REGINA - Ever since the second month Bryan Rice took over as the principal of the Cornwall Alternative School, a closure of the institution has been looming over his head.
The school, which runs as an independent non-profit organization, serves around 42 referred students between Grade 7 and Grade 11," or those who are at-risk in the traditional educational setting,"
Cornwall primarily gets its funding from the Ministry of Education, but that hasn’t kept up with the school's needs.
In 2024, Rice noted the school received over $1 million from the government but still had an approximate $200,000 deficit in their costs.
"We faced infrastructure challenges, we've had to replace two boilers, [as] we run a two boiler system [and also] just other odds and ends or things breaking down, [including windows being vandalized]."
Even though the school receives money from other sources, one of its big funders, United Way, recently stopped providing funding for the school.
Rice said this decision was because of a restructuring in the organization.
This has led Cornwall to make tough financial decisions, including cutting its outreach position.
The purpose of having an outreach worker "was to make sure that any student who left Cornwall got the support at their new school so that they could graduate. The outreach [also] looked in on former students and how they're doing in life," Rice said.
Without an outreach position, Rice noted students could feel intimidated or lost when moving from a school with 40 kids to 800 kids while being unable to come to terms with the change.
Rice also alluded to the challenges of seeing kids move on from the school, knowing they could struggle or drop out of high school, which is partially the reason they're pushing for a Grade 12 program.
New program?
Last year, Cornwall started a new Grade 11 program by shutting down one of their classrooms, which was a Grade 8 and 9 overlap.
With the success they’ve seen from the new program and the information they received from families, Rice noted the school needs to shift to adding a Grade 12 program to better serve the community.
The school is currently waiting to see if they will be approved for a Grade 12 program, which they will find out soon.
As for the costs of the Grade 12 program, "we can probably make it work with roughly $25,000 up front," Rice noted.
He added, "once we get established, you know. we'd probably be able to go with $100,000 per year."
Rice wants to ensure they bring in a teacher who can help ensure the school is putting a stamp on the student's education.
Cornwall has seen a high-success for credit attainment, with an over 91 per cent rate in 2024, according to Rice.
Need for more support.
Over the past few years, Rice has seen more referrals coming from different communities across Sask.
Parents have told him they worry their children won’t be successful anywhere.
Rice believes these increased referrals stem from students coming in with barriers, whether it's trauma, mental health or anxiety.
Although there is a growing need in the community, based on their current findings for their next budget, Rice believes the school will see a shortfall of around $200,000.
Part of that gap comes from the school residing in a building from the 1960s, and the roof is starting to go. With inflation, costs for services the school provides, like food and transportation, will continue to increase.
Consistently worrying about the future of the school has been daunting for Rice.
"It's a tough thing to keep carrying on, and you keep trying to support the students, and you keep trying to be successful with everything that you put your energy into. You want to lead your staff, and you want to move forward in lots of different initiatives."
He added, "knowing [that] we're one year away from funding or one thing going away from closure, that's a very tight, almost zero error place to be, and so the comfort level [has] definitely been tough."
