EXETER — In its final meeting March 4 at South Huron District High School (SHDHS), the Bluewater South Huron Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) rejected all the proposals for closing local schools of the Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB).
Hensall Public School representative Joan Bradley presented the ARC recommendations to the board, which included deferring a decision on the review until there is an ARC done of area secondary schools, since SHDHS is at 75 per cent enrolment and is projected to drop to 43 per cent enrolment by 2018.
Other recommendations from the committee included that any capital improvements not required by law or of a critical nature be deferred until the secondary school review is completed.
Bradley also said the ARC does not recommend moving Grade 7 and 8 students to the high school.
Stephen Central representative Dan Gill said a preferred ARC option would be to build a Kindergarten to Grade 8 school, with students for Exeter Public, Stephen Central and Usborne, while not changing Hensall or Zurich but reducing SHDHS by demolishing the oldest 20 per cent.
The ARC also recommends leaving the Special Education suite at Hensall Public intact.
Hensall representative Lisa Millar asked, "Why is the high school a sacred cow but not elementary schools?"
Another recommendation from the ARC was that a new Kindergarten to Grade 12 school be created from Exeter Public, Usborne, Stephen and SHDHS attached to the high school.
Usborne representative Pam Benoit noted it was the second ARC for Usborne in two years and, "we’re tired of it."
In her report to the board, Benoit said the purpose of the review was to ensure the AMDSB and the board had a true sense of the communities’ wills and wishes.
Benoit said the ARC was charged with the responsibility of dealing with 400 empty spaces in the area with a funding formula that is based on "bums in the seats," but an economic climate that didn’t allow more money.
Zurich Public School (ZPS) representative Tom Roes said the committee was frustrated with the ARC process and would have benefited from more information.
Roes added the committee had had several motions dismissed and the approach was questionable and not conducive to problem solving.
Roes said the committee recommended that for future ARCs, an independent facilitator be included instead of having the superintendent of operations act as chairperson.
Other recommendations, said Roes, included that the AMDSB educate the school communities about the ARC process before it was initiated, as well as providing all  required information up front and not carrying out more than one ARC at a time.
"We ask that you make the necessary changes," Roes said to the board.
She added, "support our recommendation…bigger, better and state of the art."
Zurich representative Doug Schade said the AMDSB could have handled the process better and the ARC fueled confrontation and had to be changed.
He added that new buildings, equipment and testing were not the keys to a better education, but the relationships between teachers, students and parents were.
Schade said since Zurich doesn’t fit the AMDSB criteria for closing, it should be left out of any recommended closings.
Schade also said that any potential closing of the school which might force parents to send their children to St. Boniface Catholic school, could be looked at under the Charter of Rights for freedom of education and religion.
Following the presentations from the school representatives, remarks were taken from the audience, with Bluewater Mayor Bill Dowson thanking the board and ARC members for leaving their families "night after night.”
Dowson said all the communities are tied together. “We are one.”
Also addressing the ARC was SHDHS Grade 12 student Stephanie Pratt, who said Grade 7 and 8 students shouldn’t be brought into the high school because it wasn’t an appropriate environment for them.
Trustee Randy Wagler thanked the ARC members for their work and said, “It was fraught with emotion and not easy…we all want what is best for the students.”
He added he was impressed with the recommendations and the decision by trustees  hasn’t been made.
"There will be lots more discussion," said Wagler, and added there will be a chance for more public input at a board meeting at SHDHS May 11.
The board staff will present their report to the trustees April 13, who will vote on their recommendation June 22.