It’s starting to get down to crunch time for the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) overseeing the review of possible closure for schools in Bluewater-South Huron.
As reported in this week’s Times-Advocate, the committee is to present its recommendations to Avon Maitland District School Board trustees at a public meeting at South Huron District High School March 4.
Last week’s ARC meeting in Hensall seemed to muddy the waters as to what the committee will actually recommend to trustees, who will make a decision sometime in June.
While from the beginning there has been opposition from ARC members to the board staff’s suggestion that Grade 7 and 8 students from the five reviewed schools move into the high school, the ARC is now considering options that include a so-called “super” school, which would include students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 in Exeter. Go figure.
The committee needs to ask itself once and for all what students it wants in the high school — to be opposed to Grade 7 and 8s in the high school is fine, but to turn around and recommend options that include students of all ages in the same building is inconsistent at best. Yes, you can place elementary students in a separate wing from secondary students, but nevertheless it’s the same building.
School reviews are an unpleasant process and ARC members and community supporters are trying to come up with alternatives to keep schools open, an admirable but tough job. ARC members have been put in a tough spot and have said from the beginning they didn’t want to see the various communities battling against each other, but Exeter ARC member Darren Kints said at last week’s meeting communities have in fact been pitted against each other.
While last year’s local ARC dealt only with the potential closure of Usborne Central, this year’s review throws four more schools into the mix — Exeter Public, Stephen Central, Zurich Public and Hensall Public, making the process more complex, more difficult and one that affects many more people and communities.
It’s not an enviable place to be in, and committee members now have less than a month to agree on recommendations to board trustees. The rest of us wait to see what they come up with.