Eleven trustees will determine the fate of Central high school - what is the real issue behind such a decision?

By Pepper Parr

December 22, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

 

The Halton District School Board has 11 trustees;

There are four that represent Burlington, four that represent Oakville, two that represent Milton and one that represents Halton Hills.

The four Burlington trustees are:

Amy Collard represents Burlington – Ward 5
Andrea Grebenc represents Burlington – Wards 3, 6
Richelle Papin represents Burlington – Ward 4
Leah Reynolds represents Burlington – Wards 1, 2

Collard is serving her second term as a trustee and was acclaimed in both elections.  She served as chair of the board in the past.

Grebenc, Papin and Reynolds are all first time trustees in Burlington.  At least two of the four have aspirations for higher office.

The four that represent Oakville are:
Kelly Amos, chair of the board of trustees in 2016 and returned to that position for 2017. She represents Oakville – Ward 5 & 6

Tracey Ehl Harrison: Oakville – Wards 1, 2;

Ann Harvey Hope: Oakville – Ward 3

Joanna Oliver: Oakville – Ward 4

The two representing Milton are:
Kim Graves, Vice-Chair for 2016 and re-elected to that position for 2017. She represents Milton – Wards 1, 6, 7, 8

Donna Danielli represents Milton – Wards 2, 3, 4, 5  Danielli also sits on the PARC representing the trustees.

Jeanne Gray represents Halton – Wards 1, 2, 3, 4

Of the 11, just three have more than one term in office as a trustee. The other eight were all elected for the first time in 2014 – they have two years’ experience as school board trustees.

The Director of Education prepares a report for the trustees. In preparing that report he is advised by a Program Accommodation Review Committee that has representation from all seven Burlington high schools

That PARC will meet several times between publicly to deliberate. They group is chaired by Superintendent Scott Podabarac.  We understand he will be supported by the facilitator from Ipsos, the organization that handled the data capture and is expected to do an an analysis of the data. A link to the data collected so far is set out at the bottom of this report.

The Director of education will write report to the trustees with his recommendation that will include the PARC recommendations.

The trustees will vote on the Directors recommendation. It is the trustees who will make the final decision.

The two high schools that were recommended for closing are Central high school and the Lester B. Pearson high school.

The Director of Education has an accommodation problem. He has 1800 + seats that do not have students sitting in them. From a financial responsibility – he cannot justify allowing those seats to remain empty – and the province won’t allow him to continue to do that for very long.

Add to that the belief that he cannot offer the students the choices he believes they are entitled to with high schools that cannot offer the choices.

If there are no students in the schools – then there will be no teachers – put it slightly differently – fewer students – fewer teachers. Fewer teachers, fewer course offerings.

Miller’s solution to this problem is to close two high schools which solves his immediate 1800 empty seat problem and allows him to offer the courses he believes students are entitled to.

That is the job Miller has – to run a fiscally responsible school system and offer students the widest possible course offerings. He believes closing two high schools will do that.

Throughout the process so far Miller has maintained that the PARC may well come up with a recommendation or a set of ideas that will solve the overcapacity problem. In a presentation made to parents the board has said:

The parents see things much differently.

They are opposed to losing their community school – they believe that having a high school within their community is what community is all about.

Further at this point they do not trust the process that is in place. Many parents don’t feel they are going to be able to communicate with the members of the PARC – the process that has been set up does not, from their point of view, create a situation that allows open dialogue and the free exchange of ideas.

All the PARC appears to be able to do is accept data, briefs written by parent groups.  The PARC doesn’t appear to have a hard and fast set of limitations – and with Meed Ward on that committee you can expect her to stretch the boundaries as far as they can be stretched,

With this task she isn’t going to get hi-jacked the way she has been in the past  at city council.

Will the city manager attempt to reign in Meed Ward – we don’t know what his agenda is – yet.

Everything eventually gets put in front of the trustees – who at this point have for the most part dummied up. You can’t get them to say a word.

The seats of the four Burlington trustees are on the line.

The PARC will begin their meetings in late January.

Assuming the decision to close Central and Pearson stands those schools would not open to students in September of2018.

 

The municipal election takes place in October 2018

When a group of people meet a chemistry takes place. The different styles of arriving at a conclusion become evident, leaders become evident.  There are some strong personalities on the PARC and people we know next to nothing about.

Are there any really creative thinkers in that PARC?  What will Meed Ward say if the evidence for closing the school is very very strong?  Her council seat might be at risk if the PARC recommends that Central be closed and her wish to become Mayo of the city might be dashed as well.

City manager James Ridge serves at the pleasure of city city council – has the city given Ridge a set of marching orders he is expected to follow ?

How many agendas are there going to be in the room that the PARC meets in?

The PARC that was created to advise the Director of Education has some interesting people on it. There is very little in the way of biographical material on any of the 14 people (parents) representing the seven high schools.

The city has a representative on the PARC – Mayor Rick Golding chose city manager James Ridge to represent the city’s interests – Mayor Goldring said Ridge volunteered.

Meed Ward has said privately that she would like to run for the office of mayor. If there was ever an issue given to a potential candidate on a silver plate – the possible closing of two high schools in their city is about as good as it could get.

Will Meed Ward be able to show the leadership that many feel has been missing on city council?  Will she shine during the PARC meetings ?

This one is hers to lose.

Does it matter what the PARC says? It is the trustees that are going to decide and they are not bound by either what the PARC says or what the Director of Education recommends.

They have to be responsible – but each will have their own definition of responsibility.

This is a very significant decision for Burlington and few of the trustees have neither the background nor the experience to make this kind of decision. There are a few.

Is this a choice between

ensuring that every high school student has the best opportunity possible to obtain the education they desire

or maintaining complete neighbourhoods that have a local high school?

That’s the challenge faced by the PARC, the Director of Education and the 11 trustees.

Links to related articles:

The data gathered at the first PARC related meeting.