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son for the potential school closures
is a shortfall in funding. Although he
also says that consolidation is driven
by a need to provide better educa-
tional opportunities, school councils
and participants at his public meet-
ings seem unconvinced of that aspect
of the process.
Marie Blake, chair of Grey council
commented, "One of the things
which grated on me was that he said
the quality of education was impor-
tant. But when I asked if the quality
of education at a school would be a
factor in the decision he said that it
was very difficult to assess and he
couldn't guarantee that it would
work out that way."
Several school chairs expressed
frustration at the lack of budget fig-
ures which might help them with
their response to the director's
report. When asked directly when
such- figures would be available
Gerth admitted they were not pre-
pared at this time and would only
become available at the Dec. 11
board meeting when he was to pres-
ent his recommendations.
Steve Howe, the board's director
of communications said that most
major scenarios would probably be
costed out in the Dec. 11 report. This
would allow comparisons to be made
between accepted and rejected sce-
narios.
The subject of money also came up
in discussions of those scenarios
which would require the board to add
classrooms to some of the consoli-
dated schools. At the meeting held in
Brussels both Gerth and Trustee
Colleen Schenk were unable to
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APOTHEEARY1 523-4210 Blyth
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2001. PAGE 7.
Schools scramble to respond to closure talk
Concerned listeners
Superintendent Bill Gerth had an attentive audience at both Brussels and Grey schools as he
attempted to explain the Avon Maitland board of education's accommodation review process to
worried parents. (David Blaney photo)
describe where this new money
would come from.
Gerth did suggest that some would
come from the sale of schools that
would be closed. However, he admit-
ted that the rural schools had little
commercial value.
When asked if the board intended
to build permanent classrooms to
deal with the increased student pop-
ulations consolidation would create
he said, "If there is sustainable
enrollment we would put up perma-
nent classrooms.
But if we thought enrollment
would decline portables are an
option." He had mentioned earlier
that there are few places experienc-
ing significant growth in Huron and
Perth countys.
All the school councils have put a
great deal of time into their presenta-
tions and the chairs expressed the
hope that members of the school
community will show up at the meet-
ing to provide moral support.
By David Blaney
Citizen staff
The Avon Maitland School
Board's travelling school closure
roadshow is over in this area and
now the fight to preserve area
schools is on. With Blyth Public,
Brussels Public, East Wawanosh
Public, Grey Central and Hullett
Central Public School all under the
threat of closure, school councils are
scrambling to respond.
Superintendent of Education Bill
Gerth, who has been given the unen-
viable task of recommending which
schools stay and which go was the
author of the original report which
identified the local schools as possi-
ble targets for closing. In all the
report identified 17 elementary and
one high school to be examined for
possible closure.
Gerth has been meeting with local
school councils to explain the
process up to this point and the
future of the exercise. At these meet-
ings he has described a five- step
process which began with every
school in the Avon Maitland school
district under review.
Each school council will be
allowed 10 minutes to respond to the -
superintendent's presentation and the
suggested scenarios contained in the
Director's Action Report. The origi-
nal 52-page report was presented to
the board on Oct. 23.
The presentations by the local
school councils will be taking place
on Nov. 28, starting with Blyth at
7:05 p.m. and ending at 8:55 p.m.
with Hullet's presentation. The meet-
ing is being held at Central Huron
Secondary School in Clinton.
Although school council chairs
provided little in the way of specifics
about their presentations there was
broad agreement on some issues.
The presentations are going to focus
on the strengths of each individual
school and not get involved in what
one person referred to as "who is bet-
ter than who discussions,"
Joanne Keunen, chair of East
Wawanosh said, "We are going to
Dote the strengths of East Wawanosh
and hope they listen." It was a senti-
ment that could have referred to any
of the schools.
The scenarios which are most like-
ly for this area all involve closing of
one or more of the five and a consol-
idation of their students in the
remaining schools.
Gerth in his presentations has
readily admitted that the major rea-