With the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) for the Avon Maitland District School Board’s review of five schools in Bluewater-South Huron having held its last public meeting March 4 when it made its recommendations to school trustees, those interested in the future of area schools are now forced to play the waiting game.
The details of the ARC’s recommendations can be seen on this week’s front page. The recommendations mark the end of a process for the ARC which stretches back to October when public meetings first started being held on what to do about the excess pupil spaces in our region, specifically Usborne Central, Exeter Public, Stephen Central, Zurich Public and Hensall Public. While some members of the ARC have rightly complained that they weren’t given enough time to study the many issues surrounding possible closures and come up with recommendations, there’s not much that can be done about that now — the ARC has presented its recommendations publicly and, after board staff present their recommendations to trustees in April, trustees have until a June 22 board meeting to decide what they want to do with the five reviewed schools.
Will they accept any of the ARC’s recommendations? Will they reject them and go with staff’s original options in October that would see Usborne and one of Hensall and Zurich close with Grade 7 and 8s moving into South Huron District High School? We’ll simply have to wait, although the feeling by many is that the board already had its mind made up before the ARC process even started.
This has, no doubt, been a difficult process for everyone involved. ARC members have been put in a tough position — they want to protect the wishes of their own schools and communities, but they’ve tried to avoid a situation in which communities appeared to battle each other. It was hard to avoid that, however, and it was inevitable that protectionism would rear its head.
This year’s ARC was much more complex than last year’s which only dealt with Usborne Central. This year there were five schools and communities involved and whatever the outcome, the high school will also be affected. ARC members should have been given more time to look at the issues and develop recommendations — this is only March and the trustees won’t make a decision until the third week of June.
But now it’s up to staff to make recommendations, then trustees to make their decision. Meanwhile, students, teachers, parents and ARC members await the outcome.