MIRROR SCHOOL
our years ago, a little school in the Hamlet of Mirror faced the same fate as Satinwood School. The story went very much the same: with a decline in students over the years, Wolf Creek Public Schools (WCPS) felt there was
Even though the community had braced themselves for closure after years of struggling to keep the school viable, many were upset about how the school board went about it. Sturgeon and another collaborator had developed a detailed proposal for opening an alternate Christian school under the WCPS system, but that proposal was rejected.
"I was a little unhappy with the way they closed it," Sturgeon said. "They really didn't listen to our proposal at all, and wouldn't even let us talk about it to any extent when we had the meeting where they closed the school."
The 20-page proposal developed by Sturgeon and his partner outlined what the community's needs were and how important it was to have a school in Mirror. It also proposed that the alternate school would still be funded by the government, but any budget deficits would be covered by the Mirror Alliance Church.
"WCPS would have overseen it, but if there was a shortfall we would pay the difference," Sturgeon explained. "We offered to take over the janitorial work, the utilities and all that. I didn't blame them for the decision they made, but they weren't even open to what the opportunities were."
Mirror School officially closed its doors in June of 2010. But unlike other rural schools that have been bulldozed or left to sit crumbling away in the countryside, Mirror turned out to be the little school that could.
After Mirror School had been shut down, Sturgeon explained that the church couldn't bear to part with the building so they decided to buy it. At the same time, Living Truth Christian School (LTCS) — a school that was also up for closure in Sedgewick, Alta. — was searching for any means to keep the school running.
LTCS had heard about what happened in Mirror, and since they were looking for a space to relocate their school to, they requested to rent the building in Mirror and operate it as a private school. Just two years later, Mirror was back in business.
"It's actually a remarkable story about how it all pulled together," Sturgeon said. "We started the first year with only 12 students, and last year we jumped up to 38. It's doing very well, it just takes time to develop it all."
Parent Mandy Lewis lives in Sedgewick, but drives two hours everyday just so her daughter Hayley can attend LTCS in Mirror. Hayley suffered a serious brain injury after she fell with a chopstick in her mouth when she was just 2-years-old; because of her resulting handicaps, she was picked on constantly at the school in Sedgewick.
"Her brain was also affected by what tells you you're full, so she's quite overweight," Mandy said. "She's 12, but her mentality is only about age six or seven. So she really got bullied at Sedgewick horrifically, so I started asking about moving her to the Christian school."
Mandy said since the switch in schools, she's noticed a drastic improvement in her daughter. With the intimate class sizes and teachers who have the time to give each child the individual attention they need, Mandy said both her and Hayley are much happier.
"The difference is phenomenal," Mandy said. "I don't actually know what I would do if we didn't have this place for Hayley, she's really come a long way. It's well worth the drive."
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no other option but to close the school.
Mirror resident Jim Sturgeon said his mother had attended the small school, and he himself was a student there 50 years ago. Sturgeon said when he was in Grade 12, the school hosted about 300 students. But with changes in the railroad and a subsequent decline in the economy, Mirror's population steadily dropped from 1,000 to around 350 people.
A principal at the school many years later, Sturgeon said although Mirror's population managed to climb back up to 500 residents, there simply wasn't enough students in the area to keep the school going.
"It was just getting down in the number of students that were here," Sturgeon explained. "It is a small community, and we were down to 46 students. The school board just didn't feel that it made economic sense to keep it going."