School board decisions not based on emotions

Paul

- February 15, 2013 at 12:14:10

When school populations decline enough, it is worth considering closing schools. Giving an extreme example, imagine a school initially built to house 500 kids but that now only houses 50 because of population shifts. The problem is the model that is used: The Dept of Ed gives Boards money to educate and maintain schools. Boards have to decide how much to allocate to each of those. If they spend more money educating kids then they spend less money on maintaining schools. Schools then fall into disrepair and are unsafe, so they have to be closed and the Dept of Ed then builds a new school. IMHO, one group should be tasked with building, maintaining, and closing schools. This should either be the Board or it should be the Dept, but it should not be both. The current model provides incentive for the Board to let school maintenance go by the wayside - if that happens then they will get a new school. BTW StevieRay - It was the provincial government that asked Boards to consider a 22% cut in their funding. The Boards were simply responding to that.

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  stevieray

  - February 15, 2013 at 23:05:32

  Well Paul you seem well versed on the "doings" of the Board ..Hmmmm...all I was saying is that I felt the 22% situation should of been dealth with internally instead of the Board going public with there doom and gloom scenrio....

Cathrine Yuill

- February 15, 2013 at 11:15:39

Letter to the Editor re: School review closures not based on emotion: officials According to the February 15th issue of the Truro Daily, the School Board Administration mistakenly thinks that the communities with schools currently under review for closure in our district are responding "emotionally" and that we are looking to the School Board to "save our community". Let's look at the facts: the School Board is trying to cut costs and the only way they know how to do it is through school consolidation. The Impact Assessment Reports they created state the anticipated cost savings to the school board (a mere $130,000 in the case of Maitland Elementary) but fail to clarify that there will be significant cost impacts passed on to the municipality (and therefore the taxpayer) as an abandoned school must be maintained or demolished to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars every year. Unfortunately the provincial government makes school closure the obvious solution for School Boards: when a school is closed, costs pass on to the Municipality; new schools and renovations are paid for out of a separate pot of provincial money. Closing schools is a win:win for the School Board. But let's put the students and their education at the centre of this debate - as School Board administration likes to purport it does. There is significant research indicating that there are many negative impacts on students and families with school consolidation. None of this was included in the Impact Assessment Reports. The argument that small schools cannot adequately provide the full school curriculum is completely false and not born out in research. In fact, there is evidence that many of the top performing students coming out of the system hail from small rural schools. And in this age of technology there is virtually no limit to the breadth of programming that can be offered and supported regardless of school location or class size. Children making long commutes on the bus to consolidated schools outside of their communities will suffer. They are unable to participate in any school extracurricular activities, spend more time being physically inactive, and must endure the exposure to bullying and age inappropriate behaviour on long, unsupervised bus rides. So ... small rural communities want to keep their schools - no surprize. We want our children, especially the young ones, educated close to home because we know it is the best thing for our children and the quality of their education. 60 - 75% of population of Nova Scotia is rural. It is time to re-think how we are going to educate these rural students in a way that is best for the students and is fiscally sustainable. These small communities are not asking the School Board to "save our communities". We come to the table ready to be innovative. We come with research and with models that are working in other parts of Canada and the world. "Communities won't collapse if schools close," said Herb Steeves of the School Board Administration. Of course not. At least not right away. But clearly a school is a lynch pin in a community's future viability. We know it is not the School Board's responsibility to address the complexity of the issues facing rural communities. And we don't solve these big issues in silos. We need cross-ministerial, intergovernmental solution focused innovation and leadership. Don't bother investing in marketing our tourism attraction and paving our roads while another government department is allowing our school to be closed. Let's get it together and all swim in the same direction. The provincial government has been unwilling to step up to the plate and work with the real rural Nova Scotia: places like Maitland and Wentworth. So far, all across the province we hear our government representatives trying to reduce this down to the simplicity of 'an individual School Board's jurisdiction' and it seems obvious that government is simply trying to avoid being painted with the blame for closing schools. Last year a group called the Nova Scotia Small Schools Initiative met and presented the Minister of Education with a Revitalization Strategy for Rural Communities which puts schools at the centre. Despite this and a growing number of subject matter experts willing to work with the government on creating a new, better future for children and rural communities, this work has been virtually ignored. That's not good enough. This province needs to face declining population (and declining enrollment) with innovation and a willingness to re-define ourselves. We cannot apply band-aid solutions nor continue to pass the buck and convince ourselves that it is someone else's problem. Cathrine Yuill Maitland School Advisory Chair

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Peter

- February 15, 2013 at 10:16:59

Data driven decisions - absolutely! There are many different schooling models that can be used and considered. Why we feel we must continue with an Edwardian model that is behind the times is amazing. The students, and consequently the community, must be considered. It is a golden opportunity to think out of the box and apply next generation thinking rather than < 50 students means we close the school!

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stevieray

- February 15, 2013 at 08:25:01

Mr. Steeves may I ask you how you have become such a expert on the plight of rural communities whose schools will be closed . : here to educate our children " ?? really now .....I thought it was all about saving $$$$, building empires and protecting ones turf ....is that the true buracratic way ... to conclude ...what is wrong with a little emotion ..I remember a year ago when the Board was wasting time/energy/money ...going around fear mongraling with regards to a 27 % budget cut ....nuff said

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