Nobody likes to see schools close, especially if it’s the only school in a small community.

The school trustees attending last Monday’s school board meeting at Vavenby Elementary School appeared to be listening closely to everything that was said. They seemed to want to hear some good reason – any good reason – that would allow them to keep the school open.

The fact is, the trustees’ hands are tied. The major funding decisions are made in Victoria. All the school board can do is think of creative ways to implement them.

There were a number of good arguments presented at the meeting to keep Vavenby Elementary going. Possibly the most compelling was that, for many students, the multi-grade classrooms at Vavenby are a real incentive to learn. Yes, having three or four grades to prepare for means more work for the teachers, but then it’s the

students who pick up much of the slack and teach the other students.

That is the way children have learned for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years. For all we know, perhaps in 10 or 100 years, large, factory-style schools will be unheard of and we will have dozens of smaller, cottage-industry style learning establishments instead.

Speaking for right now, however, the inescapable fact is the school board needs more money to keep Vavenby open.

The only realistic source is the provincial Ministry of Education. The province must therefore move quickly to raise the Small School grant it gives school districts (presently $134,000) to a level that more realistically reflects the true costs of operating a school in a rural and remote area – and the benefits of having a school that is human-scaled.