Raise the Hammer

Have all ARC reviews happened under the current regime of Trustees? As in the past 3 years? Should one term be able to inflict this much change/damage? Would we have a leg to stand on if we reached out to upper levels of government, asking them to force a moratorium on new school builds and ARC reviews in Hamilton until the 2014 election? This should be too many decisions for one term of government to decide. If all the same bodies are elected and the reviews and decisions continue along a similar path post election, then perhaps we can conclude at that point that although some people are not happy with these reviews, we as a community were ultimately content with leaving education decisions to our school Trustees.

How many schools will they have been closed/scheduled to close by 2014 if they continue with the rest of the ARC reviews? How many brand new schools will they have approval to build by then? Dundas, North and South high schools? Not to mention the new board office which was not at all required. How many heritage buildings owned by our board, have they demolished/will have approval to by 2014?

Have we as a city followed Trustees actions this much in this municipal bodies existence? Would we really come across as out of order to if nothing else, at least postpone reviews, closures, and new build proposals until an election to see how a possible (hopeful) new panel with perhaps a different outlook, handles the remaining reviews and overall vision for the future of education in this city?

Surely many in the upper management of our province and even this country, would agree that this is too much change to occur in one term?

Many regions in Canada, the US, and Europe including Toronto, are adopting Schools as Community Hub models (or however they refer to them in their local areas but the general models are of a similar nature). Why not Hamilton?

Hundreds of thousands are upset across this province alone. Millions likely, worldwide.

Will the entire future of Education in Hamilton be decided by the time the next election comes around? Now they want to re-work the Trustee boundaries as per an email that has circulated around parent council members of my girls school.

Will there be anything left to salvage for those of us thinking about being a part of building an education system designed truly on the communities vision for the future of the school system in the Hamilton-Wentworth district?

We hear so often, "We can create change with a newly elected body." If all the T's are crossed and I's dotted on all ARC Reviews, school closures, and new Trustee boundaries by the time a new panel of Trustees is elected, there will be nothing left for them to vote on. They'll be handed a broken employee manual, and a beaten, battered, and disgruntled constituent base with a long and trying road ahead of them to try to undue, if they have any such power, the damage of one single term of office.

We need to ask, and it would be great to have our councillors support in putting such a plea together to provincial and federal leaders.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2013-10-28 12:46:45