Editorial- November 15, 2006

Curriculum for our communities

I have seriously lost count of how many times I have been told : "You wouldn't understand because you don't have children." To say the least, it's really annoying when parents cast aside an opinion from someone on the "outside" peering into their situation, who in fact may be able to offer an alternative viewpoint they can no longer see because they are too wrapped up in their particular predicament.

A case in point is the emerging grim reality that three English elementary schools will be closed in Huntingdon by the end of this school year, and in Howick and Franklin at the end of the 2008 school year. It is not a finalized, done deal yet. But it is coming. That is, of course, if every other resident - besides just the parents - in this neck of the woods isn't immediately encouraged to take a stand and submit by next Monday, November 20, a different, amazing scenario to keep all our rural schools open. Kids or not, if you own property and pay taxes in the Chateauguay Valley, you have a connection to the school closure issue. You won't be paying any less school taxes by not having one less school in your community. You'll simply be paying for a school that is farther away.

Perhaps I am part of the problem considering the New Frontiers School Board Future Directions Committee says the declining birthrate over the next five years means there will be approximately 900 excess student spaces in our Chateauguay Valley schools. But, no dear, we won't be part of a solution by having a child within the next nine months. Our elementary schools need more immediate answers. So what can any resident with children or not, in a community with an ill-fated school or not, do to help?

This is an enormous question with no easy answers. But you might have one!

I have not toured the seven elementary schools in the Chateauguay Valley and scrutinized everything from the state of the buildings to overall student test scores in small classes compared to bigger classes; or done something like an economic analysis of what the future for a rural community will be without an elementary school; or considered possible pilot projects with businesses or municipalities that would bring in profits to give a financial reason to keep all the schools open; or even talked to a psychologist to know what internal or external, negative or positive effects a school closure can have on students, families and teachers. But as far as I know, neither have members of the New Frontiers School Board Future Directions Committee. Yes, they have a difficult enough decision to make by January 9, 2007. But have they considered all the possibilities, and do they have all the facts other than simply closing the doors on three elementary schools in order to balance their books?

For months the Future Directions Committee has been talking about the "changing reality" with the declining enrollment, and revenue reductions. But their ultimate decision in the New Year should not just be based on their bottom line alone, they will also be changing the reality for more than one child, more than one classroom size, and more than one community. A school closure affects everyone's bottom line.

Yet as the school closure story has developed in recent weeks, I now question how concerned the Future Directions Committee is about their own bottom line when it has been brought to my attention several times by several different people that a school board conference with a consultant was held in Lac Brome two weeks ago. I have not found anyone who will go on record about the event, so I will simply openly wonder how much this event cost and why wasn't it held in the Chateauguay Valley to pour our taxpayer dollars into our own communities rather than spending it flagrantly in the Estrie region? Why couldn't Le Manoir in St-Anicet accommodated the New Frontiers School Board conference?

There is much our communities can offer our schools, but our schools should also be given the opportunity to offer something to their communities. From creating more daycares, computer labs to be used by adults, community centers and renting out their gyms on the weekend, why is the Future Directions Committee so intent on simply closing schools when they have so much more to offer communities by staying open?

Quebec Education Minister Jean-Marc Fournier happens to be the MNA for the riding of Chateauguay - right next door. Not suggesting anarchy, but perhaps it is time for angry parents, students, teachers and every other resident, like me a non-parent, with a vested interest in the future of our communities to board some school busses and descend on Fournier's office and demand a meeting with him with our loudest voices so that the local elementary school closures will be heard in Quebec City. Would it not be better to do something other than doing nothing and wishing you had?

Your opinion counts and now is the time to express it. A brief outlining an alternative scenario of how local schools can be better utilized and kept open profitably can be sent to: Nalia Mullaboo-Leclair, Chair, Future Directions Committee, 214 McLeod, Chateauguay, Quebec, J6J 2H4.

Susanne J. Brown