By Staff
November 23, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Michelle Taylor is a parent with children in Burlington schools. She was deeply involved in the problems at Pineview school and no she is angry with what she feels her provincial government is letting happen to the closing of schools in the province.
Burlington is currently about to embark on a Program Accommodation Review – a process that gets put in place when the number of seats being used in a school drops below 65%.
They were all smiles – glad to be doing what they were doing.
While one of the Burlington schools is not below that 65% number the cold hard fact I that the city has one and a half too many high schools.
There are more than 1800 empty seats in the city’s seven high schools.
The PAR process is controversial and it does put the parents who don’t want a community school closed at a disadvantage in that they don’t have the time frame to work within that a school board has had.
The Halton Board has seen this coming for some time. They delivered a report to the trustees and suggested that a Program Accommodation Review Committee be created. The trustees dutifully voted for that and the process now begins.
On Monday a group of people took the GO train into Toronto to demonstrate outside Queen’s Park. Michelle Taylor wasn’t able to make the trip – she wrote the Premier instead.
Despite being unable to attend yesterday’s Queen’s Park rally against your Pupil Accommodation Review process in person, I was closely watching for any useful reaction from the decision makers. I am very disappointed at the complete lack of respect you showed for those attempting to express their genuine and critical concerns to you on behalf of their communities. That combined with your arrogant and dismissive attitude when responding to the same from your fellow MPPs in Question Period is a huge disservice to every concerned parent and tax-payer across Ontario.
There was never any doubt who they were or why they were there.
As Premier of this great province, you and your ministers are short-changing your electors at every turn. You show no visible consideration for what matters most to those who pay your salaries, not even having the decency to reply with thoughtful answers instead of text-book form responses, if at all. For someone who pretends to be such a believer in “government for good”, you are shaming the democratic process time and time again.
STOP passing the buck back to school boards for a process that YOU CREATED.
STOP pretending that communities across Ontario are positively engaged in the very process that threatens to DESTROY them and their schools. Any participation has been at gun-point, out of fear for their future.
STOP dispensing platitudes for this rigged PAR process, pretending that it will provide the best results for Ontario students- “Every student deserves the best education possible. School consolidation is a tough decision for boards, but gives access to better programs”(Direct quote from your Twitter account, Nov. 21). NOBODY is buying it.
STOP assuming that you are the fountain of knowledge when it comes to education in this province. LISTEN to those representing and living in the communities you are threatening.
It as the first cold day of the month – but that didn’t dampen their spirits.
STOP the slow death you are inflicting on rural Ontario. THINK about the permanent and far-reaching implications of shutting down the agricultural back-bone of this province.
As a concerned parent, I started the SOS Pineview movement against the illogical closure of my village school. I also joined the Ontario Alliance Against School Closures, a hard-working group whose members took time out of their lives to protest at your doorstep yesterday. Along with a rapidly-growing list of others, I will continue to encourage all Ontarians to raise their voices against your government. You will hear our strong objection a thousand times over. We are not going away. We will only get louder. We will not stop until you give us back what is rightfully ours- a deciding say in the future of our communities. Don’t forget- we are all vocal campaigners and unrelenting voters in EVERY election.
Almost like a flag – centralstrong.
You have a small window of opportunity before rising for the holidays on December 8th to show clear consideration and respect for the value of rural Ontario communities. I’m calling on you and your government to put a halt to the Pupil Accommodation Review process immediately, in favour of a new process that honours true public engagement and community value.
S White’s suggestion is being used in new schools in several communities and has been done for decades. Placement of community centres, libraries etc. are designed in to the building so that the libraries, centres’ etc. may remain open and separated from the education classrooms. Add to that security issues of monitoring children and keeping them safe needs to be factored in to the design. Old buildings like Central are difficult to incorporate such plans. Does Downtown need another Library on Brant? a community centre on Brant?
I’m sorry that Central High School is going to be closed but I don’t read a clear solution from Michel Taylor.
Her argument about “we pay your salary” is so much non sense. Every time a person buys an item they are paying someone else’s salary. What does Ms Taylor do to pay her way in society other than complain in a public forum? Who is paying her salary indirectly? All of us are paying each other’s salary.
What does Central have that other schools being closed communities don’t have? I don’t consider it an architecturally unique like say Delta in Hamilton. Delta is being closed probably sooner than Central. It has similar reasons why it is being closed.
Community schools are good for some children but economics is reality. Every community may make the same arguments as Taylor.
What is your real solution to declining enrolment and aging school buildings in Ontario? The same issues have been around for over 30 years in Ontario. The formula used leaves the selection to the local school boards. If these schools are not closed all students will suffer a reduction in funding for every government whether Liberal, NDP or Conservative.( which had the most harsh handling of enrolment issues)
Well done Michelle Taylor. Good for you!!
This Liberal government listens as well to the parents of school age children as it does to the 60,000 Hydro customers struggling to pay their hydro bills….which is to say, not at all. Kathleen Wynne and her government are completely out-of-touch with the needs of parents and children, a reality made even more disturbing by the fact she is a former School Board Trustee.
Neighbourhoods change and demographics change. I live in southeast Burlington. Twenty years ago there were an incredible number of school age children in the area. Ten years ago the numbers diminished. Now, the neighbourhood is changing again as older residents downsize and move, and younger couples with school age children move in. Closing schools, selling off the land, and then busing children all over hells acre is neither safe nor environmentally sound.
We need to get out of this monolithic mind-set which says a school building can only be used for one thing. What is wrong with having multi-purpose facilities? Why can’t the school occupy a part of the building, and the other part of the building be given over to something else such as a community drop-in centre, a rehab centre, a seniors centre, etc.? Where is it written that facilities can’t be shared?
Wynne and the Liberals/fiberals due not care about the people. They are destroying our province. Today there is a protest at Queens Park against the out of control Hydro rates that our crippling this province and harming thousands of people. It will be interesting to see there response if they even bother.