- 注册时间
- 2005-4-3
- 最后登录
- 1970-1-1
- 日志
- 阅读权限
- 100
|
楼主 |
发表于 2008-4-24 20:57:04
|
显示全部楼层
Schools in peril across Ontario
As shrinking enrolment takes its toll, parents fear a loss of community and a decline in standards
April 24, 2008
Daniel Girard
URBAN AFFAIRS REPORTER
Mary Ihasz and her kids are on the short end of a numbers game.
In the face of declining enrolment, the Durham Catholic District School Board is calling for the closing of Father Francis Mahoney, where the three Ihasz children go, and five other elementary schools near Highway 401 in an older area of Oshawa.
The nearly 700 students in those schools would be sent to five nearby schools starting next fall.
Last week, trustees at the Toronto District School Board, Canada's largest, approved a plan that could see dozens of small and under-enrolled schools close in the next few years to deal with losing 4,000 students annually.
Even in the 905 area around Toronto, where the number of schools is increasing to handle growth from new subdivisions, aging households in older parts of such communities as Oshawa, Brampton, Oakville and Richmond Hill mean schools are on the chopping block.
Yesterday, the lobby group People for Education released a report calling declining enrolment the "elephant in the room." It said 52 schools have already been recommended for closing across Ontario, among nearly 300 that are under review. Boards are sure to call for many more of the province's 4,900 elementary and secondary schools to be shuttered, it said.
"We have to work together to make sure that boards can plan for the students who are in their schools, rather than for the buildings that they own," Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said in an interview yesterday.
Over the past five years, the number of students in Ontario public and Catholic schools fell by 63,000 – or 3.2 per cent – to 2.1 million. It's projected to fall by another 72,000 – or 3.8 per cent – over the next five years, says Queen's Park.
Wynne said a working group on declining enrolment, which was announced in the provincial budget last month, will also look at how in the future schools and communities can share building sites for such things as libraries, recreational facilities and health programming.
While trustees and board administrators acknowledge closing schools is often unpopular, they insist it's better for kids.
In Oshawa, where closing six schools will save about $1.5 million a year, Durham Catholic board chair Paul Pulla said declining enrolment has meant more split grades, fewer programs and less supervision and support.
"These conditions are not acceptable and the board must make the difficult decision to consolidate schools by closing those which are not sustainable over time," Pulla told trustees in March.
A final decision is set for May 26.
But closing Father Mahoney, which underwent extensive renovations in 2001, getting a new library and kindergartens with washrooms, doesn't add up for Mary Ihasz.
She was part of a committee that earlier this year called for it to stay open and accept students from two other schools due to close as part of a plan to consolidate 11 schools into six existing ones.
"I feel right now that my kids are getting a very good education. So, to tell me that it's going to improve by closing their school and possibly putting them in portables doesn't make sense," said Ihasz, 44.
"Why would you want to try to fix something that isn't broken?"
The answer is demographics. With declining enrolment forecast to continue, boards are looking to close small and underused schools in hopes of trimming overhead costs and freeing up money to build new schools and expand programs.
But some parents worry boards are embracing a bigger-must-be-better mantra.
"It may sound hokey but all the kids and teachers and parents know each other – it's like being at a large wedding," said Gina Smith, 35, whose two kids, Rachel, 5, and Hayden, 8, attend Mother Mary Ward Elementary School in Brampton, which the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board is recommending be closed in June 2009.
Though it holds only about 250 students, the school is about 85 per cent full, and students' standardized test scores exceed provincial and board standards.
"I can understand when you have schools 50 per cent full or less, but when you've got schools functioning as they were built to do and students are thriving, then closing just doesn't make sense."
Board administrators say small schools may be popular, but because of per-pupil provincial funding they often lack the wider range of academic programs or specialized art, music or gym teachers available in bigger schools.
In Halton public schools, it's "a tale of two boards," said Steven Parfeniuk, the superintendent of business.
While declining enrolment in southern parts of Oakville and Burlington has led to the recommendation to close up to three elementary schools in 2009, booming growth in Milton, North Oakville and Georgetown means opening new ones in those communities.
And, just as parents in those slated for closing are upset, Parfeniuk said, so too are those with kids going into new schools with portables. But, he said, it's part of the longer-range planning required.
"When we build schools we're thinking about what we need in 2018, not 2008," Parfeniuk said. "Because if we overbuild now, then we'd be looking at closing schools then."
In the southeast Oakville neighbourhood of Clearview, Michelle Sloane says parents understand long-term planning but accuse the board of not using enough of it.
They actually want an additional older elementary school to close – and a new, 500-student school built on board-owned land beside a large park, soccer fields and a baseball diamond.
Such a move meets the aim of eliminating smaller, older and under-enrolled schools, lets the community have more input on how it's developed and offers room to grow years from now if needed, said Sloane, 46, whose group has pushed for a Clearview school for 20 years.
"It meets our needs today and down the road." |
|
发表于 2008-4-16 11:07:27
。
