Raise the Hammer

this just in, School Board HQ is getting out of its own desert!

As a downtown parent - it is incredibly sad to see these schools closing. We actually moved into the downtown core so that our children will go to a highschool right near our home, one that they can walk to easily and safely.

I agree with you, why couldn't they change the boundaries and fill up any schools that had fewer students! Invest in the buildings that are currently standing and improve them. Delta - a beautiful building that when closed will sit abandoned and empty for years.

I thought Hamilton wanted to improve it's city core and make it a great place to raise a child. Another bad decision by the city!

This is exactly why people move into urban cores - to live in walkable neighbourhoods where all services are close at hand. I have lived in the Pier 4 community for 10 years now. My daughter is young, but I am already seriously thinking about the need to move. I will not send her to a mega-school. So sad that such a small group of people that don't seem particularly competent are making decisions that will impact the future of thousands of families.

Sir John A is operating at a higher capacity than Ancaster High, yet they wouldn't even allow Ancaster to be included in potential closure discussions. These moves have far more issues involved than simply fiscal prudence. Also, downtown census tracts in Sir John A catchment have had some of the highest growth rates in the city the past 2 censuses. Let's hope the Board realizes what century it is and throws a big Y2K party as a welcome to the future.

Comment edited by jason on 2012-05-29 13:27:59

You can't blame the city for this one. It's all on the board.

One high school rule them all: the entire area from the waterfront to the escarpment, from Queen to Kenilworth. What a giant Eff You to the lower city!

And just in case we didn't get the hint: http://raisethehammer.org/article/1609/h...

"In the many conversations I've had on the subject of closing downtown high schools (the North ARC), the hardest allegation to swallow is that downtown families clearly don't care about these school closures at Parkview, Delta and Sir John A MacDonald.

What I feel is more true is that downtown families weren't informed and particularly weren't informed that they had a chance to speak up."


For the time being, I'll simply say that we have a systemic problem in Hamilton that, though the analogy isn't pleasant, reminds me of someone within an abusive relationship: they get used to not fighting back.

The most evocative remarks that I've read here, and on 'Dissidents' are those from highwater and Ms Ritchie regarding the profound lack of attendance and general participation on the parts of those people who have the most at stake. However, take a look at what Matt Jelly says in his piece 'HWDSB: Downtown HQ Task Force disbanded':

"...and many citizens, myself included, will walk away feeling that many of our representatives didn't truly listen to our input, and went along with decisions they had already predetermined from day one."

and

"I can say for certain that the general public did not vote for this in 2010. Perhaps it's time for every citizen to pay closer attention to who we elect, at all of our elected institutions."


More, elsewhere. (Naturally.)

The school board is clearly out of touch with their school communities. I believe that perhaps they should have considered a redrawing of school boundaries. My son had a hard time adjusting to high school and needed to have smaller class sizes. He was missing a lot of classes as he was not getting help and was falling far behind. It was suggested that he should attend Mountain as they have smaller class sizes and more one on one availability for him. We had transferred him and he is excelling and actually enjoying school. It is sad that in a few more years potentially we will be back in the same situation.

The school board only cares about the money that they will gain as I they will probably be sold off to more developers in the future.

This was an unfair process and no public input was really ever considered.

The HWDSB should be ashamed!!

Anger. Dissappointment. So ... with an education desert in the lower city, I can expect to be paying less property taxes, right?

I've had it. I'm done with this.

Nope.i can speak from personal experience. Public schools were closed in my area and the eduction levy on my property tax actually went up.
Hope I can afford to move up he mountain so my kids can go to school.

I think it's safe to say that this will shape lower city development for years to come.

I mean, are you going to buy a home downtown knowing your kids will have to be shipped off to some mega-school? Absolutely not.

Depressing.

So, in the lower city, will we end up with one great big Omni-gang that does all their recruiting at the mega school, or are we going to be lucky enough to have to install metal detectors at that school to prevent the inevitable slaughter that would result from placing multiple gangs in the same building? Either way the forty-five minutes some students will be forced to travel to the mega school will ensure a vibrant supply of drug dealers, welfare recipients, teen parents, and low wage employees for decades to come. The social ills that these decisions may incur will have to be paid, one way, or another, by those that live in the community.