The Citizen, 2011-09-29, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011.Vodden warns communities of school closures
THE EDITOR,
The Avon Maitland District
School Board (AMDSB) has
announced that another
Accommodation Review process is
about to commence for Colborne
Central and Holmesville Public
Schools and possibly other schools.
Having seen the disastrous results of
one of their Accommodation Review
Committee adventures, I am
compelled to provide some advice to
the affected communities based on
our grim experience in North Huron.
Blyth, Brussels and Zurich are
facing bleak futures as a result of the
board’s hostile decisions. We learned
a lot, but the lessons may have come
too late. Our Blyth school has not
even closed, but we are already
seeing property values drop.
Notice that I am directing this
message to the communities – not
just the people who will be selected
as members of the ARC. These
processes are of prime concern to
everyone in the community, not just
to children in school, parents of
children in schools – everyone!
Enlightened school boards in
some parts of the province are
encouraging full community
participation. Some school boards,
having learned from their mistakes
in earlier ARC processes, have
tossed the whole ARC agenda out,
and have entered into agreements
with their area municipalities.
Together they have proceeded in an
open, transparent, honest approach
to discover the best solutions for
pupil accommodation without doing
damage to the communities in which
the pupils and their friends and
neighbours live.
Don’t expect that kind of
enlightenment from AMDSB. The
board believes that schools are silos,
completely disconnected from the
surrounding community, and they
can do anything they like, leaving
the shattered community to pick up
the pieces as best they can.
I would advise any municipal
councils who are affected by such a
review to give notice to the school
board that the council is vitally
concerned with the results and
would like to be fully involved. If
rebuffed by the board, make sure
that you have at least one
representative councillor as member
of the ARC and an alternate so that
your council is involved every step
of the way. That representation is a
requirement of the guidelines, but
you must make certain that your
representative keeps council
informed.
Make sure that there are public
meetings and that they are fully
advertised in the community. Notes
sent home with school children
exclude parts of your community
and give the impression that the
community at large is not wanted at
these meetings. According to the
ARC rules, the board is obligated to
see that the committee and public
meetings involve a broad cross-
section of the community. In North
Huron it seemed that AMDSB
deliberately avoided full
participation in the meetings.
Get a copy of the Pupil
Accommodation Review Guidelines
issued by the Ministry of Education
and study it very carefully and
ensure that the board follows every
guideline to the letter (except for a
small number of items which may
not be applicable in your situation).
In North Huron, the board ignored
many guidelines, mainly because
they would have interfered with their
pre-planned agendas. Don’t let them
get away with that kind of trickery. If
the usual pattern prevails, the
AMDSB will have decided already
what it intends to do. That is not a
reason for giving up. Don’t let them
cut any corners. Get all the input you
can legally get.
Treat the entire process with the
utmost seriousness. Remember that
the school board by legislation has
the absolute right to make any
closure decision it wishes; there is
no right of appeal. If you do not like
the decision, you may petition the
Minister of Education to authorize
an administrative review. Don’t
confuse that with an appeal. If the
petition is granted, a so-called
“independent facilitator” will
determine whether the board
followed its own policy, but that
person has no authority to change
the board’s decision. Not even
the Minister can do that. This is
the most egregious example of
lack of accountability and
transparency that we have seen in
this country.
I have read several reports by these
facilitators in various Ontario
communities and they read as if they
all came out of the same sausage
machine. Our report in the case of
Blyth Public School made no note of
the many violations by the school
board of the guidelines, the lack of
representation from business,
municipal and general public
sources, the board’s failure to
conduct an economic impact study
of Blyth closure. All of these gaps
were ignored by the facilitator in her
report. She or he works for the
Minister and the Minister does not
seem to be on the side of the
community.
If you are going to obtain a result
that serves both the educational and
the community needs and interests,
it has to be accomplished through
the ARC. The ARC results have to
be so convincing that the board
would be embarrassed to ignore the
community input. And believe me,
this school board is not easily
embarrassed.
This board has its own secret
agenda and will do almost anything
to get its way despite what the
community wants and needs. Work
hard to defend your community’s
interests; don’t rely on the board to
do that.
A good preparation for this ARC
process would be to submit a
question for the candidates in the
upcoming all candidates’ meetings
to see where they stand with respect
to the ARC.
Brock Vodden, Blyth.
THE EDITOR,
First of all, we would like to thank
all of our 2011 Coffee Break hosts
for their support during our Coffee
Break campaign. Some Coffee
Breaks have already happened and
there are still a number of Coffee
Breaks that have yet to take place.
We would also like to thank United
Communities Credit Union for
being our sponsor. The support of
the communities in Huron County is
greatly appreciated.
Due to the recent events in
Goderich, we have made the
decision to scale back our Coffee
Break campaign. We are aware of
what Goderich is dealing with and
we continue to keep the town and its
citizens in our thoughts. As a
Society, we have offered our time to
volunteer, continue to support
clients and offer education in
Goderich.
We know that Goderich is a
resilient town and we look forward
to it being back on its feet for our
Walk for Memories in January.
Sincerely,
Philip McMillan, Secretary
Alzheimer Society of Huron
County.
Letters to the Editor
Society to take
break due to
Goderich tornado