Robson Valley schools may need to be consolidated: report

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

Robson Valley schools may need to consolidate within the next ten years due to a projected decline in enrollment and poor facilities, according to School District 57’s new long-range facilities plan.

The plan outlines enrolment projections and infrastructure maintenance priorities from 2025 through 2034. 

According to the plan, prepared by educational facilities planning consultancy Henry Ahking & Co., over the next 10 years, enrollment will decline in McBride and Valemount schools by 8.3 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively. These numbers are based on birth rates from the previous five years as well as retention rates, among other data.

The report includes the facility condition index for each school, calculated by dividing the cost to maintain a facility over the cost of replacing the facility. This formula produces a number from zero to one, with lower numbers meaning a better score. Schools with a score of 0.00 to 0.10 are rated as being in excellent condition, while schools 0.61 or higher are in deficient condition.

The vast majority of schools in the district – 37 out of 47 – were ranked as poor or deficient condition based on the index.

Some Robson Valley schools are among those 37. McBride Centennial Elementary and McBride Secondary were both ranked as poor, with a score of 0.41 and 0.47, respectively. Valemount Elementary was ranked as deficient, the lowest possible rating category, with a score of 0.62. However, Valemount Secondary was ranked to be in fair condition, scoring at 0.32.

Altogether, repairing facilities throughout the district would cost tens of millions of dollars, according to the report. In a district that is stretching to make every dollar count in the face of budget deficits, completing each of these repairs is not feasible, Superintendent Jameel Aziz told the school board.

“Any actions or recommendations that the board would consider would be coming to a public board meeting,” he said. “These would not be anything that the public or our partners would not have any knowledge or understanding of.”

One option to provide students with adequately maintained facilities without breaking the bank is consolidating schools in some areas. The report recommends closing McBride Centennial and making McBride Secondary into a K-12 school. Likewise, it recommends closing Valemount Elementary and having Valemount Secondary serve as a K-12 school.

There is not yet a timeline for these changes, and the district would undertake community consultation before making a decision on school closures or consolidation, district representatives emphasized during the meeting. In an interview with The Goat, Aziz said the plan’s recommendations have not yet been put before the board.

Like most school districts, SD57 hired third-party consultants to create the plan, according to Aziz. While this helps ensure the report is objective and written by experts, it also means that it lacks the background information on local schools that SD57 parents and employees have, he said.

“The recommendations they make aren’t necessarily with an understanding of the culture of a school district or the individual communities that comprise that school district,” Aziz said. “So we take all of that feedback, and then we process it and determine which things are palatable for us [and] which things are necessary for us.”

The district’s decision on which recommendations to follow will be contingent on how much money is available for capital improvements, Aziz added. The school board’s 2025-2026 budget process has not yet begun, and due to many variables – the possibility of tariffs in the U.S., a forthcoming federal election, and the fact that the Province has not yet released its 2025-2026 budget – it is hard to predict how much money the district will have to spend on its facilities in the near future, he said.

“We’re hearing from government that fiscal efficiency and belt-tightening are probably in the future for most of the province. So it’s probably something we all need to think about,” he added.

However, the district will work with parents to find creative solutions if there is a significant budget deficit, Aziz said. He added that he has worked in many rural districts, and has been pleased with the condition of Robson Valley schools during his visits to McBride and Valemount.

“I think the communities of McBride and Valemount should feel very good about their school facilities. They are well-maintained, they are in excellent condition, and they actually are newer than some of the other buildings we have across the school district,” Aziz said. “We are always available to connect and receive feedback.”