Bill Glass, a concerned grandparent of 3 Norwood School students, has been reviewing documentation from Edmonton Public Schools and has compiled his thoughts about the process. He believes the “facts” that parents and community groups have been given during this “Sector Review” are not always accurate and do not take into account the bigger picture.
He has organized his observations into five categories and you can view them at the following links:
A. The EPSB Sector Review process as we have seen it.
B. Causes of alarm and suspicion.
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innercityschools said,
December 5, 2009 @ 6:16 pm
excellent points and questions.
Cris said,
December 7, 2009 @ 11:39 pm
Other things to think about:
Have our neighbourhood demographics changed and are our schools marketing what parents desire in our community? I know a lot of parents from our neighbourhood who take our parents to schools outside our community and I have heard for instance that Parkdale school busses childen in with behavioural problems which may deter other parents from sending their children there. Is the quality of education at our schools what parents want (in our community in general)? How can these questions be asked without expecting parents who may have little interest in this process due to their children attending schools not in this sector? What if anything would make those parents reconsider. I believe, from what I see that we have more families with children than say, 10 years ago when our schools were also under threat of closure.
Are they using the same formula that I know they used in the past, where school capacity is determined based on the size of the school, which in our big old schools does not work very well as they tend to have bigger lobbies, gymnasiums, bathrooms and even janitor closets than new schools are built with. The formula may be skewed
What is really behind the discussion on school space? Might the community be forced to accept tenants (such as some social agencies) that may not be very compatible with a school environment?