When Glenn Walkeden, chair of the Lyndale School Community Council (SCC), asked a room of roughly 100 electors in Oungre on Thursday night, "Are we (the SCC) doing the right thing by continuing to fight for our Grades 10, 11 and 12?", his answer was a show of support by the thundering applause from the community.

During a meeting of electors, held by the Southeast Cornerstone School Division (SECSD), the community of Oungre was informed of the consideration of discontinuance of Grades 10 to 12 by the board of education. The purpose of the meeting was to inform the community of actions being considered by the SECSD, so that they could have the opportunity to plan communication with the board of education before a decision has to be made on May 15.

Due to the support from the community of Oungre, the Lyndale SCC will continue to fight for their Grades 10 to 12, as well as ensure that education provided by their staff is recognized by the board of education.

One question on the mind of most community members was voiced by the principal of Lyndale School, Ryan Fowler. "When I got the phone call from the board, I had to ask myself, why us? Why Lyndale School? One of the most frustrating things to deal with through this situation is knowing that other people, who have not been to my school, are making the decisions that affect my school."

A delegation from Lyndale School has made a presentation to the board once already, but they are hoping that more questions will be answered by having the whole community meet with the board of education. Some of those issues were brought up by community members at the meeting of electors.

Annette Lohse, elector, raised an issue of busing, questioning how much it would cost to transport their students to a different school, if the high school levels were discontinued. Adding to this question, Bruce Friedrick raised the point that parents could decide where they send their children and, with four options for parents at Oungre, it could mean that more than one bus would have to be sent.

As Lyndale School is in a remote area, there are a lot of concerns and questions in regards to where the students affected would be sent and how much extra time it would mean for them on busses.

"Our school is in a remote area, which we feel would result in increased transportation costs if the board decided to discontinue those grades," said Walkeden. "One-way busing distance to the next closest school, Gladmar, is 58 kilometers and it is even further to consider sending them to Midale, Estevan or Weyburn."

As a remote school, Lyndale School actually provides funds to the Cornerstone School Division, as the provincial government provides Small Remote School funding of $210,868.86 to the division to acknowledge the higher costs associated with the operation the school.

Regarding the financial side, Walkeden said that overall Lyndale School is bringing in money to the school division that is beyond the cost of operating the school.

In total, Lyndale School receives $681,316.86 in funding and $640,000 in taxes, for a total of $1.3 million. After the operating costs of $567,100, there is a surplus of $732,900 that goes back to the division.

The current growth in the province is another factor for the SCC to consider. "The economy of this province is growing and we feel that our population will change because of that," said Walkeden. "Just because we have only eight students in the high school level next year doesn't mean that won't change. If things continue to progress as they have been, in five years we will have 20 students."

Sabe Holzer, community member, stressed the growth factor of southeast Saskatchewan to the SCC. "Housing is difficult for other communities, we will need our school to promote growth here and encourage people to buy a home here."

Lelia Hansen, elector, wanted to know if the quality of education was fit into the decision process when it came to determining viability of a school. Mathew Marcotte echoed this, saying that "the quality of education from our school is easy to see. You just have to look at the results and the success of the students beyond high school. Our students are receiving the education they require."

The quality of education provided to the students is recognized by the community, the staff and the students. "One advantage to our school is that our staff gets to know our students, we can build relationships and ensure that all of our students get the education they deserve," said Fowler.

"A lot of people don't realize that a smaller setting actually means more one-on-one time with our teachers," said students Tracey Herlick and Patricia Ashworth, who are the student members of the SCC. "We have very committed teachers who are passionate about their work and care a whole lot about their students. A big concern for many students is that we would lose that connection if we were sent to a bigger school."

In a survey completed by the students, 18 of the 56 students in Lyndale School felt that their marks could drop in a bigger school, due to less one-on-one teacher time.

Jen Hutt, community member, raised the concern that some elective and sport requirements might be suffered by the high school students at Lyndale if they stayed in Oungre. Students surveyed also addressed a concern for their electives, as 20 of the 56 students wanted more opportunities made available.

Fowler replied that there were many opportunities in the community to ensure that both sports and electives are made available for the students.

Some ideas that have been discussed by the SCC have included co-ops with other schools for sports teams, looking at using the Oungre Memorial Park for home ec opportunities, working with the RM shop for welding and shop opportunities, offering satellite classes where the student can learn from an online program, or even sending their students to Weyburn or Estevan on Fridays for electives since Lyndale works on a four-day class week.

One of the stronger options is Internet classes, or satellite classes, where the teacher doesn't have to be at the school to teach a class. "These types of classes are becoming more common in the province, which would assist a remote rural schools such as ours," said Fowler. "We could offer classes even when we don't have the staff, or have specialty classes for the higher grades even if we don't have a teacher trained in that class."

"All these ideas are examples of things we could do to make programs available for the students," explained Fowler. With the community support behind them, the SCC will be presenting all ideas to the board of education during future delegations on viability of the school.

"We have a young enough school and a young enough staff that we are willing to pursue any options that would make the school viable," said Walkeden.

Continuing to help keep their Grades 10 to 12 viable will be an easier job for the SCC with the support of their community behind them. "Not only is our community a stable environment for our students, but the members in the community are very supportive of school activities and have kept an open mind of all the options available. They have really stood behind the SCC and have supported our efforts to help keep Lyndale School viable," said Walkeden.