School Closings: A Slow Ride to a Sad End?

Jeff Green | Feb 18, 2010

Editorial by Jeff Green

On March 2 in Sharbot Lake, the final death knell for schools in two communities might be rung.

The meeting at Sharbot Lake High School will be the last opportunity for public expression before the Board of Trustees of the Limestone District School Board meet to decide the fate of Land O'Lakes Public School.

After enduring a long, drawn out Program and Accommodation Review (PARC) process, a committee of parents and staff agreed to see the communities of Parham and Sharbot Lake lose their schools in a trade off for a new high school. The PARC committee was split over the location of that new high school, which will be twinned with an elementary school, but it was clear throughout the process that the school board senior staff, who oversaw the PARC process, were leaning heavily towards Sharbot Lake for the new school.

So, it was no surprise that the senior staff's own independent report, which was released in late January, recommended Sharbot Lake as the location.

It was also not a really big surprise that the senior staff report called for Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove to close as well. That option had been before the PARC committee, and had been rejected, but the funding formula for new school construction favours a school with a large projected enrolment. Only by closing all the other schools in the region does the projected enrolment come up to a high enough number to make the new construction viable, in the view of the board’s staff.

Clarendon Central in Plevna, which is very small and receives extra funding because of its more remote location, is the only school that would remain as it is under the scenario proposed by school board staff.

On March 2, the staff report, and the PARC report, will be presented to the public, and if supporters of Land O'Lakes Public School have any hope of saving their school, they would be advised to consider how supporters of Clarendon Central reacted to the entire school accommodation process: they came out in numbers to every possible public meeting and spoke in one voice. They all said they wanted their school to stay as is, in their community.

Presumably, a number of school board trustees, the people who will ultimately decide the fate of Land O'Lakes Public School, will be on hand to hear from the public.

For that reason, as well as the fact that the senior staff report does not show that it would be substantially cheaper, either in terms of construction or operating costs, to close Land O'Lakes, there is every reason for a strong contingent from the school and the local community to come out and make themselves heard.

The impact of a $15 million construction project and of a gleaming new school on a region that certainly needs a shot in the arm is something that would be welcomed by many, and there may be a reason to be concerned that a public outcry could put the entire project into doubt.

But at this point the school board trustees have two proposals in front of them. Both call for a construction project, and both proposals require extra support from the province.

Those people who would like them to choose the proposal that keeps a school in Mountain Grove should make themselves heard.

If a strong argument is not made to the contrary, the board of trustees will undoubtedly act as any other public board would, and follow the advice of their senior staff.