School Blues

As I sat through the Provincial budget presentation at Queen’s Park last week, I couldn’t help but scoff under my breath as Finance Minister Dwight Duncan droned on endlessly about protecting education. This, while we’re going through two school accommodation reviews in our region, one in Chesley/Hanover, and the other in Kincardine.

The term “accommodation review” is bureaucrat-speak for “enrolment is down and we need to cut costs, so something has to close”. So a committee is formed; statistics, averages, and formulae are trotted out, and a decision is made regarding closures and consolidations.

Accommodation reviews are always passionate affairs, particularly in rural communities. Local schools contain many memories, and students can’t help feel a sense of pride in their school colours in spite of how much they might hate French class. But in spite of the community’s objections, an option is selected from a narrow set of choices, and everyone moves on.

But maybe not this time. At least not in Chesley, anyway.

It seems the local residents, teachers, students, and Rotary Club didn’t like the options being presented, which basically all boil down to shipping most of the Chesley District High School students off to Hanover, so they came up with their own option. And they’ve presented their option with a community spirit that I’ve rarely seen in response to a single issue.

Now if there’s anything that the great bureaucratic gods hate, it’s when mere mortals try to muck things up with reasonable arguments. They prefer multiple choice. “Just pick option a or b and we’ll go suck the life out of some other rural community.” The problem is, “Option C” as it’s been dubbed, makes too much sense to ignore.

“Option C” proposes turning CDHS into a Kindergarten to grade 12 school, keeping students in the community and closer to home. Hanover still gets a new high school, but configured a little differently. “Option C” also meets the criteria required for overall education cost with the review area, while meeting the needs for changes in programing and demographics.

Now, after 4 public meetings, the committee must decide whether to recommend “Option C” to the Bluewater Board. There are a number of reasons why they should, including, a) a high quality precedent for K to 12 schools at BPDS in Lion’s Head, b) a more central destination for students in the area, and c) the continued economic spin-offs to the local community, among others.

And here is a forth reason. Option C is worth thinking about because it’s the only option that requires thought.

Allow me to explain. Options A and B are based on a narrow set of assumptions derived from an array of statistics, metrics and averages for Ontario as a whole. Sitting through a presentation of the numbers can bring tears to a glass eye, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean much. That’s because Chesley District High School is not an average school. 

As pointed out by review committee member Jessica MacKinnon, students at CDHS regularly surpass the expected performance level of students in a school of its size. There are likely a number of reasons for this including the quality of the teachers, the tailored programming, and the community support; but the point is that “Option C” is based on local realities rather than abstract assumptions. 

You see, anyone can plug numbers into a formula and come with a recommendation, but it takes truly thoughtful, intelligent people to balance local needs with financial realities. The community of Chesley has come through in spades.

In fact, the review process itself, as presented to the committee, is an affront to their intelligence. The data presented suggests that locals can’t be trusted to assess their own situation and offer constructive alternatives. It’s the difference between knowing about schools and knowing this school.

As a bicycle mechanic, I’ve seen plenty of repair manuals written by people who know about bicycles but never work on them. I don’t recommend buying one of these for the same reason the review committee shouldn’t recommend option a or b. The local experience and intelligence of the “Option C” proponents should be trusted.

And lets not forget that the Chesley High School is currently the only school in the district offering a High Skills Major program in agriculture. This is no small factor considering the aging demographic of todays farmers. The creation of this program was born of the same local experience and commitment as “Option C”.

There are really only two choices here. Either follow the dictates of generic formulas and stale statistics, or make a locally informed decision based on local needs and benefits, informed by unique local factors.

Chesley residents have demonstrated that they will not be confined to an a or b choice. Will the review committee demonstrate the same creative thinking?