December 18, 2014
Grant Osborn
Director of Capital Policy and Programs Branch
Ministry of Education
Mowat Block, 19th Floor, 900 Bay St,
Toronto ON M7A1L2
Mr. Osborn;
The Lambton Federation of Agriculture would like to submit remarks to Mr. Osborn with respect to the proposed changes to the Rural School Closure Process.
- School closures are not about student achievement. It’s about saving money
- Some of the recommendations that come from the accommodation review process are items that need to be addressed by the province. Merging coterminous schools to make one strong school in each rural community e.g. Brooke Central school
- Province needs to recognize the waste that 4 school boards creates
- Province must take more of a role in empty pupil spaces or more waste of dollars will continue
E.g. 18million spent at St Chris in Sarnia yet Sarnia public board has more than enough room to accommodate all Catholic students. - Trustees faced with financial obligations cannot take into consideration student achievement they base decision mainly on budgets
- Province has to take education system into the 21st century, recreate it to the demographics of today’s society taking into consideration several factors
- Families are not as big
- United nations ruling that the way Ontario funds its school system is discriminatory
- Families are not having children until later in life
- Ontario cannot afford the system we currently have
We are also troubled by the fact that while this is called a “Consultation”, it is not widely known to be occurring. There is no information about this “consultation” posted on the Ministry of Education’s main web page and the government does not appear to be actively seeking public input.
~Dave Ferguson~
President, Lambton Federation of Agriculture
~Jamie Armstrong~
Director
December 2014 School Closure Letter