The Carleton Trail Regional College (CTRC) is closing its Davidson campus “around” July 20, but any services that are required by residents of Davidson can still be accessed through a different location, according to the CTRC interim CEO.
“The activity in Davidson was not as active as the other campuses were,” said Bill Cooke, referring to the small number of students who use the school compared to the campuses at Southey, Watrous, Wynyard and Humboldt and the limited number of instructors willing to teach at Davidson.
“We have fixed resources. Frankly, we don’t have any more money to do anything differently (than close the campus), so we have to work within what we have.
“With the building closing, it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference to the provision of services,” he said. “Any services needed in Davidson can be provided through Southey, it can be provided through Watrous or it can be provided in some sort of unique way. This is really making do with what are becoming quite limited resources.”
The CTRC is involved with upgrading basic adult education as well as credited trades programs such as emergency medical services (EMS), carpentry, plumbing and electrical as well as non-credit programs like photography and gardening.
Mary Jane Morrison, the mayor of Davidson, said she was not consulted prior to hearing from Cooke on June 21 that the campus would be closing. She said the town would fight to keep services in Davidson and will keep all lines of communication open to remain a voice in discussions to keep some programs here.
“I think it’s a real loss for our community,” said Morrison adding some jobs would be lost because of this decision, not to mention the harm done to mature students who don’t have the time to get to other campuses after their day jobs. “It’s always nice to provide that post-secondary education here, so people wouldn’t have to travel.
“When he told me they were closing, he said the numbers were down in Davidson. I understood that from some of the research that was done; however, I said that I didn’t agree. First of all, I don’t know how hard they tried to deliver a variety of programming here. At earlier times, there was a better job done at that. I tried to point out a few things like Davidson is a growing community and there are a few classes here that they had taken away (that were well used).
“When he delivered the news to me, I said I wouldn’t keep Davidson out of the loop in the future,” she said. “We mean that.”
To read more please see the July 2 print edition of The Davidson Leader.