HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-03-07, Page 28PAGE 28. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2001.
Closure decisions could begin again Dec. 2002
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Students, parents and staff within
the Avon Maitland District School
Board will not face the prospect of
their school shutting for good this
teaching year, but the board's direc-
tor of education says final decisions
on a new round of closures could
come as early as "some time around
Christmas next year."
Top administrator Lorne Rachlis
made the comment after superin-
tendent of education Bill Gerth
delivered a staff report entitled
"Current Enrolment and
Accommodation Data" at the
board's regular meeting, Tuesday,
Feb. 27.'
The report notes that the board is
currently in the third year of a five-
year "accommodation review and
planning cycle," and highlights sev-
eral constraints which, in the past,
have been associated with the need
to consider school closures. These
include declining enrolment, the
elimination of the five-year
high school curriculum, and a strict-
ly-defined provincial funding formu-
la.
The five-year "planning cycle"
was the source of last year's board
decision to close six schools, and it
includes the following projection for
this teaching year: "possibly two
schools in central/north Huron pro-
posed for further study for potential
closure (by) June, 2001." However,
precedent has already been set for a
retreat from the plan. The board fell
significantly_ short of initial 1999-
2000 projedions when a subsequent
staff report reversed the potential
closure of Downie Central Public
School and a citizen-based court
challenge successfully saved
Seaforth District High School
(SDHS).
And though the original five-year
plan was included in information
packages for the Feb. 27 meeting ---
complete with the projected closure
of Downie Central and SDHS —
Gerth was careful to stress it is no
longer valid.
"The expectation is that this
process will include a new five-year
plan," Gerth said.
Largely in response to last year's
SDHS court challenge, Avon
Maitland trustees recently approved
a revised process for community
involvement in school closure deci-
sions. The timelines of that process
would make it difficult for the board
to successfully close a school by
June, 2001. Gerth confirmed this,
stating, "the process would have to
unfold over the next year and a half."
However, his report shows the
board could begin the process as
early as April, when the second part
of this new document is tabled. At
that time, it's possible that communi-
ty-based study groups could be
formed, thereby putting the potential
school closure process into motion.
"In addition to projected enrol-
ment and accommodation data, this
report will present recommendations
on how to proceed with the Student
Accommodation Process including,
if appropriate, the creation of
Community Accommodation Study
Committees," Gerth's report states.
And according to. Rachlis, that
could lead to final decisions as early
as Christmas, 2001.
Some feel Blue Devil overshadowed other issues
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
When a Tuesday, Feb. 27 vote by
Avon Maitland District School
Board trustees suspended the current
attempt to remove Mitchell District
High School's Blue Devil mascot, a
chier went up from the crowd of
approximately 100 in attendance at
the regular board meeting. Others
remained- quiet, steadfast in their
belief the board's decision perpetu-
ates discrimination.
It's quite possible, however, that
there were just as many in the room
who believed the issue should never
have been before the board in the
first place.
"I think we should again stress that
this was not a board-initiated
process," said Stratford representa-
tive Rod Brown, prior to explaining
Why he would support fellow trustee
Carol Bennewies's motion to accept
the Blue Devil as non-discriminato-
ry.
An information package for the
meeting, prepared by education
superintendent Geoff Williams,
explained how the issue eventually
came before the board.
The report says the controversy
stretches as far back as the 1950s,
when the mascot came into being.
"The selection of the Blue Devil as
the Mitchell District High School
mascot was known at the time to be
offensive on religious grounds to
some members of the community,"
the report states. "Religious objec-
tions to the mascot continue to be
raised, the latest at School Council
meetings in' February and March of
1999."
The controversy eventually .made
it to the board level after supporters
of the Blue Devil objected to an
expressed intent within the School
Council to use the board's
Antiracism and Ethnocultural Policy
to force a mascot change. In
response, MDHS student council
president Paul Battin made a delega-
tion at a regular board meeting Feb.
13.
At the time, trustees asked board
staff to gather more information and
report back for Feb. 27, inspiring
both Blue Devil supporters and
detractors to attend the meeting, as
well as contributing a total of five
public 10-minute delegations.
The mascot, however, wasn't the
only business on the agenda, despite
the fact most of the audience and a
good portion of an unusually abun-
dant media contingent left the build-
ing immediately after Bennewies's
motion passed. Carol Anne Doig,
who helped present the only other
delegation at the Feb. 27 meeting,
used humour to acknowledge her
concerns might be overshadowed.
"It's really great to have so many
people turn out tonight to hear about
the Seaforth District High School
school council's proposal for agri-
cultural education," Doig said with a
smile, prior to her presentation.
Her -co-presenter, Seaforth school
council president Maureen Agar,
said in an interview she sympathizes
with people trying to save- the Blue
Devil. But she added students, staff
and alumni of Seaforth High remain
in a battle to save not only their
"Golden Bear" mascot, but the entire
school which it represents.
"They're trying to save their mas-
cot and we're trying to save our
school. It makes you think about
what's important,"- Agar said.
Not long after Bennewies's motion
eventually passed, board chair
Wendy Anderson was forced —
under board regulations — to seek a
motion allowing the meeting to con-
tinue past the 2 1/2-hour mark of
10:30 p.m. Only a concerted effort
by meeting participants to curtail
their discussions about several other
issues prevented the need for a simi-
lar motion at 11 p.m.
Among the post-Blue Devil busi-
ness items were a presentation of
fmancial statements from Sept. 1,
2000 to Jan. 31, 2001, and a prelim-
inary staff report about future stu-
dent accommodation needs. Both
issues would normally spur intense
scrutiny from Seaforth-area trustee
Charles Smith, but he explained at
one point that he would limit his
comments in the interest of time.
And after the meeting, he admitted
the Blue Devil issue had been "time-
consuming."
Even Anderson, who voted against
Bennewies's motion and suggested
the mascot should be changed,
explained she believed the issue
would have been better brought to a
conclusion within the community
than at the school board level.
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