Parents organize to keep Central High School open.

News 100 redBy Pepper Parr

October 12th, 2106

BURLINGTON, ON

 

The Halton District school Board recently decided that they needed to look at the number of high schools it would operate in the city of Burlington.

The review becomes necessary when the number of students in the school falls below a specific number – 65% of the schools capacity.

The school board staff set out a list of 19 options; the 19th was the one chosen for a review. The decision to do a review is made by the trustees.

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Parents packed a meting Room at Wellington Square United Church – they will be doing that frequently in the next nine months.

Last night more than 60 parents met at the wellington Square United Church in a room that was packed and decided what they wanted to do about any possible closure of the Burlington Central High school.

They got an overview of what happened in 200 when Terry Ruff was the newly appointed principal at the high school learned that he might have to close the school. Ruff, a Burlington native, was also a Central high school graduate. They managed to beat back the idea of closing the school then – the community faces that same issue 16 years later.

These parents are not going to go quietly into the night. The meeting was to begin the process o getting themselves organized. They set up four committees:

Executive/Organizing committee: set agendas/meetings; includes Team leaders
Strategy Team
Logistics team: volunteer intake & assignment; coordinate topic Teams
Fundraising/Communications Team (social media, GOFundMe)

The following four people from the high school parent council are:

Michael Kukhta – Neighbourhood Meeting Facilitator/ BCHS Council Chair
Lynn Crosby – Neighbourhood Meeting C0-Facilitator/ BCHS Council Secretary
Dania Thurman – Neighbourhood Meeting Facilitator/ BCHS Council Vice-Chair
David Sykes – Neighbourhood Meeting Facilitator/ BCHS Council Treasurer

Where are they at and what are they up against?
Dropping enrolment and other factors trigger a proposal for a Program & Accommodation Review (PAR) for all Burlington secondary schools.

The HDSB Director of Education gets staff to write a report to which is given to the elected Trustees recommending that a PAR be undertaken. Of the 19 options in the report staff recommended using Option #19 as starting point for discussions.

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Burlington central High school was seen as being very close to the point where there are not enough students to justify keeping it open – parents think the numbers the board is using might be suspect.

Option #19 recommends closing Burlington Central High School, and Pearson High School.

Close BCHS; students west of Brant St redirected to Aldershot HS; students east of Brant St redirected to Nelson HS

Close Pearson HS; students redirected to MM Robinson HS, including those in Late French Immersion program

French Immersion eliminated from Dr Frank Hayden SS: FI students north of Upper Middle Rd redirected to MM Robinson HS

New FI program started at Robert Bateman HS: FI students south of Upper Middle Rd attending Hayden SS redirected to Bateman HS; FI students east of Appleby Ln attending Nelson HS redirected to Bateman HS

English program students south of Upper Middle Rd attending Hayden SS redirected to Bateman HS

The parents at Central high school, with very strong support from their municipal councillor Marianne Meed Ward are opposed to closing their high school.

The trustees were given the report on October 5th. On October 19th the trustees vote on whether to undertake a PAR.  Assuming they do, a  PAR Committee (PARC) Established on December 1st.

That committee will include:

Trustee from outside Burlington
Superintendent from outside Burlington
Principal or designate from each affected high school
Two parents/guardians from each affected high school

Once PARC is formed, municipal councillor or delegate is invited

HDSB staff are available as resources from specific HDSB departments including (not limited to): School Programs, Special Education, Human Resources, and Planning.

The goal the Central high school parents have set out for themselves is to participate fully in the Program & Accommodation Review, including HDSB Trustee meetings (Oct. 19 – vote on PAR; April 18 – public delegation meeting, May 3, May 17 – decision date) and public meetings (Dec. 8; March 2). Final report ready: March 29, 2017

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Boiling all this down to the five key points is going to take a lot of work – the parents appeared to be up to the task if their first meeting is any indicator.

Throughout the process they intend to make their case that Central high school should be kept open. They will be collecting their own data and evidence and first-hand knowledge and stories

To build their case they are assigning different topics to research/write/present.

The parents are very concerned about Walkability – their want their children to be able to walk to school. They are firm in their belief that much of the data the school board is using comes from outdated statistics; faulty enrolment projections, and a misunderstanding of downtown growth.

They point to the problem in Alton where a band new high school was opened two years ago and is overenrolled due to multiple families living in the same household. The board staff weren’t aware that multiple families were living in the one house.

The parents are suggesting that the data doesn’t always reflect reality on the ground.

The impact on the feeder schools: Lakeshore, Tom Thompson, Central elementary is a concern.

The audience was told that schools cannot be closed in what are defined as Urban Growth Centres in the Provincial Places to Grow plan,

The audience was told that the staff report is thorough and that the focus of the report is on programs for students; heritage is on the list but it didn’t have much in the way of priority.

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Former Burlington central High school principal Terry Rugg explained to parents what had to be done in 2000 when the board o education wanted to close the high school.

The parents seemed to be focused on “community” and the role schools play in the creation of community. Central is the only school in the Region that is a K to graduation school – the parents don’t want to lose that feature of their community.

Because it is an older school there are a lot of scholarships and bursaries attached to the school – what would happen to those were the high school to close?

Admittedly, the school could use some upgrading – it is an old school and it needs some help – bu it certainly doesn’t need to disappear.

In 1975 $100,000 was raised by the community to upgrade parts of the school.

Data available to the parents’ points out that household income for the Central high school catchment area is the lowest in Burlington – how are those low income families going to handle the cost of transportation to Nelson or Aldershot?

They point out that the report doesn’t offer anything in the way of a solution on what will happen to the grade 7 and 8 students should the high school be closed.

This is going to be a very active story and one that is critical to what kind of a downtown core community the city is going to have – these parents are not going to sit still and lose their high school.

There will be a web site with all the data and reports. The Gazette will let you know when it is up.

There is a Facebook page with 1500+ people looking in.

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Can the parents convince the Board of Education to keep the school open?

The committee has collected $1750 of the 42500 target they gave – these funds will be used to print lawn signs and pay the rental fees for the space they use for their meetings.

What the parents are going to have to watch very carefully is how the Board of Education chooses to interact with them. Tread carefully was the advice given to the meeting.

Central High school is critical to the kind of downtown community the city has – there is a seperate high school a stones throw away.

What doesn’t exist is a committee where the city and the board of Education meet to thresh out issues.  Truth be told – the two organizations don’t get along all that well and tend not to cooperate very well.

 

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