Raise the Hammer

comment from banned user deleted

Dear. Another architectural gem cast aside by the school board.

Some years ago, the board cast off the former Princess Elizabeth School in West Hamilton; here's a Google Maps street view. It's a really pretty little school - prettier than almost any that the board has now - and it's slowly going to hell.

I would not mourn the closing of schools such as Delta and Princess Elizabeth and Dundas District if only our new schools weren't such ugly monuments to short-sighted bean-counting and faddish utilitarianism.

I was about to say "at least we're not so likely to pull such a building down as we once would have been", but wasn't the school board set to demolish the Stinson School?

Comment edited by moylek on 2011-03-04 08:22:39

I know that it shouldn't be my priority... I know I should be mainly concerned about the well-being of the students that go to these schools and whether they'll do better in a more affluent school despite the lousy commute they'll be facing.

But all I can think about is the fate of that gorgeous old building. I have to say, 90% of the time I part company with RTA when it comes to saving buildings - most of the time the ship has already sailed and the building is rotted out, or the building is an artifact of the brutalist nadir of architectural history (like City Hall).

But I don't want to see Delta go.

Building a new Ivor Wynne stadium is hardly giving up on the east end...

The school board is not building IW.

Half a new Ivor Wynne stadium, and I don't think the kids can go to school there. Oh and the community stadium they COULD play at, it's being demolished to make room for parking for 9 games a year, so much for the east end.

This is horrible news for East Hamilton. One more reason for a family, or young couple thinking of starting one to look to locate elsewhere in the city.

Everyone who cares should be contacting Ward 3 Councillor Morelli and asking him to fight publically for the schools. In the 20006 & 2010 Election (yes, same promises in both elections because he's so popular he can just dial-in his campaign) he campaigned on fighting to maintain schools.

http://www.raisethehammer.org/article/39...

1. Fight to maintain and keep open our inner city schools and to recognize their key role as community centres.

Phone: 905-546-2702 Email: Bernie.Morelli@hamilton.ca

BTW: They are tearing down Sanford Avenue School, http://www.flickr.com/photos/metro_image...

Other places (Dundas, Murray, Stinson) they turn old schools into condos. In the east side they tear them down :(.

Delta is @ Main & Wexford; in Ward 4 - Sam Merulla's ward.

http://map.hamilton.ca/Static/PDFs/WardM...

This is all the result of Harris' ludicrous funding formula which refuses to allow cities to build new schools if they have "excess capacity", meaning essentially that if you want to build schools, you must first close schools.

Of course the question of which school closes is largely decided by which neighbourhoods have the most influence and clout - ie: the wealthier ones. Westdale, Westmount, Waterdown, Ancater - we will see little risk to these schools. But for those in rough neighbourhoods (and with correspondingly low test scores) will have little defense. And as I mentioned recently, this only furthers disparities between areas.

Anybody know what's happening with Sherwood? Last I heard it was also on the list. Reminding us that living on the mountain doesn't exempt ya from these threats.

It's not a matter of being in wealthier areas. The schools you mention are all full or over capacity. Thats why they were excluded.

Other schools in better off areas are on the chopping block. Sherwood that you mentioned is one of them. The other 2 that they mentioned were Barton and McNab.

My wife teaches at Westmount and most of the people there want the school to be closed and rebuilt elsewhere. The building is horribly under-maintained, over-capacity, and is located far from the main bus arteries (which is particularly absurd since it's supposed to be a city-wide System School instead of just serving the regional kids). The board keeps putting off doing any maintenance on it because they plan on moving the program to a new school and then ditching the building... but no such new school exists.

Small correction, it's only 2 blocks from Mohawk Rd. They have easy access to bus service. I know, I went there back in the 70's and used to take the bus everyday to get there.

I went to Westdale...and it was pretty ghetto in terms of the building itself, and supplies we had (books, ancient computers etc). The term "demolish and rebuild" was definitely thrown around in hushed voices. It may be a very rich school, but it's still "inner city" as these things go. A distinction which seems to be creeping outward every day.

Still, I can't imagine seeing what's now threatening Delta or Parkview befalling either Westdale or Westmount.

Really? I went to Westdale and I always loved the building. I mean the windows and lockers needed work (like most of the schools in the system), but back then they built to last.

Comment edited by Pxtl on 2011-03-07 15:14:45

And they've since replaced all the windows.

Maybe the board better start looking after Westmount, it isn't that old. In fact I remember when it was built and I believe it still has an indoor swimming pool. Something most schools do not have..

They are currently rebuilding the pool with federal infrastructure money. If they need a new school they could very easily rebuild on that site. It is a huge property.

This is upsetting. It is quite possible that the school with the least resistance will get the axe. I would hate to see Delta chopped. Residents should contact their trustee...

http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/aboutus/trustees/rmulholland/index.aspx

Good luck getting a teaching job in Hamilton. I've lost track of all the schools slated for closure; yet another reason for young professionals to look elsewhere for employment.

They are closing the old schools so they can build new ones. They won't be losing any teachers.

Unfortunately, because of provincial funding formula's thats what they have to do to build new schools in areas where the population has shifted to.

Not in all cases. For example, Parkside's closing and students/teachers will be relocated to either Highland, Waterdown, Ancaster or Westdale. Also, Mountain, Sherwood, Barton, Delta and Parkview are all slated for closure and as far as I can tell, the board is planning to build only one school, somewhere south of the LINC [big surprise there]. In the end, fewer schools means fewer jobs, which is, as I already stated, yet another reason for young professionals not to plant roots here.

They may be closing more than one school but those kids will be relocated somewhere. If they move the kids they will still need teachers to educate them. They have limits on class sizes. The schools that they move those kids to will need more teachers.

The way it works is they base the number of teachers needed on how many students attend each school. The empty schools or under capacity schools only have as many teachers as are required, based on whatever formula they use.

Comment edited by bigguy1231 on 2011-03-06 17:59:05

The only way that school boards could rationalize making do with fewer teachers is if they were willing to let class sizes increase. And that would obviously never happen.

You're right, teachers and students will find their way to other schools one way or another. But in terms of new teachers, or those wishing to relocate, they can forget about it. There's zero demand for new Secondary School teachers in Hamilton and it's been that way for years. That's what I've been yammering on about.

Comment edited by Peter on 2011-03-06 21:38:50

Funny I don't notice any Catholic schools on the chopping block.

Thats because most Catholic schools are much newer. They did not receive full funding from the province until the late 80's. Once they got that funding they went on a building spree. As a result most of their new schools were built in growing areas of the city.

They have also rebuilt some schools in the lower city, Cathedral High School is one that comes to mind. It was located on Main St. in 2 different buildings at one time before it was moved to it current location.

A number of Catholic schools have closed.

Considering, the Catholic board is for the most part at or over capacity they really don't have a need to close schools. But they have closed a few over the years, usually for maintainance reasons.

good thing there are no plans for LRT, intensification and a nodes&corridors plan along Main/Queenston in East Hamilton.
Once again, the school board is on their own planet....

The school boards in Ontario have always been on their own little planet with their own agendas. Sad if you ask me..

Not only Ontario, all over the country...hell, all of N America in fact!

re: Catholic School Closures. St. Columba a Catholic School in the Main & Sherman area was slated to close in June 2010. It apparently won a reprieve for a couple of years, but is still on a closure list.

Off the top of my head, there's Christ the King and St. Mary's. I'm sure there are others, and of course many being eyed for closure.

Maybe the Catholic board could buy Delta.