A Facebook post by a Nelson mother about her Grade 9 daughter being wait-listed to attend the only high school in town is gaining attention online.
On Tuesday, Camara Cassin wrote a Facebook post that has been shared thousands of times, sparking a heated discussion about the public school system in British Columbia.
In the post, Cassin said her daughter Solara was home-schooled before, but was registered to attend Grade 9 at LV Rogers school in the Kootenay Lake School District this spring.
The school’s website clearly outlines that students who register after March 31st will be wait-listed until Sept. 9th as per the school district’s policy.
Cassin admits she missed the deadline when she registered her daughter in the beginning of April.
Even though the school year has already started, Cassin says she still has no answers about whether her daughter will actually get in.
“Since April I have asked repeatedly what am I supposed to do. Is there going to be space or not?” says Cassin. “I am fine with being on the wait list because I missed the deadline, but is there going to be space or not? Should I register her in a different school? Nobody has given me any answers.”
Global News reached out to Superintendent Jeff Jones for answers.
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Jones says there are five students in the LVR catchment area, who had previously attended other programs. All applied to transfer to LVR, but missed the deadline.
He says the wait-listed students will be accommodated, but their policy has been to hold all late transfers until the first week of school.
“That will help us determine whether or not we actually have to reorganize the school in order to meet the needs of these students,” says Jones.
Cassin says if there indeed was room for the wait-listed students, they should have been invited to the assembly.
“I think that’s illogical because the students miss out on the first week of academics, but they also miss out on the social inclusion aspect of making new friends, getting a locker, finding their way around the school and any of the other things that happen in the first week of school.”
In her Facebook post, Cassin mentions that she and her daughter still attended the assembly on Tuesday, where she heard the principal saying that 50 international students were attending the school this year.
“Now this is where it’s interesting,” says Cassin in her post. “Schools get paid more for international students. That’s because their parents have to pay tuition out of pocket for their child to attend school in Canada and get a Canadian Education. Our school district #8 charges $12,000 per international student…Compare this to the $7,166 that the school gets paid by our government for a local child to attend and you can see why the preference is given to international students.”
Cassin says she has an issue with the 50 international students attending the school if the school authorities are telling her there is no room for her daughter.
“We live in this city, we pay taxes in the city and they have a duty to educate my daughter here in the district,” says Cassin. “Why would they have 50 international students instead? Well, the obvious answer is money. They are not getting enough money from the government, so yeah it’s a problem.”
But Jones says no local students were turned away because of international students.
“Nobody is being displaced because of the presence of international students,” he says. “The reality is that the parent applied to transfer in LVR past the deadline and will be accommodated in the first week of school.”
The Ministry of Education has also told Global News, “it is entirely wrong to suggest any international students are displacing local students.”
Jones claims there was always knowledge that the five wait-listed students were in the school’s catchment and the school may have to reorganize in order to meet the needs of those students.
But Cassin is now calling for the resignation of Jones saying she was given no assurances about her daughter getting into the school since April.
She has now launched a Facebook group called “BC Education Crisis,” which, she says, is meant to connect everyone in a similar situation in the province.
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