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Trout Creek parents pass on wish list to Okanagan Skaha School board

A wish list of items has been submitted to the district as students transition from Trout Creek move on to a new school in September.
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A wish list of items has been submitted to the school district to have complete before students who transition from the Trout Creek move on to a new school in September.

Trout Creek Elementary PAC co-president Lora Nield provided a call to action list to the Okanagan Skaha School District 67 at their board meeting on Monday to ensure reconfiguration goes smoothly for the students.

“There are some items in here that we absolutely agree with and will do our best to accommodate. There are some pieces in here that we wont be able to,” said secretary treasurer Bonnie Roller-Routley adding that some of the improvements and changes would need to be reviewed by senior management.

Under the heading improvements and investments, Trout Creek PAC is asking for reimbursement of $15,000 for a kitchen built in 2015 that the community raised and relocation of a garden, shed and tools to Giant’s Head before Sept. 1. Parents have also listed options for relocation of the playground equipment that was installed in 2014 to Summerland Middle School by Sept. 1. Other playground equipment options include donation to the District of Summerland, Kinsmen or Rotary club to create a community playground or relocating it to Powell Beach.

“We have not yet made the determination whether that playground equipment will be necessary at Giant’s Head or the Summerland Middle School. Until that time it would simply stay at the Trout Creek site,” said Roller-Routley.

In addition to the improvements they are also asking the school board to mitigate hardships and concerns. This includes parents getting their children to Giant’s Head. They asked to open and maintain Dale Meadows parking lot to Giant’s Head all year long, construction of a crush rock trail from Dale Meadows to to allow for parking and path access to the school.

At Summerland Middle School the parents are concerned about grades four and five students accessing the school by using crosswalks at busy intersections and ask for increase crosswalk supervision and construction of a safety gate at an existing playground near a busy intersection.

All of these were items that the school board said would have be discussed with senior management staff and administrators.

Parents have also asked desks relocate to Summerland Middle School that have the under storage that the school board said is something that has already been thought of by administration and will be moving forward on.

Under potential future considerations they wrote that they may seek financial support to purchase lockers that younger students can easily access. Roller-Routley said that is one item they have not yet considered on their list as part of the transition.

“Basically the staff will work with the PAC to do as much as they can,” she said of the transition wish list.