the north grenville
TIMES
Reaching by direct mail 9,000 homes and businesses in North Grenville and Merrickville/Wolford www.ngtimes.ca
Vol. 4, No 46
The Voice of North Grenville
November 16, 2016
Concern over school closures increases
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Oxford-on-Rideau Public School is on the list for possible closure
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by David Shanahan The Upper Canada District School Board’s [UCDSB] series of public meetings to discuss the possible closure of schools in the Board’s region has led to some serious discouragement among the parents who have been involved in preparing presentation for what the Board is calling the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) public meetings, scheduled to be held this week in the Grenville County sector. The UCDSB originally described the ARC meetings as a way “to receive feedback on the draft recommendations for possible school closures and consolidations as
presented in an Initial Staff Report received by the Board of Trustees in September”. There are 29 schools being considered for closure, ten of which are in Leeds-Grenville, and the Board will announce in March which 16 of those schools will be closed by the end of this school year. Another 13 will close at a later date, subject to provincial government funding decisions. While Board Chair, Jeff McMillan was careful to insist that: “We want people to be aware that no final decisions have been made,” he said that the ARC meetings would help the Board to make the right decisions on closures in the new year. “The ARC’s will receive delegations
from the community and share insights of the feedback received to date. Information received throughout the process will be included by the ARCs in a final report that will be prepared by UCDSB staff and presented to the Board of Trustees on February 15, 2017. Final Board decisions will take place on March 23, 2017", according to a Board statement. But, as parent groups organised to prepare presentations to the ARC meetings, they became increasingly upset at the way in which the process was structured, and this has led to some resignations by individuals who had become involved in their local ARC, thinking they
would be able to make the presentation on behalf of their school. The Board informed them that, as members of ARC, they would not be allowed make presentations on behalf of their school. Other ARC members have become extremely angry at the shoddy preparation by the Board for these public consultations, as Board representatives did not seem sufficiently knowledgeable in dealing with questions raised by parent committees. Christine Crate-Pavan, Parent Chair of Wolford for the ARC, resigned on November 10, noting that she was not the only ARC member to step down. “There is a huge continued on page 2
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