After months of fighting for their
school, the community of Pangman is celebrating. The Southeast Corner School
Board voted 6-4 Thursday to keep the high school open.
“They said it over the intercom that
the school was staying open and everyone just started to scream,” said student
Traegan Quewezance. “Everyone’s extremely happy.”
The school board put grades nine
through twelve on the chopping block because of declining enrollment. But at
several public meetings a parent committee directed their energy towards
convincing the board that Pangman is a growing community, and without a school
the growth would be halted.
“I think it’s an important piece of
the puzzle of making a strong community,” said School Committee Chair, Elwood
White. “Having your kids educated in your community is a good thing for them as
well as your community.”
For Hometown Café owner, Boyd
Tourscher, the school was what convinced him to move his family to Pangman.
Without it, he was ready to close-up shop.
“We didn’t come here to put our kids
on the bus,” he said. ” I like seeing my kids all the time and that’s part of
the reason we came here, so we could have a closer family.”
Word spread quickly through the town
of 260. It came as a pleasant surprise to many.
“I’ve been here since grade two,”
said student, Samantha Beres. “I was really hoping, but with all the talk it
sounded like it wasn’t going to happen.”
But she says it means a lot to the
close knit student body.
“I was worried I wasn’t going to be
able to graduate with my friends,” said Quewezance. “I didn’t want to go off to
some different school and start all over again.”
School board officials didn’t
specify when they would take another look at enrollment and assess the town’s
progress, but that day is coming.
“There’s nothing set in stone,” said
White. “We did get the indicator that we would be given a couple of years to
grow and then more discussion will happen at that time.”
He’s now faced with the challenge of
getting those numbers up. White says he’s confident that the surrounding oil
and gas opportunities as well as Saskatchewan’s
booming population will ensure the century old school remains open for
generations to come.
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