Data collected on parent views about high school closings lacks balance but there are some interesting insights.

By Pepper Parr

January 5th, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

Part 2 of a 3 part series.

The gathering of the data from 256 parents who were responding to the 25 questions posed by Kirk Perris of Ipsos, the company hired by the Board of Education to facilitate the public meetings and the meetings of the PARC (Program accommodation Review Committee) was not a particularly friendly event.

HDSB Director of Education Stuart Miller

The parents were expecting a dialogue – with questions asked and answers given. The Board Director of Education chose not to stay for the meeting – he was at the Gary Allan high school greeting people but said he left before the meeting got underway on the advice of staff.

Stuart Miller is not the kind of man to avoid an issue – the public would have been better served if Miller had chosen to follow his own instincts.

The data gathered came from: 58.6% of the responders were from Central high school; 16.8% from Pearson and 16.8% from Hayden; 2.7% from Aldershot ; 2.3% from Nelson; 2% from Bateman and .8% from Robinson.

They were clearly skewed to how parents from Central high school felt.

Questions 1 to 8 were covered in the first part of this three part series.

Question 9: How concerned are you that your child(ren) has access to appropriate learning facilities (ie kitchens, science labs gyms, libraries)?
Very, 63.7%; somewhat 22.4%; not very 6.6%; not at all 7.3%

Question 10: How concerned are you that some high schools have large amounts of specialized learning spaces that remain underutilized?
Very 7%; somewhat 21.7%; not very 35.7%; Not at all 35.7%

Question 11: How important is it for your home school to have a full range of extra-curricular activities? (e.g. drama, arts, athletics, clubs) for your child(ren).

Very 46.4%; somewhat 35.2%; not very 13.4%; not at all 5%

Question 12: How likely are you to support your child(ren) participating in extracurricular activities at another school?
Very 27.9%; somewhat 26.7; not very 19%not at all 26.4%

Question 13: How important is it for your child to have access to the highest level of competition in athletics?
Very 7.3%; somewhat 11.5%; not very 26.9%; not at all54.2%

Given the number of people who responded to the question and the fact that more than 50% were from Central this question and the answers given should not be seen as the view for all the high schools. Nelson and Hayden parents would respond quite differently – which suggests there could perhaps be a couple of high schools that would have sports team with other high schools offering a different academic environment.

Central high students outside the provincial legislature.

Does an arts high school, a science focused high school make sense? Is there going to be an opportunity for parent’s city wide have a fulsome discussion about this?

There are all kinds of questions that come to the surface as the data captured is analyzed.  Serious question but the schedule set out doesn’t all all that much time for pauses and opportunities for the parents to gather and discuss amongst them selves with their trustees in the room in a less than formal format what they as a community wants. The existing schedule might not really be serving the public interest.

The parents may need some time to be educated on just what is possible and what doesn’t work from an educational point of view.

Question 14: How important is the physical condition of your existing school to you (e.g. environmental sustainability, energy consumption, safety)?
Very 31.4%; somewhat 15.5%; not very 13.4%; not at all 39.7%

Question 15: How important is it that the board ensures that schools have an up to date fully accessible learning environment, e.g. elevators, air-conditioning?
Very 23.1%; somewhat 15.7%; not very 13.2%; not at all 47.9%

Central high school – the oldest of the seven schools with a rich local history and a community deeply committed to keeping it open,

Do the answers to this question reveal the different realities different high schools face? At Central the students use classroom on the third floor where there is acceptable heat in the really cold weather. Are Occupational Health and Safety Policies going to require elevators or escalators in high schools? And can older high schools be upgraded at an acceptable cost?

Question 16: How important is it to you to preserve existing community partnerships at your child(rens) current school? (e.g. swimming pool. Library, community centre).
Very 38.6%; somewhat 14.3%; not very 19.5%; not at all 27.5%

Question 17: How important is it to you to minimize the use of portable classrooms?
Very 63.1%; somewhat 10.7%; not very 10.7%; not at all 15.5%

Did anyone expect much in the way of a different response to this question?

Questions 18 to 25 will be covered in the third part of this series.

Links to related articles:

Part 1 of a 3 part series.