Enraging. That word showed up on social media in response to the GSACRD decision May 25 to move St. Gabriel's High School into the GSACRD divisional office building in the fall of 2020, and I cannot think of a better response. After all, it was less than a year ago the GSACRD board assured stakeholders that neither the division offices or the St. Gabe's location were in any way redeemable.
In fact, they repeatedly talked about the "bowels" in division offices that were apparently unfit for occupation where St. Gabe's will now find a home. Not to mention how they "accidentally" found space for all their office staff upstairs. Along with the aging EFJ building, which has not been spoken of in months, these two facilities were supposedly the driving needs behind the Faith in Our Future (FIOF) proposal ... evidently easily solved by a small renovation project.
It shows what stakeholders felt all along: that the true nature of FIOF was to be a red herring, distracting from the intentional and systematic dismantling of single track French immersion, the "hidden gem of the district" (Dr. Rhonda Nixon) in GSACRD. All this to save one FTE staff position at ESSMY next fall. Enraging indeed.
Jenny Benke
Sturgeon County
