By Pepper Parr
November 17th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Halton District School Board Director of Education Stuart Miller made two comments at the regular board meeting last night that deserve a closer look.
He commented on a report that school bus drivers were having problems with cars that did not obey the rule that they must stop behind or in front of the bus while students are embarking and disembarking.
Hard to miss the intent of this sign – some car drivers are not getting the message.
Each bus has a small barrier that is lowered when a bus has stopped – close to impossible to miss that signal. Why would a car driver choose to take a chance and drive around the bus?
The Gazette will be following up on that problem.
The other item in the Director’s report was equally disturbing.
The Board is about to launch the PARC (Program Accommodation Review Committee) that will review the staff report that recommended closing both the Lester B Pearson and Central high schools.
Miller has pointed out every time he discusses this process that the recommendation is just that “a recommendation. There are other high schools that could be closed instead of Pearson or Central. The decision as to which school should be closed is one that will be made by the trustees once the PARC has delivered its report.
Every high school in the city gets to have a person on the PARC – there is apparently one high school that has not yet provided its nominee to the committee.
This is serious stuff for a community whose high school is at risk.
The PARC will hold its first meeting December 1st – that meeting, and only that meeting will be closed to the public. The justification is that the committee will need some time to work out the rules and norms that will apply and have an opportunity for the 20+ people on the committee to get to know each other. Every high school in Burlington has two representatives on the PARC.
The full committee will consist of:
Trustee from outside Burlington
Superintendent from outside Burlington
Principal or designate from each affected high school
Two parents/guardians from each affected high school
The Board is waiting for all the applications from people who have expressed an interest in serving on the committee. Friday November 18th is the closing day for those expression of interest applications. It is going to prove to be a big job – not for the faint of heart.
Not exactly a large crowd is it? Bateman high school parents apparently missed the message.
The Central high school parents understand the issue – they are very well organized.
Miller advised the Board that he and staff have attended information meetings at every high school and “given them the information we have”. Some of those meetings were very poorly attended.
There is going to be one additional meeting that will be done via the internet – Stuart and staff members will take questions electronically and answer on a live streaming board web cast November 21st at 7:00 pm.
Scott Podrebarac
Superintendent of Education Scott Podrebarac will chair the PARC.
Twice recently I have seen school buses stop, not put out any barriers and let children cross in front of the bus. Once, with a car narrowly missing hitting a teenager. Not only are the vehicles breaking the rules but it appears that some school bus drivers also need reminding how to do their job.