The June 23rd board meeting included a motion to reopen the ARC B decision. The discussion was brought to the table via two notices of motion by Trustees Jodi Lloyd and Nancy Halbert, who asked that the ARC B decision of September 2009 be amended and Penetanguishene Secondary School (PSS) be closed for September 2011. The first motion failed 6:6 * and as such the second to close PSS was not heard.
1. That the Board postpone indefinitely the closure of any secondary schools in the ARC B area with the exception of Pentanguishene Secondary School.
2. That the Board approve the closure of Pentanguishene Secondary School, effective September 2011.
Background
An Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) is a legislated process, where the public and school board examine student capacity and the school facility issue(s). The ARC Guidelines,which empower the process, hold the same weight as regulation. The makeup of ARC B included Collingwood Collegiate Institute, Elmvale District High School, Midland Secondary School (MSS), Penetanguishene Secondary School, Stayner Collegiate Institute, with additional representation from the Wasaga Beach area. The ARC B meeting was constituted in April 2008. In September 09′, 32 meetings later, including: 22 ARC committee meetings and 6 public meetings, a decision was made. There were was an extensive number of delegations to the Facility Committee , Special Board and regular Board meetings. This was not a quick decision, nor one that was made lightly.
The ARC recommended that all the secondary schools with the ARC review remain open. The staff report was a direct contrast; it recommended closing Stayner, Elmvale and PSS. There were countless hours invested by the public and trustees in reviewing documentation, hearing and weighing options. In the end a decision in Sept. ’09 was made to leave things as they were. This was done by a procedural motion to postpone indefinitely. The ARC committee itself had been disbanded a decision was made and Stayner, Elmvale and Penetanguishene Secondary schools were not closed.
When one reviews the timeline, ARC B had gone on from April 08 to Sept. 09; this ARC had run a long and hard course.
When the notice of motions to amend the ARC B decision was made in June 2010 I was disappointed. At the June Board meeting, I stated that to bring back the ARC B decision failed every test of natural justice and fairness that is implicit in the concept of an open and transparent process. How can one ask people to buy into accepting decisions if the Board itself is not held to fair timelines around those decisions? How can a Board hear options and presentations in June 2009, make a decision in Sept. 09, disband the ARC and then in June 10 amend an ARC decision?
The good news is that the Board recognized many of the issues above and the ARC B decision was not reopened. The motion failed and as such the discussion tied to closing PSS never came to the table.
So should we all give a deep sigh of relief and think this issue is put to bed? No I am afraid we can’t. The facts are that there is a real problem with under-utilization of student capacity at both MSS and PSS that needs to be addressed. Midland Secondary currently has a capacity for 1401 students and an 09-10 enrollment of 943 students with PSS a capacity for 684 and students enrolled number 488 .*** New solutions need to be developed and partnerships need to be created that fill up the empty classroom space.
This needs to be done in the near future in advance of budget constraints becoming overwhelming and before the ARC A ( Orillia) * decision is no longer a possible option. However, there is an obligation that this issue be dealt with in the light of current data and input from the public in a new open and transparent forum.
Footnotes:
*Voting Against : Beacock, Edwards, Firman, Ingersoll, Saunders and Smith
**ARC A closed two secondary schools with the hope of building a new one. There has been no requests from the Ministry of Education for any proposals that have allowed for a submission tied to ARC A to-date.
*** data from SCDSB Information Update for Trustees #60 June 18, 2010
Further Information:
ARC B Staff Report .pdf
In the news:
Trustee targets PSS for closure June. 25, 2010 Simcoe.com
Collingwood/Clearview trustee Caroline Smith isn’t sure the board can reopen the ARC B discussion.
“The bottom line is the statutory requirement for the length of an ARC expired. The motion cannot come back on the floor because legislation supercedes it,” she said. “You cannot go back and open up an ARC that has passed its best-before date.”
