‘Laird School is like a gem’: Rural Sask. school’s future uncertain

An elementary school in Laird, Sask. is under review with grade cuts or even closure under consideration. Stacey Hein reports.

Dozens of residents filled the Laird school gym, about 70 kilometres north of Saskatoon, on Wednesday night, raising concerns about a school review that could lead to grade cuts or closure.

The Prairie Spirit Board of Education began the review last September due to declining enrolment and building conditions.

The review will consider three options: keeping the school as is, cutting grades or closing it altogether.

Some Laird residents say the K-8 school plays a key role in the community and has deep roots with generations of families.

“I went here, my kids have gone here,” Howard Weiler said in an interview with CTV News. “Everyone at our table today just said Laird School is like a gem in the province.”

“The school has been a very important part of the community for all these years, and to lose it would be a really big loss,” Wilmer Froese said.

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Under school division policy, reviews are triggered when enrolment drops below 51 students. Laird has been below that threshold for a few years and is now at 35.

The school also needs about $1.5 million in roof and HVAC repairs.

Funding for roof repairs was announced Wednesday in the latest provincial budget.

“We wanted to identify some funding for that, if that would assist in terms of being able to help repair that school,” Education Minister Everett Hindley told reporters Thursday.

How much funding will be provided, and whether it will cover HVAC upgrades, remains unclear. Prairie Spirit Board of Education chair Kate Kading said the board plans to get more details.

“In the coming days and weeks, we will have meetings with the Ministry of Education to detail what that looks like and what it means for Laird School,” Kading said.

As part of the review, school proximity must be considered.

The nearest school is in Waldheim, about 15 kilometres away, and the Prairie Spirit School Division says it has room for all 35 students.

Kading says the board will also weigh cost per student and says cutting grades would drive up those costs.

“There is a challenge to discontinuing grades because your building costs remain the same,” she said. “It just becomes more expensive per child.”

Froese says the value of the school goes beyond the bottom line.

“We need to talk more about the value of the individual and how it’s impacting students. We can’t measure those things in dollars and cents,” he said.

The board is expected to deliver its decision on the future of Laird School on April 20.