The Grades 5 and 6 classes currently housed at St. Dominic Savio will move into St. Michael School this fall to make St. Michael a Grade 5-9 school, effective the start of the 2007/08 school year, the Holy Family Roman Catholic School Division decided at its monthly board meeting on Wednesday evening, with only one vote against the motions.

Bruno Tuchscherer, chairman of the Holy Family board, felt that all the concerns from the parents had been addressed and said the school board "will do our best to make the students as happy as we can make them," regarding the move as it is part of Phase One of the project. Tuchscherer also noted that the plan has been to make St. Michael School into a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school, with that being implemented after completion of Phase Two of the project, which has not received funding from the government yet.

Wendy Sidloski, Weyburn trustee on the board, was the lone voter against the motions. "I wanted to give a voice to those parents who feel their children are too young to be moved out of the elementary environment. We had a good thing going at St. Dominic and the Grade 5 students feel like they're being kicked out of their beloved school. So the question remains, are they ready?"

One concern from the parents was that "this is going to create a hole in St. Dominic, losing their two senior grades," said Sidloski. "I actually wanted to leave the Grade 5s at St. Dominic to keep that interaction going between the older and younger students that is so important for character building. We just love St. Dominic Savio and it is hard to see it dismantled."

Another concern from parents were "that their Grade 5's will stop acting like elementary children and start trying to be like teenagers," commented Sidloski.

"It is hard to accept change and I do hope that it will go smoothly," Sidloski added. "We will have to think of how we can make it as good for them as possible next year at St. Michael School, by perhaps looking at a mentoring program between the Grade 5/6 students and the older children and trying to maintain programs that allow those students to interact with the younger children, like reading buddies."

"In the end, we want what is best for all the children, not just the children who are being moved to St. Michael School next year, but also the children who will be attending that school in the future," said Sidloski.

In other business of the board meeting, the Holy Family school division approved a motion that they will continue to ratify the Weyburn Comprehensive School tuition fee agreement between Holy Family and Cornerstone, with the Cornerstone School Division having to ratify their half of the agreement. They also ratified the Estevan Comprehensive School tuition fee agreement.

Both Holy Family board members and Cornerstone board members will be meeting together on Tuesday, Mar. 20, in Estevan. Holy Family board members wanted to add some items to the agenda of that meeting to discuss with the Cornerstone board members.

The first issue is that Holy Family wants to clarify the formation of the Catholic School Board Association by making a presentation on what this school board association does for the Catholic school divisions and what rights it gives the school divisions.

A second issue will be to discuss the Comp. School Agreement between the two school divisions, as if both school divisions have ratified their agreement by that date, Holy Family wants to plan ahead for the future.

"It is important to work with Cornerstone on this issue," commented Shelley Rowein, Director of Education for the Holy Family School Board. "Holy Family has a number of partnerships with the Cornerstone School Division, regarding Comprehensive School tuition fees." Both Holy Family and Cornerstone have agreements set up with the Weyburn Comprehensive School and the Estevan Comprehensive School.

School Community Councils are a third issue that Holy Family wants to discuss with Cornerstone representatives, regarding the SCC's set-up at the Weyburn Comp. and Estevan Comp., as well as making a decision about Holy Family's involvement with the SCC at the Radville High School since students from St. Olivier attend that school.

A fourth amendment to the agenda was that Holy Family wants to discuss the Ethics 120/30 course with the representatives of Cornerstone, as registrations for the class have gone out and they want to report back on the numbers.

The last addition to the agenda of the meeting will be discussion on the idea of restructuring the Weyburn Comp to a Grade 9 to 12 school that had been planned pre-amalgamation. With the amalgamation of the school boards, Rowein said, "We just want to touch base further on this issue, and make a final decision."