By Pepper Parr
March 4th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Lynn Crosby, one of the more passionate Central high school supporters advises us that next week there is an all-party debate scheduled in the provincial Legislature with a vote to follow.
The debate is on a motion to stop all rural school closures and launch an immediate review of all PAR processes province-wide.
Is the solution to the closing of high schools in Burlington to be found in the provincial Legislature?
This would stop all PARs currently underway. Crosby reports that the Central Strong group is going to try and see if the motion can be amended to include a moratorium on all school closures, not just rural.
Either way, says Crosby, this is huge.
Central Strong now want to know what position Burlington’s MPP McMahon will take on this vote.
Crosby says that “she votes against this she can kiss her seat in Burlington goodbye”.
Lynn Crosby, a passionate Central Strong advocate, on the left, sees some hope in the Opposition Motion to stop all Program Accommodation Reviews in rural schools.
Unfortunately Ms Crosby – it isn’t quite that simple. The first question is – is this a government motion or an opposition motion or a private members bill.
The tradition in Ontario Tuesday is for the opposition party in Ontario to have a day to introduce their parliamentary wishes. On Tuesday, Patrick Brown will introduce a motion that has the following preamble:
Whereas, school closures have a devastating impact on local communities; and
Whereas, children deserve to be educated in their communities and offered the best opportunity to succeed; and
Whereas, rural schools often represent the heart of small towns across Ontario;
Therefore, the Legislative Assembly calls for an immediate moratorium on rural school closures and an immediate review of the Pupil Accommodation Review Guideline.
The only vote that will take place on Tuesday is whether this motion gets any attention at all.
Citizens in Burlington can, and hopefully will, lobby Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon and while they are at it, get through to Jane McKenna, who, will not member of the Legislature, is the Progressive Conservative Candidate for Burlington in the next provincial election. She will be all over this issue locally.
This type of Opposition party bill tends not to get very far.
Will, I was able to trace Guidelines as far back as 2006; I think you might be referring to the latest update to the Guidelines which was done in March of 2015. Our Ministry of Education is still using the same old Mike Harris’ funding formula.
I thought the new guidelines were only a couple of years old. How could this be Mike Harris’s fault? He hasnt been there forever so you can’t blame him for whats happening now. It was the current government that put the guidelines in place and it was the people of Burlington who voted.
Sorry about my poor iPhone typing. My eyes are going…
Central Strong
Pits schools against each other
The thought of losing this school makes me very sad
I LOVE the passion of this Central String group. Although I am a Nelson parent and am fighting for my own community school, the thought of this wonderful , downtown school makes me very sad. We cannot lose our only downtown high school. This whole process seems flawed, and puts schools against each other, which is shameful.
As for this issue affecting the next election, something tells me the Hydro issue may have already taken care of that, although there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of a good alternative option. Go Central. Go Nelson. Go Bateman . Go Pearson. Go away HDSB.
The Central Strong community has been in touch with, emailing, calling and meeting with Eleanor McMahon since the very beginning of this PAR process, resulting in a complete lack of support or even interest it seems. For a politician and person who is extremely supportive of a healthy lifestyle in other endeavours, Ms McMahom has not been supportive of keeping Burlington’s most walkable schools open, nor in the other schools where a number of the student population also walks to school.
It has become evident that the PAR process is highly flawed, and with the large number of voting families across the province, as well as here in Burlington seeing these flaws firsthand over the past few months, the Liberals may want to listen to constituents, or ridings such as historically-conservative Burlington may just feel that the ‘Liberal experiment’ here must come to an end, and the Conservatives, who are at least willing to engage, will have earned back their seat when the next vote takes place.
And although many opposition motions do not go far, this issue has received much more attention at a grassroots level than most ever do, so with the current traction, there may be a good chance that Queen’s Park will do the right thing Tuesday and vote for a complete moritorium for all schools, both rural and urban.
Let’s stop the closure of these high schools.
Certainly we are hoping that many in the Liberal government will finally acknowledge what thousands of people have been saying, that the funding formula and PAR process is deeply flawed and must be redone. This is not something Central is just saying. Anyone who has been involved in this process is saying it, all across Ontario. Simply google any other school board and “school closure” and you will see the exact same complaints: bad data, skewed process, biased, etc. It’s being said in rural communities and urban cities – York, Hamilton, Toronto, Peterborough, Barrie, Peel, Ottawa, Kingston, name a city, and it’s being said. Look at the Ontario Alliance Against School Closures which was formed just because of this issue. Central attended their rally at Queen’s Park back in November on this issue and signed their letter to ask for a moratorium on school closures back then.
This debate and vote on Tuesday is great news because it gets it out there and shows people how big a problem this is, and how the opposition to it is growing rapidly. Thousands and thousands of people stand behind this motion.
Anyone who has been or is involved in a PAR process in their own community knows how bad it is. If someone involved in it were to suggest that it is not flawed, or that they support their Board in following this process and closing schools based on such bad data and a rushed and skewed system, they either are not paying attention or are motivated by something other than what is best for ALL students in their community. Personally I would be embarrassed to attempt to support the process as it is.
I had sent yet another e-mail to our MPP yesterday stating that it’s not too late for her to step up and do the right thing. I truly hope that Liberals will in this case listen to the outcry of thousands across Ontario whose community schools are on the chopping block. The system is biased and flawed. It hurts the students and their communities. Current ancient guidelines are outdated and based on the Mike Harris education formula which the Liberals wanted to replace when they were getting in power. This is their chance!
I agree with Lynn; if Eleanor McMahon votes against this motion she will loose her seat for sure!