‘A crying shame’: Dozens rally to save Regina alternative school

It’s being touted as a special school that saved many people from going down the wrong path, but in the provincial budget funding for the Cornwall Alternative School was cut, effectively shutting the Regina school down.

“Where are these kids who need to get their education going to go? If they can’t fit into the regular school system, where do they go? I’ll tell you where — out on the streets. And the education there is a lot different,” said Dale Hominiuk.

He was at a rally in front of the school on Monday night. He was a student at an early incarnation of Cornwall more than 35 years ago.

Cornwall is a school independent from the public or separate systems. It’s for kids in grades 7-10 to go when they can’t handle the regular school systems, or it can’t handle them. It’s been called a “last chance” by many.

Hominiuk said he had issues with anger and acting out, and if it hadn’t been for Cornwall, he may not have gotten back into a regular school.

Emma-Lee Ritco was part of the crowd at the rally as well. She’s a more recent graduate — she passed tenth grade in 2018, and is now doing well at a public school, Scott Collegiate.

The teen said when she got to Cornwall in ninth grade she was failing, but Cornwall helped her change things. She praised the small class sizes, saying it makes it easier to engage.

“(If it hadn’t been for Cornwall) I probably would not (have) been in school by now. I would probably be living by myself and having a job and suffering, because … I was not doing well in school and then I came here and they turned my life around,” she said.

According to Tara Amyotte-Ring, the kids who will lose out from Cornwall closing, will lose everything.

“It’s not just school, it’s their sense of safety, security, a family. For a lot of kids this is the support we have.”

When Amyotte-Ring got to the school she said she was addicted to drugs and on a very scary path.

“I think this is the only reason I’ve made it as far as I did, was the support and love and acceptance that have come out of this building,” she said.

The province had made a three year commitment in 2017 to the fund the Regina school, but cut the last year of that in the budget delivered last week.

The NDP calling for a reversal

There were between 60 and 70 people at the rally on Monday night, including CUPE members and members of the NDP.

The Official Opposition’s education critic is calling on the provincial government to reverse the cut to Cornwall’s funding.

“This is a program that has been successful for 45 years keeping students in school who otherwise wouldn’t be in school,” Carla Beck told media earlier in the day.

Province defends the cut

The Education Minister explained the cut, saying kids transitioning from the end of Cornwall’s program — tenth grade — to eleventh grade in other schools were having a hard time. Gord Wyant said the decision was to stop funding Cornwall and have the kids continue in the other schools.

He said the decision wasn’t made due to money concerns, but for what’s best for the kids.

Wyant said the supports that were unique at Cornwall Alternative School when it started are now throughout the school systems, and he’s confident the kids will be properly provided for by staying in those other school systems. He said the ministry feels keeping the kids in one school division is important to their educational journey.

Others disagree though, saying Cornwall is there because the kids can’t perform in the regular system.

“If the regular system was already serving these children, they would be in the regular system, they wouldn’t be sent here,” said Amy Diane Will, a supporter at Monday night’s rally, and wife of the school’s vice-principal.

Defending the choice, Wyant pointed to a similar program in Saskatoon which ended in 2009. According to the provincial government, the Connections program operated out of the Radius Community Centre. Due to added capacity and supports within the school systems, the program had only a few students enrolled in its last year.

Wyant said because of the experience with that program, the province is confident it can have success transitioning the kids into continuing programming in the other school divisions.

According to Wyant, transition money will be made available to the school divisions as the 30 to 40 students from Cornwall get situated back into other schools.