Opening empty/locked classrooms
Does fairness mean sameness? Does equity in school facilities dictate that every school should be a duplicate of the others within a school board? On June 9th trustees debated whether it was fair to open locked classrooms in some elementary schools, when some schools had none to open.
Schools differ widely in their rural/urban locations, socio-economic baselines, teacher backgrounds and community supports. In some schools we offer Extended French, others have new facilities with full technology specs; this fall the Early Learning Program and Early Learning Kindergarten will roll out in only 25% of the elementary schools in Ontario. Is that equitable?
The compromise the committee came to Wednesday night is that we should open classrooms to allow French teachers to have a classroom where space allows; schools that have closed classrooms in fall 2010.
Opening these classrooms will not only have an impact on the quality of the core French curriculum it will also free up space in home classrooms when students are in the specialty French classroom. This will allow for opportunities for special education students, volunteers and teachers to use classrooms available during that time.
The recommendation to the Board is that classrooms be unlocked, where available, to provide French programming in a centralized subject specific classroom.
Price Tag : est. 250K
Post Series
- Budget Debate Part 1 – School Basic Budget
- Budget Debate Part 2 – Opening Classrooms
- Budget Debate Part 3 – ELP/ELK Shortfall
News: Trustees Want Classrooms Opened June 14, 2010 Simcoe.com
“It’s better to teach in a classroom than from a cart. We have 27 schools with empty classrooms (that) are locked. Despite the fact of declining enrolment, our custodial numbers will increase by nine. We do have extra custodial time (to clean those rooms),” said Collingwood/Clearview trustee Caroline Smith.
“I love the French idea,” she continued. “I love the idea of taking these empty classrooms and giving them back to the (school) principals and asking them how they can best use them. There is no huge cost. The good that could come out of these classrooms is phenomenal.”
