“I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” -Mark Antony
“I come to praise Waldorf, not to bury it.” -Me
That said, I also come to praise the decision made by our elected officials during the June 25 closed meeting. If you’ve been doing the ostrich dance since then and don’t know what the kerfuffle is that has unleashed a landslide of letters to mayor and council, a decision was made to extend the Whistler Waldorf School’s lease at Spruce Grove for one more year and only one more year.
The ensuing uproar from the Waldorf school board trustees and many of the parents who send their children to the private school was predictable. And telling. And sadly revealing of a level of entitlement not supported by history.
The trustees bemoan the decision, “especially after a year of ongoing discussions in good faith with municipal staff to explore potential options for a long-term agreement.” Italics mine.
Therein lies the crux of the matter.
The trustees, many parents and others who have flooded council with letters in opposition, believe their school should remain where it is, at Spruce Grove, forever. Permanently.
Such was never the intention in the early 2000s when the council of the day graciously permitted the school to use its current site temporarily, while funds were raised and work was done to find a permanent location to build the school. Temporarily has become 23 years. The effort to locate and build a permanent location has gone nowhere. The accommodation has become too cosy. The inertia is great.
So, let’s cut to the chase. The governing bodies of the school have consistently failed, over more than two decades, to do the second most important thing they should have done. First, of course, was establish a school. They did. It’s a resounding success. Second, though, was to build a forever home for the school. They failed at that vital task.
The problem here isn’t the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW). They’ve been clear from the beginning Spruce Grove was a temporary location. It is not the job of municipal government to provide or locate a site for a private school. Full stop. It is their responsibility to facilitate public schools, along with the school district and the provincial Ministry of Education and Childcare.
Waldorf has 170 students and operates 45 to 50 daycare spots. They do so with 45 employees—teachers, administrators and other staff. The trustees and letter writers are lathered about the impact on them and, of course, the community. A quick dive into arithmetic suggests even if all those 45 employees were teachers and daycare workers, the student/daycare ratio would be fewer than five per staff. Which is one reason people send their children to private school.
A bit more fun with numbers. Adding up all the students, families, staff and daycare participants rounds up to about 400 with the obvious duplication of double counting students and the families of which they are part.
The current population of Whistler is undoubtedly north of 15,000 at this point. Spruce Grove Field House is an outstanding community amenity. It has a large hall, a commercial kitchen, numerous meeting rooms and is available for use by residents at a reasonable cost, July and August. Only! The rest of the year it’s used by those 400 privileged residents. The other 14,600 need not apply.
In 2013, Waldorf’s own Vision 2017 outlined plans for the school to be relocated to a site to be determined, an ambitious fundraising effort and a final move into a new, purpose-built, permanent home by 2017.
The school’s administrator at the time told council they had lenders in place, a strong track record fundraising and managing debt, and a parcel of land they were looking at next to the WedgeWoods neighbourhood north of Emerald.
Nothing came of it and the communication between Waldorf and the public about their plans since then could best be described as radio silence.
Fact is, Waldorf has flown under the radar for most of its existence. There is communication between the school and its students and family. There are ongoing discussions between the school and RMOW staff. But communication between the school and the rest of the people who live here has been minimal.
In the absence of information, we are only left with speculation.
What, for example, happened to the eight possible sites identified between 2011 and 2014? What was so terrible about the WedgeWoods site? What was the Summit Centre? And why are the trustees so surprised the town’s elected officials have finally said enough is enough?
The answer to the last question is pretty straightforward, especially if you take the time to read many of the letters from upset parents. They express a feeling of entitlement to remain the beneficiaries of the Spruce Grove site. Their temporary, forever home.
Tuesday evening—last Tuesday since I’m writing this Monday—many will attend council. Many will speak. Many will express their disappointment and disapproval at council’s decision. Some will express that sense of entitlement to stay where they are.
Wrong approach.
The right approach is to get serious about finding a permanent location and stop trying to convince staff and council to ignore the rest of the community’s potential use of what was designed—and acquired through Crown Grant from the province—to be a public park for outdoor recreational use, not a private school.
The right approach would be to engage the community, the rest of us, instead of warning of the dire consequences sure to befall us if council finally forces Waldorf to do what they should have done some time in the last two decades.
The right approach would be to work with local landowners, developers, the education ministry, everyone and anyone who could help meet the goal that’s been hanging out there like a fat piñata and get a permanent location built.
And here’s the most important part of the right approach: Realize there’s very little chance the RMOW is going to put the boots to the school on June 30, 2025 if they’ve actually made progress instead of working with staff to try and get what they don’t deserve—the exclusive and permanent use of their current, temporary facilities.
Our elected officials know and understand they’re not going to be in a permanent location within a year. They know their student body would overtax the public schools in town when we already need an additional new school.
But if they don’t take advantage of the next year to actually make measurable inroads toward that goal they’ll have no one but themselves to blame if the RMOW gives them the boot.
So get busy, Waldorf, and put the private in private school. We’d like our facility back, thank you.
