that she hopes the issues brought up by her and other rural parents will be addressed at the next school board meeting, which is scheduled for October 24th.

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Twitter: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com