Dianesty

The Education System in Ontario Needs a New Vision for the 21st Century!

24 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment

by Administrator in Rural Ontario Life Tags: ; Port Dover; education system; rural Ontario; school closure';

Over the past few weeks there have been rumours circulating throughout town that Grand Erie School Board was planning to shut down Port Dover Composite School and bus the students to Simcoe. The reason cited was declining enrollment in schools across the county.

This news was especially unusual given that the Board had just finished a mammoth project of digging up and replacing the entire parking lot and sidewalk system around the school building. At the time, I thought it would have been more appropriate to carry out this work in the summer when there were fewer students to work around – but hey, this is the same county that decided to dig six by six foot holes in the side walks  on Main St. and then erect orange snow fences around them on the Thursday before Christmas Fest weekend. They  certainly created some interesting logistics for pedestrians hoping to get a glimpse of Santa in the annual parade and also for the man in the motorized scooter who took a plunge when he lost control of his vehicle while making his way in the crowd. We think that the holes are preparatory to installing the new street lights that were promised two years ago but who knows? The workers showed up out of the blue, dug their holes and left and have not been seen ever since!  But I am getting off topic although there is a theme to all of this and it is called PLANNING!

SAVE OUR SCHOOL!

Accommodation Review Committee: Following the public outcry regarding the school closure, the Board announced it had set up an “Accommodation Review Committee” to get public input to inform the decision. The final decision would be made by the Trustees. November 15, a public meeting was held in the school gymnasium and attended by more than 400 members of the community. Forty seven tax payers had submitted letters to present delegations and speak at the meeting. The response was so great that a second meeting had to be scheduled for the 17th so all delegations could be heard. The delegation submissions are available to be read on the Grand Erie Board website. That same week the Hamilton Spectator carried a story of potential school closures in Hamilton area. Below is the presentation I wrote for my blog and that Gordon presented to the Grand Erie Board:

The educational system in Ontario is broken and obsolete. First we want to say that we understand the great pressure that Erie School Board is under – when enrollment is down and costs have gone up, we simply cannot afford to keep all the schools open within the current system. This problem is not just a Norfolk issue – our nearby neighbours in Hamilton have the same problem.

Put quite simply, the structure of the current education system in Ontario is broken and obsolete. Planning incremental cuts here and there is only tinkering with something that needs a whole new vision and broader plan . We are asking that the Board put a moratorium on all closures until a proper planning process is carried out in which a vision for education moving into the 21st century is established, values for providing the best education possible are agreed upon, and a plan is developed that will provide young people the best quality education  working within the established budget.

We are advocating for each community and not to pit Port Dover against Simcoe, Waterford or any other area in our County.

The educational system must be changed to reflect a relevant world view. The last big overhaul of the educational system occurred back in the 1970′s under Bill Davis’ leadership. The world in 2011 is a much different place – the workplaces we are preparing our young people to enter and in which they will become  future leaders  have changed immensely over the past 30 years – diversity is more than a  catchword. It is the reality of our life.  Diversity describes multicultural, multi-faith, global  work places, communities, and economy. A decision made in China or Japan has a direct impact on you & I in Norfolk County.

The time is now to make adjustments to our current system so that our children are better prepared to take their places in a world that is characterized by diversity. Young people who will be working together and living in the same community need to start out learning together in order to bridge differences and to build understanding. We need to be the change we want to see.

The results of a research paper released by the University of Waterloo regarding  Canadian Index of Wellbeing  October 2011 and titled “How are Canadians Really Doing?  noted and I quote ”the social and emotional competency scores among children 12 to 13 have declined slowly but steadily. In an increasingly globalizing, diverse Canadian society, fostering interpersonal competencies is critical for building trust and social capital across different groups within our society. If the trend that is shown for children in middle childhood reflects a general societal trend, it will be important to understand and address the underlying processes and causes.”

We are recommending as a first step that:

1. Grand Erie School Board approach the Separate School Board in this area to initiate a joint discussion process.

2. Grand Erie School Board join the Community Schools Alliance to demonstrate support for provincial change and to access the many resources available from the Alliance.

This suggestion is consistent with the study on Wellbeing of Canadians and with the Community Schools Alliance that is asking Minister Wynne to support a “smart moratorium” on all school closings disputed by municipalities. The goal of the smart moratorium is for the Ministry, schools boards and municipalities to work together and develop policies addressing such issues as planning for declining enrollments, a mutually agreed upon ARC process, a review of funding to rural and small community schools, and defining the working relationship, transparency and accountability between municipalities and school boards.

Young people still in the formative stage of their lives belong in their home community. A key value for planning should be that  every small community and its rural surrounds will each have a community school with capacity to prepare their children for post secondary education and training. For communities such as Simcoe, Waterford and Port Dover, we cannot be  real communities unless we have the basic services inclusive of all age groups – it is in the best interests of  our children and young people who are still in the formative stages of their development to go to school in the area where  they live and where they can strengthen their community roots. The people here tonight chose to live here in Port Dover because this is where we want our families to live out their day to day lives. Dover has a unique personality. People care about the environment, nature, the outdoors, and helping their neighbours. Young people will not learn this from books and academia – it is internalized by living it at a time when character, leadership and community responsibility are in the formative stages.

Leave a legacy! We want to say to you who are the Grand Erie School Board – Government boards do not always offer opportunities to sponsor innovation and leave a legacy. This is a once in a life time opportunity for Grand Erie Board to demonstrate innovation and leadership in Ontario and leave a legacy for which we all can be proud.

Any school system that is created based on differences that set people apart is obsolete. The focus for 2012 needs to be on appreciative understanding of differences and celebration of what we all hold in common as human beings sharing this planet that is getting smaller every day.  In doing this, you will be able to achieve your goal of  best quality education at best price. And “Best Quality” includes full academic programs, specialties, sports, recreational activities, and community involvement in the community in which students reside. I am talking about schools that will keep abreast of technology and have the resources necessary available for students. I am talking about schools where students from different cultural backgrounds, faiths, and life goals come together to learn, develop critical thinking skills by gaining understanding of each others’ differences, celebrating what they have in common and becoming the kind of leaders needed to lead our municipalities, our province  and our country forward in this global age. By taking this approach, each town will have sufficient enrollment to support a full service area school of excellence without resorting to an ineffective factory school model where average is good enough.

Inclusion not separation: The key to the future is all inclusive schools, elimination of duplicate systems, reduction of overhead and realignment of resources that will streamline the delivery of service in the classroom and in each community town in the catchment area.

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What we learned from current students and neighbours during the delegations: Over the past few years the Board has been offering courtesy busing to students in the Dover catchment area who would like to go to Simcoe High School.  At the same time, the Board made the following program changes in the Dover school:

• the woodworking and auto mechanic shop programs in Dover were closed down
• gas and water in the science labs were cut off
• students electing to attend school in Dover were required to buy their own text books
• computers in Dover are still fitted out with Word Perfect – what a blast from the past, eh!

What has been happening to students who still decided to go to school in Dover while all the resources were being stolen out from under them?

Students studying creative arts have been widely recognized. Students in the drama class won the prestigious Sears Drama Award and have been invited to participate in a drama festival in Scotland next summer.

More students staying in the Dover program have gone on to seek higher post secondary education opportunities than other schools in our area.

The students raised more money for Rick Mercer’s “Spread the Nets Campaign” than any other high school or college in Canada  – when Rick came to present the award, he called it “The Miracle of Port Dover” and could not say enough about how remarkable that a school from such a small town could have had an achievement of this magnitude!

It all goes back to the role models young people have to follow at home! They learn community support and responsibility by having it part of the fabric of life in their community. Well at least our guy in Queen’s Park is supporting rural schools and education! Thank you Toby Barrett!

KEEP OUR SCHOOL AFLOAT!