It’s Really Not About Education
By: C. Tricky-Bapty
Earl Kitchener School Council Parent
16 May 2003: How many children can fit into one
school?
It would appear that the Conservative Government by way of Supervisor
Murray, its appointed school board of one, is trying to determine
just that.
They’ve even come up with a fancy name. No longer are we
faced with SCHOOL CLOSURES, we have an Area Accommodation Review.
You’ve all received the nice glossy pamphlets giving us the
Education Report. Isn’t it wonderful that “budget deficits
and poor economic performance” of the early 1990’s are
now over so that the government
can “provide funds so that school boards can build new schools,
renovate existing schools and reduce the number of portables”?
To get those funds, we’re forced to deal with the “Student-focused
Funding Formula”, a “sound per-pupil funding principle’
which may make sense for new schools in the suburbs, but is abolutely
ridiculous when applied to old city schools. The formula is based
upon square footage using new schools as the models. New schools
are built with standardized classroom sizes, narrow hallways and
purpose built rooms for ESL, computer labs and other special needs.
Older schools such as the ones in the lower City of Hamilton have
larger classrooms and hallways and computer rooms were never dreamt
of. But based on their overall square footage, they should be accommodating
more children than they are capable of.
The funding formula is flawed.
So, what to do? Well, you can take an older school and cram more
children into it. You have to build portables, but that’s
OK. Or you can close the school and have the children negotiate
main streets to get to their next closest one. Of course, you also
have to talk with the stakeholders and get their input. We live
in a democracy after all.
And so, we have the Area Accommodation Review Committee. Parents
are being consulted by the School Board for the best ways of “reducing
capacity, moving towards the preferred JK-8 schools and towards
school clusters (junior and high schools on one campus)”.
We’re invited to consider what will happen to the educational
programs, impact of transportation services, and on community activities.
In reality, this process is simply window dressing. The meetings
so far appear to be nothing more than a plan to create a deficit
of student space in the lower city and Dundas so that the board
can qualify for New Pupil Place (NPP) grants from the provincial
government. This will allow them to finance the four new schools
already under construction in other parts of the city.
In addition, the committee does not conduct itself in a manner
consistent with a consultative process. The chairing of the committee
is unbalanced, ignoring motions on the floor and dismissing other
viewpoints.
The lower city is faced with eliminating 1700 student spaces. The
first orientation meeting with the school board was April 15th.
After three more meetings, parent representatives will vote on how
to achieve that goal on May 22nd (Dundas), June 10th (City East)
and June 17th (City West). Just over a month to make a recommendation
of this magnitude.
And in the end, Dr. Murray will make the final decision in September.
He does not have to uphold the vote of the parents. He is accountable
to no one.
How is this process going to affect our communities? Is there no
desire to retain the community school where children can safely
walk to every day? Where there can be interaction with nearby seniors’
groups? Where parents know each other, and their related offspring
and look out for one another?
How will this revitalize our schools, which the board claims as
a mandate?
City councillors, if you’re truly interested in building
a sustainable future, then you should be talking about school closures
in the community workshops you’re holding at the end of this
month. Community schools are a vital part of our future.
Of course, this is more than school closures. This is about public
education. By providing tax cuts for tuition at private schools,
this government is showing its hope that the private sector will
become much more involved.
We are heading towards one education system for the rich and another
one for the poor.
If you’d like to support public education, come to the Hamilton-Wentworth
District School Board (Main & Bay) on Tuesday, May
20th at 5:00.
I wonder how many people can cram into one small conference room?
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