Bountiful moms sending kids to public school
 
CBC News
 
A small elementary school in the Kootenays has been saved by the late enrolment of children from the polygamous Mormon Fundamentalist community of Bountiful.

It had appeared that the school in Yahk was about be closed down because only two students had been enrolled this year.

But then a group of women who normally send their children to church-run schools in nearby Bountiful visited the Yahk school and decided to enroll their children.

Now at least 17 students are enrolled.

For Fundamentalist Mormon mothers like Sherry Palmer, choosing a public school was a major decision.

"We're having a lot of trouble with it. But I want to do it, and my children want to do it, and my husband's getting to want to do it – whether he wants to or not."

This is believed to be the first time Fundamentalist Mormons who live in and around the community of Bountiful have enrolled their children in a public elementary school.

Local residents who have watched the Fundamentalist Mormon community from the outside for years, see this shift as historic.

"It's monumental," says Melanie Sommerfeld, the head of the Yahk Parent Advisory Council. "As a community, I think we've always hoped that our neighbours would come."

Rebecca Blair of the Creston Teachers' Association says the small Yahk school is an excellent place for children from the polygamous community to integrate into the rest of society.

"I think it was one of the mothers that mentioned this could be a stepping stone, because of the smallness of the area, it's easier for the students to be accepted by other people," she says.

The Mormon Fundamentalist mothers who chose the public school cited a number of reasons for their decision – from shorter travel times, to wanting to integrate their kids into society at an earlier age.
 
vancouver.cbc.ca
Originally published October 26, 2005
 
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