You might think it far-fetched to relate the closure of a tiny country school to the fact that you have food on your table. But keeping the city fed requires an ongoing commitment by thousands of rural citizens who live a lifestyle completely different from that of the suburban commuter.

Life out here in Franklin Centre is worlds apart from life in the City of Chateauguay; yet we share the same New Frontiers School Board where we must occasionally confront the urban-rural divide.

Right now a board-wide decision is on the table to close 3 of our 6 rural elementary schools. Imagine if you were told they were closing Centennial Park and Mary Gardner, half of ChateauguayÕs schools, in one fell swoop!

This issue is larger than the preservation of some quaint, old-fashioned one-room schoolhouse. Closing our school of 50 students would have an irreversible, detrimental effect on the fabric of life here. It is not only a second home for our children but also the hub of activity for our isolated English community.

There are plenty of other challenges in rural life, such as the demise of the family farm and the exodus of youth from the countryside; we donÕt need the closure of our schools adding another nail to the coffin.

But itÕs not just about us. What is at stake is bigger than the rural school. It is those who have lived on the land who can teach city folk about a sustainable lifestyle and respect for the earth, wisdom that has all but disappeared. Our politicians are now wrestling with how to

recover this wisdom in the face of global warming and untold ecological destruction. Surely we have learned that preserving traditional lifestyles is key to the survival of our planet.

The little school in Franklin, the BoardÕs only school with grass and orchard and forest outside its doors, includes such lessons in its curriculum. Is it not the role of our schools to teach our children to think critically about the implications of local decisions on these catastrophic global trends.

Last winter, the school board challenged governing boards to "think outside of the box" to find ways to make their schools more viable. At meeting after meeting parents and teachers brainstormed creative ideas and researched existing models like French and English school mergers to save costs.

We believed the Board would carry our ideas to the next level; instead, none of our ideas were even taken into consideration. As one observant parent stated, "Two guys in a bar could have come up with that solution."

This simplistic close-the-small-school decision by our elected school commissioners, after asking us to "think outside of the box," exhibits no insight or foresight into the serious issues that face both this community and society at large.

This is a time when we need our leaders to be visionaries. Instead their slash and burn approach to education completely disrespects the unique gifts that rural schools contribute to the larger community.

lynne.phil@sympatico.ca