HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-07-02, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009.Trustees of the AvonMaitland District SchoolBoard – one in tears –
unanimously approved the
consolidation of four
elementary schools into one
to-be-constructed facility in
the Wingham region, at a
regular meeting Tuesday,
June. 23.
Effective September, 2011,
kindergarten to Grade 6
students from East Wawanosh
Public School, Turnberry
Central Public School and
Wingham Public School will
attend a new facility with
estimated construction costs
of $11.6 million. Students
from Blyth Public School,
which will also close, will
attend either the new school
or Hullett Central Public
School in Londesborough.
The decision is in keeping
with a recommendation from
administra-tive staff, and
comes following a public
consultation process that
began last September.
But that doesn’t mean the
entire public is on side with
the decision; three members
of the public delivered official
delegations to the board at the
beginning of the June 23
meeting, about 15 concerned
citizens sat in the normally-empty audience section of theSeaforth-based board’smeeting room, and themeeting itself devolved into ashort shouting match
immediately after the
decision.
“They said the kids in Blyth
have two choices for where
they’ll go,” commented one
woman, who refused to give
her name, to reporters as a
group of audience members
got up and left the meeting.
“Well, they have four choices.
They also have the Clinton
Christian School and the
Catholic school in Clinton.”
One man, who was
shouting at trustees, abruptly
left after being spoken to by
Mark Beaven, a community
member who served on the
board-mandated public
consultation committee.
Beaven has been consistently
critical of the board’s
insistence on following
through with the Grades 7 and
8 relocation. And he
maintained that level of
criticism after the vote.
“All they’ve done now is
increase the animosity
between the community and
board,” he said to reporters,
outside the building.
In his delegation to the
board, Beaven called on
trustees to defer the decisionuntil September, 2009, inorder to gather furtherinformation about fundingpossibilities for akindergarten-to-Grade 8
school. This is the option
being promoted by what’s
known as the Hot Stove
Group, consisting largely of
community-based members
of the now-disbanded public
consultation committee.
He brought with him a
photo-opportunity-ready,
oversized cheque for
$250,000 from the Twp. of
North Huron and the
Municipality of Morris-
Turnberry. Citing motions
passed by the councils of each
municipality, he explained the
funds would only flow to the
school board if a K-8 school
is built.
Trustees, however, remain
wary of administrative staff’s
advice that the promised $8.8
million in Local Priorities
funding from the provincial
Education Ministry also
comes with strings attached:
that any new construction
must provide a solution for
excess space – only projected
to increase – at F.E. Madill.
(There’s no word about the
source of the balance of the
projected $11.6 million
budget. At the meeting,
business superintendent Janet
Baird-Jackson speculated
about using funds from the
sale of to-be-closed facilities
in Goderich and St. Marys.)
There was also someuncertainty about thelegalities of a particularschool system receiving a“gift” from a municipalitythat is home to taxpaying
supporters of more than one
school system. Education
director Chuck Reid advised
trustees Ontario’s
Municipalities Act says it’s
okay, but the Education Act
restricts it.
“My advice at this stage
would be to get a legal
opinion.”
Stratford trustee Meg
Westley spoke strongly in
favour of relocating the
Grades 7 and 8s, adding her
own son was among the first
Grade 7s to move into
secondary school settings
when it was done in Stratford
in 2003.
And Perth East
representative Tina Traschel,
who noted she fought
successfully at that time to
maintain a K-8 presence in
the rural schools east of
Stratford, now believes her
children would have been
better-served if the board had
opted for K-6.
“I don’t believe that your
fears will come to pass,”
Westley said. “We want to
address every parental
concern (and) I really
encourage the parents to
embrace the positives and to
work together to ensure a
smooth transition.”
Huron East/Central Huron
trustee Shelley Kaastra, whoalso once fought to save arural school, was in tears asshe expressed her support forthe recommendation. But Westley was clearly the
most vocal supporter.
“There has also been the
suggestion that we haven’t
listened. I would like to
suggest that we certainly
have,” the board’s past-chair
continued. “We do appreciate
your concerns. It doesn’t
necessarily mean that we do
what you want us to do . . . but
I have seen the staff
recommendation change and
morph as a result of the input
from the community.”
Beaven, however, made it
clear he felt trustees could
have waited for some
additional information. That
includes obtaining full
confirmation from the
Education Ministry that it
would not fund a K-8 school
with an identical $8.8 million
Local Priorities grant, and
securing accurate numbers
about the potential savings
from closing Wingham Public
School – something that
wasn’t included in earlier
calculations because it was
one of the things added into
the proposal as a reaction to
public consultation.
“(Superintendent Mike
Ash) even admitted they don’t
have the costing for Wingham
closure,” Beaven said,
referring to an earlier question
from a trustee. “So they’re
going blind with this . . . Butthere’s still time, according tothe Ministry guidelines.”
Continued from page 1
been questions as to whether
the board had its scenario
mapped out since last year.
However, Ash says, the
board was asked to act in
October when applications
were called for from the
Ministry of Education and
they acted based on models
that were already working
in St. Marys and
Goderich.
“The ARC process had not
begun when that application
was done, and as such, we
were not in a position to take
in any community input. Over
the course of the
accommodation review
process, we amended that
application to take into
account new information,” he
said.
“The fact is that based on
our experiences in St. Marys
and Goderich, we knew the
Ministry would look at us,
using our excess capacity, as a
condition of receiving
funding, and we took that into
account when we said we
would be placing Grade 7 and
8 students in excess
capacity spaces at F.E.
Madill.”
At last week’s meeting,
Beaven proposed a deferral
over the summer to
investigate both the staff
recommendation and the
ARC recommendation
further.
The current $8.8 million,
however, must be used on a
structure that is fully-built by
September of 2011.
In the initial application,
the board proposed a K-6
school. However, Ash says,
the funding is dependent on
the consolidation on the four
schools, not necessarily the
K-6 model.
“The determinant as to
whether it could be used for a
K-8 school as opposed to a K-
6 school is the amount of
funding,” he said. “The $8.8
million, based on our initial
estimates, will not cover the
construction of a K-6 school,
let alone a K-8 school.”
Ash said, if funds were to
be raised to bridge the gap
from $8.8 million to whatever
number would allow the
construction of a new K-8
school, the board, if it were to
even allow discussion on the
topic, would have to have
cash in hand by September in
order to go to tenders in the
fall.
The other option, for Blyth
parents is to send their
children to Hullett Central
Public School, the only one in
the accommodation review
that will remain open.
There are, however, spacing
concerns there too, Beaven
says.
Beaven says his biggest
concern isn’t Grade 7 and 8
students moving to high
school earlier or rural
communities losing the
schools that have been there
for decades. He says it’s the
missed opportunity that cuts
North Huron the deepest.
“In the end, the biggest
thing that upsets me is that we
have missed, unless the
appeal process works, the best
opportunity we will have for
our children in years,” he
said.
“It’s a crying shame that
we’re not going to give the
students of this area the
chance of a lifetime regarding
their education.”
AMDSB trustees unanimous in decision
Beaven requests
deferral until fall
By Stew SlaterSpecial to The Citizen