The first public meeting for the Grenville, Brockville, and Athens areas regarding the Upper Canada District School Board’s plan to close a potential 29 schools took place last night at South Grenville District High School.
The list of presenters was expanded from the set number of eight to 11 in order to hear a wider variance of view points, according to Superintendent of Schools, David Coombs.
Of the 11 speakers, two spoke for Toniata P.S. in Brockville, one for South Edwardsburg P.S., two for Oxford on Rideau P.S. in North Grenville, two for Pineview P.S. in Athens, one for Benson P.S., one for Westminster P.S. in Brockville, one for Maynard P.S., and one for the Brockville family of schools.
The presentations were a mix of statistically driven power-points and emotional testimonies speaking to the unmeasurable qualities the school holds in their respective communities.
The main topics of concern appeared in every presentation, with speakers worried about overcrowding, longer travel times, integrated french immersion, extended school boundaries, lack of classroom engagement, and less participation in extra-curriculars.
A recurring statement from many presenters was that the quality of education was more important than the quantity of schools. with many fears of students becoming just another number at super-schools.
The closures are coming from a lack of funding from the provincial government which will no longer allow the UCDSB to support schools that have empty classrooms. Currently there are 10,000 empty spaces in schools across the board.
Although Coombs realizes that the pupil accommodation review is a numbers game, he says the subjective qualities of each school are also taken into account, “[The schools] are important pillars and hubs of their community, so certainly we can’t just consider the financial obligations that we have. We have to consider everything”.
The second and final meeting for the area takes place January 24th, 2017 at Brockville Collegiate Institute.
