Future of local schools looked at

Ken Johnston

What does the future hold for Rainy River’s two schools and McCrosson-Tovell School in Bergland?
That is what about a dozen concerned parents and staff members met to start working on last Monday in Rainy River.
With declining enrollments over recent years the school council, chaired by Mike Neilson of Stratton, decided to hold public meetings to begin a process to ensure there is a future for the three area schools. “We are trying to reverse the direction of enrollment,” said Neilson last week.
However he was not very happy with the attendance at the meeting which he views crucial to the continued existence of the three schools. “No one from McCrosson attended. That is not good when we want the parents’ input.”
While Neilson said they can not promise the parents anything, their input is very important. “Everyone has something of value they can add.”
He noted that the school board will seriously be looking at the visioning process the school council is spearheading when making decisions for the schools.
Neilson noted that there have been tremendous pressures on students to attend other schools, including Lake of the Woods High School and Fort Frances High School. He hopes that by working as a group the parents and staff can make RRHS an attractive option for all area students.
Both Neilson and RRHS Principal Bob McGreevy said they have worked hard to offer as many opportunities for all students. McGreevy said they even looked at ways of having program cooperatives with Sturgeon Creek Alternative School in Stratton. Last year SCAP had a music program and RRHS did not. SCAP students did come to RRHS and use the school’s shop. However, travel times make the program sharing difficult. “SCAP students gave up their lunch hour to come here,” said McGreevy.
Neilson said that the meetings have worked on a vision for the future and will resume where they left off this September. He hopes that more people will take an interest in the future of the schools.
RRHS currently has an enrollment of 130, down from over 200 less than a decade ago.