After serving the community for 50 years, the Dunster Fine Arts School is about to shut its doors.

The Prince George District School Board #57 accepted a recommendation to close the school at its latest board meeting, essentially closing the school for the next school year and sending 27 students into other communities. Most of the students will be bused to McBride Elementary School in the fall, while a handful will attend Valemount Elementary School.

Brian Pepper, superintendent of the school board said the decision was not made lightly to close the two-classroom school.

“The school board weighed all of the evidence and spent five hours in Dunster listening to the community and hearing about the fine quality of graduates,” Pepper said.

The school board district sustainability report recommended the closure of 14 schools, including Dunster. Many schools in Prince George were also closed as part of the board’s move to trim millions of dollars from its budget deficit.

Pepper said the school board had lots of information about the Dunster Fine Arts School, as many parents and community members argued against the closure. Community members stated the government needs a better funding formula for rural schools, and the numbers the school board used to justify the move were not correct.

Tete Jaune parent Chris Taylor expressed frustration that the school board was not listening to the community’s requests.

“It is an integral part of the heart of this community,” Taylor said. “The district has not been forthcoming. There’s not an open dialogue... there are many other viable options other than closure.”

She cited a report that recommended the school board could save $9 million through changes to its administrative structure, and said the needed renovations to the school could be completed with community donations. Since Dunster is designated as a fine arts school, it’s considered a choice school – one that isn’t experiencing declining enrolment in the same fashion as the other schools.

“It’s a great school. Students have great choices there,” said parent Jane Houlden. “It has a family atmosphere and it’s a good way of teaching kids to relate to kids of different ages.”

Since there are so few students in the school, they often complete many activities together. It also touches the community, as the Dunster Christmas Concert has been attracting the community for decades. Some Dunster residents have been attending the massive two-hour production for 30 years.

The British Columbia government also recently invested $500,000 in rural schools across the school board, which resulted in another $23,000 for Dunster Fine Arts School.

However the school board still chose to close the school.

The school board did pass a motion to engage with the regional district to discuss the future of the rural schools, whether they be closed or not.

The Dunster school was originally slated for closure in 2002, however the community was able to work with MLA Shirley Bond and the school board to find funding. The school was designated as a fine arts school, and attracted students from across the Robson Valley.

Phone calls to board chair Lynn Hall were not returned by press time.