HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-06-19, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2008.
Back in time
It was The 80’s Musical! at Brussels Public School last week as students presented their
spring concert under the direction of Brian Cox and musical director Bruce Pepper. From left:
Hannah Pedersen, Kristen Pipe and Courtney Bloemberg performed Wake Me Up Before You
Go-Go. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
It was a tale of two Hwy. 8 townson Tuesday, June 10 as trustees of
the Avon Maitland District School
Board unanimously supported two
separate school closure
recommendations that are similar
only on the most superficial level.
In each community, an
elementary school will close. In
Goderich, however, board staff is
confident that enough money has
been forwarded through the
provincial government’s
“prohibitive to repair” (PTR)
initiative to both expand the
remaining elementary school
(Robertson Memorial) and improve
on the high school in order to
accommodate the town’s Grades 7
and 8 students.
No members of the public from
Goderich attended the June 10
meeting. The school council from
the school now scheduled to close
effective September, 2009, Victoria
Public School, sent an e-mail
expressing regrets that no
representative could attend the
crucial vote. But the e-mail, read
aloud by Goderich/North Huron
trustee Al Sygrove, stated, “We are
ready to move on . . . We look
forward to developing a school
community that all the people in
Goderich can be proud of.”
Board chair Meg Westley
summed up her support of the
recommendation by commenting,
“We already had a staff report
suggesting this very thing, the
(Education) Ministry agreed
(through its PTR funding approval
process), and it seemed like a smart
thing to do . . . The general feeling
that we’ve had from the community
is that this is an acceptable way to
go.”
“We certainly haven’t had any
outcry about this.”
By contrast, about a dozen
members of the public attended the
June 10 meeting from the other
community now facing school
closure, Mitchell. In that case,
according to the school council
representative from the elementary
school that will remain (Upper
Thames Elementary School), PTR
funding was denied due to the
province’s unwillingness to factor
in the projected costs for bringing
the aging Mitchell Public School in
line with wheelchair accessibility
guidelines. Jennifer Schroeder
argues that, if that had been done,
the board would also be receiving a
few million dollars to upgrade
UTES.
Without PTR, however, the board
must finance the now-approved
changes in Mitchell on its own. As
described in the June 10 report from
board staff, that translates into the
utilization of as many as four
portable classrooms at UTES in the
first year of implementation in
2010/11. By 2014, that’s projected
to decrease to somewhere between
zero and two portables.
“It’s like we’re disadvantaged by
not having a school that’s run-
down,” complained Mitchell Public
school council representative Dean
Smith, following the unanimous
vote.
Unlike the Goderich
recommendation, the staff report
about Mitchell that came forward
June 10 differed significantly from
the preliminary report that came
before the board several weeks ago.
On March 25, education
superintendent Ted Doherty’s
preliminary report recommended
approving the closure of Mitchell
Public, but only at such a time asenrolment in the two facilities haddeclined to the point that allstudents could be accommodated atUTES without portables.
In subsequent weeks, several
trustees explained, the community
expressed displeasure with the lack
of a fixed date on the
recommendation.
“Having been on the other side of
the fence” in a school closure
process, Huron East/Central Huron
representative Shelley Kaastra
argued, not having a fixed date
“would be very cruel to the people
involved. . . It would feel like it was
open-ended and you never knew.”
Carol Bennewies, who attended
school in Mitchell and now serves
the area as trustee, agreed the
community preferred “not to be left
in some kind of limbo.” After
bringing forward the motion to
close Mitchell Public effective
September, 2010, she added, “I just
think it’s better for the community
and the students.”
Smith, however, in an interview
after the meeting, objected to the
characterization of the debate. He
said trustees made it sound like the
only question facing them was
whether the Mitchell community
wanted a fixed date or an open-
ended recommendation, and that the
closure of the school was a foregone
conclusion.
“The discussion (shouldn’t have
been) the lack of a date versus
putting our kids in portables,” he
said. “That wasn’t even on the
table” when a community-based
consultation committee presented
its report to Avon Maitland staff
earlier this year. That committee,
which included both Smith and
Schroeder, recommended the status
quo over the short term in Mitchell.
“(The board) could have decided
not to jump on Mitchell as a
community in this round of
accommodation reviews,” Smith
charged.
Board chair Meg Westley, in
expressing her support for the
closure recommendation, was the
sole member of the board to
acknowledge publicly that the
community-based committee
recommended against closure.
“Neither (the fixed-date nor open-
ended closure plan) is the
recommendation that the
community passed forward to us,”
Westley conceded. “I hope that the
community understands the
pressures that are on us and why we
believe that we have to make a
change.”
She stressed, as well, the board’s
efforts to lobby the Education
Ministry for enhanced funding for
schools receiving students in
closure scenarios.
“That letter that we sent to the
government talked specifically
about the Mitchell situation,” the
board chair said. Looking ahead to
the implementation of the Mitchell
changes, she added, “I’m hoping
that, by the time this happens, that
(letter) will have reaped some
rewards for us.”
For her comments, Westley
received measured praise from
Schroeder. “Like Meg said, (UTES)
is a great spot to have our students
and we look forward to having more
there.”
The UTES school council
representative added she supports
the board’s efforts to pry more
funds from the government.
For his part, Smith wasn’t so
optimistic. “They might as well
send a letter saying the price of gas
is too high,” he quipped.
Avon Maitland trusteesapprove school closures
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