The Small Print
The devils in the details and check out the small print, are prophetic idioms that carry a cautionary tale. They would all appear to be apt council, when dealing with the recommendations for the revision of Accommodation Review Policy 2313.
At the SCDSB Facility Standing Committee of March 9th 2010, the new ARC Policy came to the table for discussion. It is an important policy as it updates the current policy 2313 with the new June 2009 Ontario Accommodation Review Guidelines. However, it does much more than just that – it modifies some previous expectations tied to optimum school baseline criteria and shifts participation within the ARC process.
The Big Changes
1. The reduction in the number of public members nominated by local councils from one business member and one council member to just one member.
Asking Councils to pick whether they nominate one of themselves or a business representative takes away the important contributions that both roles play in the ARC process. It is important to hear about partnership opportunities and local planning as well as the business implications of school closures.
Clearly forcing councils to make a choice of a council or business member on the ARC, is not appropriate if one is trying to build partnerships with the entire community. There are 2 likely ARC’s being called in the fall of 2010, Clearview elementary schools and Barrie secondary schools. Given the current version of the policy, this would result in ARC’s that include only one council/business member from the entire Township of Clearview and similarly only one from the complete City of Barrie.
2. Removal of parent representation from the ARC for parents in a specific program excludes the voice of families with students in programs such as Extended French and Gifted classes. For example, if the new policy had been in effect at the time of the Elementary ARC C in Barrie (2009), the parents/guardians of 92 students at Prince of Wales Public School would not have had any representation at all on the ARC.
( see background material – ARC C )
3. Within Section 5.7 – Appendix A – there is a major shift in the basic framework of school expectations. A long list of criteria is listed with examples of optimums of that criteria. This list of criteria are to be taken into account by an ARC when making its determinations.
Key examples include elementary schools be required to be 400-550 in size and that secondary schools be 1200-1400 in size.
These numbers are staff optimums and do not reflect any consultation from the board with communities, nor do they reflect any policy direction to-date from the Board of Trustees.
I am concerned about these new “one-size fits all” optimum levels. I note the brand new Essa Secondary School, opening this fall in Angus is built for 900 students would not be built based upon the revised ARC policy secondary school size criteria of 1200-1400.
It is also worth noting that many of the schools that will fall within the upcoming Clearview Twp. and Barrie ARC’s do not meet the proposed school size criteria examples.
This new ARC policy is well worth review by the public and councils prior to its final approval at the March 24th Board meeting.
Background Materials
ARC C Final Report 2009 (pdf) Barrie Elementary Schools 2009
Facilitator Report SCDSB SimcoeCDSB09-2
David Cooke report on school closures ARC C Barrie
Prince of Wales Public School and ARC D Tecumseth
North Elementary School.
Follow-up – March 24, 2010
Trustee Not Happy with ARC polices – Enterprise Bulletin March 24, 2010
A local school board trustee isn’t happy with changes to the board’s accommodation review policies.
Caroline Smith said alterations to the policy — which governs how schools are assessed for possible closure — were mandated by new provincial guidelines. However, she warned the changes seem to minimize public input.
For full article link here
