enter forumPublic Comments Received Through Our Survey: Keep NDSS OPEN1 What is a community without a community highschool? Why are our children not important DSBN?????????? eA consensus on a K to 12 school on the NDSS site is needed. In terms of a walk to elementary school, there is none in NOTL. Rerouting bussing to a central location makes economic sense. Those that are adament that they want a so called community school should remember that do they want their teens to have their sense of community, shapped by St. Catherines and NF. or by NOTL? In addition do they want their teens becoming street smart here or in other communities? NOTL is unique and we need our teens tocarry that tradition on.nter comments here! We have a high school in this community. It's about time the board said 'no' to Eden and students living in notl were mandated to attend their community high school. A few nights ago, as I was driving into Virgil, taking my daughter to see a school friend there, I passed a sign that read “My NOTL includes NDSS.” I thought it very sad that a community which was one of the earliest in what is now Ontario, a community which was once the seat of its government, a community which currently sends a large amount of tax revenue to the Province to pay for public education, has to fight now to keep its only public high school in its midst. I doubt anyone realized more keenly than I the impact the loss of Niagara District Secondary School would have on NOTL. My daughter is a student there. When she enrolled for Grade 9, it was the first time she had been outside of the private school system. We were attracted to District by two factors: Its Academy for the Arts program (about which we were hearing great things and in which she is now enrolled) and its small size. I now know the identity impact of my daughter having attended only St. Catharines and NOTL schools. Despite having a mother who has served a decade on Niagara Falls Council, despite having attended the last four Council inaugurations and other City functions, despite having worked and taken various lessons in this City, despite having friends here (as well as friends from municipalities across the Region), despite having slept here more nights than in any other community, she is not a Niagara Falls girl. She does not relate to being from the Falls. Her community identity lies elsewhere. And why should it not? All the fund-raising functions she took part in were for other communities, the malls she hangs out in are another community’s, her social networks are based in other communities … As I have seen first-hand, for a child to identify with a community and feel themselves to be a part of it, attending schools there – especially through the teen years, when the peer group becomes so important – is a critical component. Both of my children attended Col John Butler and NDSS. I feel it is vital to NOTL that we have a highschool. my children (3) attended Butler and also attended NDSS This option makes a great deal of sense and will greatly benefit our community. keep NDSS open, we need a school in NOTL my sister, brother and i all went to NDSS. even my mother and all her siblings went there. we all met and made great friends and i will hope that all these votes and comments will be considered. I LOVE AND WILL MISS ND! I voted yes. Why, the proposal makes, educational, municipal, fiscal, geographic, enviromental, planning, social,instructional, sharing sense. Parliament Oak should be included on the NDSS site as well because it is not a walk to community school but a bussed to school as well it is in a location where walk to student will soon be zero. NOTL needs and deserves our own high school I have a 19 year old child who attended NDSS and hopefully my two younger children will also attend I attended NDHS and can't imagine this town without a high school. love the campus idea I support 100% th elementary school on the NDSS sight along with a New Right sized high school. My Niagara includes NDSS!!!! Lets do everything in our power to make that happen!!!! I strongly support the revitalization of the NDSS site. If I wanted my children to attend school in another community I would live there. But, I live here and pay taxes here and this is where I feel my children can receive the best education. Do what it takes to keep a high school in this community please!!!! We moved from England back to my hometown (NOTL) with the confidence that the boys would get a good education from the LOCAL schools. I did not move back to NOTL to be told that my children HAVE to take a bus to and from a school outside our town for 2 hours a day. The board is signing a death certificate for the town of Niagara on the Lake and its community if they close the local High School. If the school closes we are leaving NOTL, and we won't be the only ones. I moved to this community because of quality elementary and high school programs. If I wanted to have my kids go to school in St. Catharines, I would have bought there and spent my tax dollars there. Work together. Children can benefit from spending time with various ages. Isn't this what we do each day at work and throughout our community? Has anyone asked the parents of Laura Secord or Ann Moyer if they want the additional student populations? I have attended several joint campus facilities in the states. They Work! They work because the students, parents and community at large come together to make sure all the needs of everyone are met. The DSBN needs some forward thinking. The education campus school is something that works very well within our province. Think of the money spent by parent's to send their children to Ridley College in St. Catharines in order for them to obtain a priveldged education within this same environment. This concept is also practiced within the United States. The University my son will be attending in the fall 2008 incorporates a college preparatory academy, on the university campus, for students from grades 5 to 12 of average or above average ability that want a college preparatory education and this is in a town of only 4,424 people. This blended campus concept can and does work. The DSBN just needs to think outside their comfortable box. I personally attended NDSS and graduated in 2006. I am currently attending Brock University. The education that I received at NDSS has helped me succeed academically in my courses. My three daughters recently graduated from NDSS and are excelling at university. The education they received at NDSS was top-notch, and they benefitted from attending a small community high school where their teachers knew them, and helped them. I don't think having an elementary and HS at the same place. Why don't they just build a brand new smaller high school (keep the name) and a new elementary school -central area like virgil. Get rid of Parliament Oak / St. Davids / Queenston. Good thing we'll have the Catholic school to choose from! My brother was killed in a car accident on route to NOTL from St Catharines when he was 16. I do not want my kids driving to St. Catharines to or from school with friends or by themselves which will inevitably happen. Both my children graduated from NDSS, one is now in 3rd year University, the other starts his Masters program Fall 2008. I feel that this solution is the best for all children--both elementary and secondary. I also like the idea of the Seniors' Centre on the same property. It did not appeal to me earlier in the discussions but I now can see the value of all ages working together. As a former NDSS student, parent, and educator, I feel this is a well thought out solution and should be supported. Having the highschool would solve all the problems for me attending there next year it would be less bussing and closer to home. It has always been my dream to attend NDSS highschool and will heopfully be there for future years! My Son goes to NDSS. My Daughter goes to Stamford Collegiate since she was not allowed to have the magnet option and go there for photography This education campus sounds like an exciting educational experience for Niagara youth. I only hope that this option will be available when I have school-age children. We have 1 student looking forward to attending NDSS next year. I see this campus idea splitting the community. I would prefer the ARC recommendations, but I don't know why this has been discarded. The trustees thought it would be too expensive to build the campus idea. If you close NDSS the town will go down the drain. You need a high school to encourage parents to move to Niagara because they know their kids will have a local place to go to school. Some kids don't want to travel 30 min to get to school every morning and night. we need a highschool to maintain a community in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Niagara District is unlike any other highschool. Most high school students have to deal with tight cliques and suvere bullying among other students, this causes depression and a feeling of insecurity. Niagara District sudents both present and past have a reputation of being very accepting and friendly to others. Also, ND is one of the only schools that focuses on the arts in the area and many of its students go on to be very sucessful in the art community all across Canada and the states. Niagara should value and embrace this aspect to the fullest and encourage all notl students to attend this very unique school. My days at niagara district were some of the most memorable times of my life and i continue to reminice of what a great experience high school was for me. ND made me who i am today and i hope to one day send my children there for the same great high school experience. my notl includes niagara district and wouldnt be the same with out it. Please leave NDSS open for the sake of the High School Arts Program, and if you do close it down, it would be wise to make a JK-12th school rather than to make several new schools. Comming to NOTL from Toronto was certainly a BIG change. Going into highschool is intimidating for everyone, however NDSS was a smooth transition, I found friends immediately and found teachers who both inspired and taught me valubale skills in which i still use today. Most big highschools have problems of bullying and tight circles of mean girls who are unaccepting and are hurtful to outsiders. NDSS was one of the most memorable times of my life and what i learned there both accademically and socially continue to influence me to this day. I am now an honour student at the Ontario College of Art and Deisgn and it was because of NDSS that I was inspired to presue my love of art and design and was inspired and encouraged to go on that path. I feel that NDSS is a truly a one of a kind school that should be celebrated and embraced in our town and throughout the DSBN not closed forever. I truly value my 4 years at district and will continue to for the rest of my life. My notl includes NDSS. Please keep our school open for future generations to come! Email address : amanda_billark@hotmail.com I currently do not have any children attending either an elementary or high school. This certainly does not exclude my vote seeing as I my children will be attending school in the near future, and I would like them to attend a school in their community. Keep NDSS!!! I want my children to go there, it was an amazing school to attend highschool. I talk with my new friends from toronto at school and I feel I had the best highschool experience compared to everyone else. A smaller school allowed for becoming friends with everyone, I don't remeber there being groups, everyone was just friends with everyone. The teachers new everyone and it was so comfortable. I think they should add classes, and maybe religon or worship classes only because I feel that is a very big reason people were leaving NDSS and going to St.Catharines I am a graduate of NDSS, as well I have a son and two nephews who I would love to keep their education here in Niagara, and I dread having to ship them off on a bus to St. Cath/N. Falls for that education. I agree that the school needs to be re-constructed and renamed, and I hope the high school remain open for years to come. Please keep NDSS open! NDSS is the only high school in the NOTL area now. It would cost the government more to bus the students in to St. Catharines to school everyday than to keep it open. PLUS, its part of NOTL's history!! I think it's an amazing school as it is right now, I don't understand why other people don't see that and I'm not quite sure how to make them see how truly awesome it is. I have a son attending Niagara Distirict. He goes to school with kids he went to Nursery school with, played soccer with and went to Beavers with. There is a lot to be said for a small community school where everyone knows each other. The kids whose parents force them to go to school outside of the town are missing out and now our kids will to. My children attend Eden and drive every day, so "free" bussing is not why we chose Eden. So-called "free" bussing would not and did not influence our decision in choosing a high school. Christian leadership and a good education is why they chose Eden. It makes me sick and sad to think of NDSS closing and I am not even personally affected. What a joke for some to even think that a community the size of Niagara (and Virgil and St. David’s etc) doesn’t need it’s own highschool. I loved the experience of going to a small highschool and knowing almost all the kids in our grade and the grades above and below us. The turnout at the reunion was a testament to the fact that so many people benefited from that school not in spite of its size but because of it. I hope your efforts are successful! NDSS is a good school as is. If only parents and prospective students would realize this there would be no problem. I spent 4 good years there and I miss it terribly. I believe for the school to be sustainable it must first be able to offer a full range of university prep courses on site which they currently cannot do. I do not feel that on-line courses provide as good of an education as an on site instructor and this would sway me to look at other schools. NDSS was a great school for our children. They attended from 2000 to 2006 and were able to participate in extracurricular activities as well as take the courses they needed for college and university. The bus ride was short unlike busing to Niagara Falls or St. Catharines. Eden students from N-O-T-L should be paying for busing. I don't know how a school like Eden can promote itself as an alternative school in a public funded board. If the parents of Eden students want a religious education for their children, they should be paying for their own school. Niagara District cannot close, I have attended this school all 4 years of high school and i do not have one bad thing to say. The teachers are amazing and everyone is like family. You don't get that at the larger schools. NOTL needs a high school, shipping us to other cities is not fair. SAVE NDSS. Eden should not be a "public" school. Students going there should be paying for bus service as they do on the west end of St. Catharines. NOTL should be designated as a NDSS zone only. what is a community without a local high school, what will happen to our property values!!!where is the money from the sales of the school properties going to! why are we paying taxes for education if our kids do not have a school to go to. It looks like all the goverment wants is an adult community in NOTL, not intrested in building for a future that involves kids living in town.rather than a new community centre or new music festival would not a school be a 1st priority.enter comments here! keep the school open! Please its such a great school! This school is great! please do not close the school. The reason kids go to the St. kitts schools in the first place is because NDSS is out-dated. If you update it and make it look like a worthwhile school like the rest of the town....people will go there. Anyone that has gone there become wonderful adults. Smaller classes and a more intimate school is wonderful. Allows for closer bonds and better learning. remember the $8million that went into the Collegiate because those on committee were former grads, etc. Too bad the school board does just what they want. Its time for revolution, but how? I strongly feel that a community high school is very important. Not only was I a student at NDSS but my daughter is to. My two younger children are also planning to further their education at NDSS. I think that this school will, and does provide everything they need to make a healthy career choice. I also think that all Niagara students should stay in Niagara. Not be bused all the way to St. Catharines or Niagra Falls. I dont think the parents of students that attend St. Catharines schools, would appertiate it if they had to bus their kids to Niagara. I dont think that free busing should be allowed. If parents want their children to attend school out of their area, then they can drive them there themselves. Our children deserve the best in education, and i strongly believe that NDSS can achieve these academic nessesities. I really hope that our community will do the best we can to keep this wonderful school NDSS is the only arts school left in the district and i would be extremely upset if it closed. i love NDSS and wouldnt give it up for the world if it closed i would probably move back to my old town because i would have no school 2 go 2 With possible closure looming for over 10 yrs I feel many parents have looked to the alternatives because they felt their child would have to switch schools anyway in the event of a closure. The school facility has not been updated because of this possible closure. It is time to put some funds into the High School and get this review behind us. Give NDSS a chance to thrive!It is and will continue to be a great school! Perhaps board should offer scholarship $incentive to children graduating NDSS to help boost enrolment They better keep this school open! It's what NOTL needs!!! I went to NDSS for all 4 years of high school and it was an amazing experience. Having the DNA arts program was very important to me and greatly improved my learning experience. I love NDSS! With possible closure looming for over 10 yrs I feel many parents have looked to the alternatives because they felt their child would have to switch schools anyway in the event of a closure. The school facility has not been updated because of this possible closure. It is time to put some funds into the High School and get this review behind us. Give NDSS a chance to thrive!It is and will continue to be a great school! The DSBN needs to look at NOTL as a system of schools, and use all available resources to strenghen the system as a whole rather than individual parts. All available resources include land, capital, operational funding, municipal resources and infrastructure. They need to apply principles of smart growth to move from the old demographics (lots of baby boom children to educate) to the new (fewer children). This situation exists all over North America, and the wisest use of resources is community-based consolidation. I no longer have children in high school, but I do have a grandchild on the way and know that they will be living in this community. It's just nice knowing that your child can attend school in the community they live in. The deficiencies in enrolment and lack of capital investment are a direct result of board policies that have drained our high school of its most precious resource - students! I suggest that the DSBN explore Eden's role within our declining enrolment structure, and consider re-amalgamating that student population in the revitalized NDSS through creative programming. If the DSBN had made the repairs to this school when they were needed, instead of letting it run down, they wouldn't be looking to close the school. If you live in Niagara-on-the-Lake, you attend Niagara-on-the-Lake schools. If you want to attend school in St. Catharines go live in St. Catharines. I attended Niagara District when there was over a thousand students we still got a very good education. It makes more sense to keep this school open rather than to close it and have to build a new one 20 years down the road. A high school is a necessity in every community, especially one the size of Niagara which will only continue to grow. What a crime to close this important community center for all area students. This is a High School, not a country club. More NOTL parents should stop promoting their kids to go to schools outside of NOTL and start trying to improve the school that is there. NDSS was a great experience for me. If you close NDSS, you are closing the communities heart. We have all passed through NDSS over our lives giving us as a community a common link. This link thus connects our pasts, preventing us from forgetting our roots and who we are. Cyril J. Donnelly, M.Sc., NDSS Class of 2000. If you close NDSS, you are closing the communities heart. We have all passed through NDSS over our lives giving us as a community a common link. This link thus connects our pasts, preventing us from forgetting our roots and who we are. Cyril J. Donnelly, M.Sc., NDSS Class of 2000. I LOVE NDSS! KEEP IT OPEN! :) look at all the accomplishments that NDSS has achieved in the last few years!!! This school has been a home for so many kids. The staff and students become apart of your life. They become family to you, this is why we shouldn'y close the school. NDSS is not about who is popular or who is rich or poor, its about making life long friend and learning about who you are as a person and there is no better staff to help you reach for your dreams no matter what they are. I am proud to have graduated from NDSS, and if i could of done it all over again, i wouldnt have changed a thing. Niagara District is a community secondary school. Its closure would be a great loss to this area since the property would probably be sold and developed. As it stands now, this school and the property belong to our community of Niagara on the lake. In order for our children to attend, we need to see strict discipline and high moral and academic standards. Eden is a perfect example of what we'd like to see NDSS as. we are residents of notl and feel that this should be the school of choice for all public schools. My daugther is currently the only girl to attend ndss next year as a gr9 from Virgil school. Most of here friends are attending eden- and not all are of a mennonite faith- they are simply following friends. This should not be allowed when there is a local high school to support. Where are the parents to say that ndss is the high school they are to attend instead of collapsing and letting their children dictate where they want to go to school based on a best friends choice. A stable, vital and vibrant community requires not only a high school but elementary feeder schools also. Without both, there is no incentive for young families with children to locate in Niagara on the Lake. The long term consequences of the closure of either the high school or the elementary system are the rapid aging of the population and the development of an unsustainable economy. The DSBN needs to stop using population demographics as an excuse for their mismanagement and resulting failure to maintain enrolment in the public school board when in fact the Catholic secondary schools in St. Catharines are under review due to excess enrolment. Much of this enrolment comes from NOTL. The Ont. Liberals need to recognize their hypocrisy and eliminate the Catholic faith-based school system and fall in line with the directives repeatedly issued against Ontario by the United Nations re. religious discrimination A school is bricks and mortar. An education is what's learned inside. It bothers me that I keep hearing "I can't make my kid go to ND, they wouldn't go there in a million years!" I think this attitude is what's keeping people away. I went to ND, and consider myself fortunate enough to continue living in Niagara. I want my kids to go to ND, and appreciate everything that comes with the small town atmosphere. I think people should get a look at the conditions of the neighbourhoods and schools in Toronto before they jump all over NDSS. Students should not be allowed to go to different schools just because their friends are there. Also, I think people would stop sending their kids to Eden if they had to pay $1000 to bus them there. It may have been promised to be free, but how long should that continue if it's wrong? Busing kids to St. Catharines adds toxins to the environment, and is a waste of resources that could be better spent elsewhere. I believe in a good local school that provides strong core programs to give high school students a well-rounded experience before limiting their selection at the University level. The board has to realize that this is a COMMUNITY school. There are no other High Schools near by, as in St. Catharines and Niagara FAlls where the High Schools are about 5 miles apart. The teenagers have to stay in Niagaro a to keep the life in this town, and to continue it's growth in the future.
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Would friends of NDSS support building at the Virgil site if they still didn't want ND to be rebuilt? In other words, what if the trustees come back and say let's close ND, and build the Virgil/butler school at the ND site.
Not only is children's education on the line, children also need to feel welcome, nurtured, in their own home, their own community. It reflects positively on their self-worth, self-achievement, productiveness, individuality, respect for themselves and others. // Niagara District Secondary School will help provide this stable environment so they do not feel isolated, by being bused, or a sense of being punished, for the lack of perspective, from the various adults involved, with their education. // A high percentage of student success coupled with student's past and present love for NDSS should have been a guarantee for longevity, of their beloved school, yet a slow, uncared for deterioration of the facility has instead brought about a foreboding for the past 10 years. A threat of closure acts as a guillotine blade hovering in mid-air over NDSS forbidding access to all except the most devoted students. Therefore the viable number of students required to keep the school operational has invariably dwindled. // An upgraded or new secondary school facility would predictably start to flourish within 5 years, re-establishing its popularity, instead of dread, and the easy atmosphere for learning and promoting personal expression that has always endured at Niagara District would continue, into the future. // Therefore, the so-called 'free money' that actually comes from the taxpayers, that would be squandered for busing and bus maintenance, should instead be funnelled for use at NDSS. // Whatever the fiscal crunch, the final decision must favour the present and future generations of students for Niagara-on-the-Lake's own Niagara District Secondary School. It would indeed be shameful that a town of Niagara-on-the-Lake's size and reputation was also known for its inability to educate their own children, beyond the primary school level!
It is very important for the youth to be a influence in the community they live in. To be able to make a positive contribution, to give back. It is important for our youth to be part of the team - community - young and youth, parent and ederly interacting with each other, working together, playing together to enhance the life in our community. The highschool students add enthusiasm and vigour to the community, they represent fun, challenge, questions, new ideas. They become an example and mentors to the younger generation. They can bring about a positive change for the future of Niagara on the Lake-- Taking the highschool away is like chasing the youth out of Niagara, their activities, will start centering more around the city, and will their roots may loose strength. If we show that we don't want a school in Niagara these kids may not be as committed to Niagara on the Lake. Highschool is about much more than just learning from text books, its also about interaction with the community, clubs, buisness, industry, institutions, heritage, families and friends. Please keep the youth here. We (Niagara on the Lake community) need them! Without them is like amputating a very important part of our whole. We ARE capable of acheiving a solution to this challenge - we should not take the easy way out - the easy way is to close the school.
Academic research clearly demonstrates that community-based schooling is best for all students from JK-12. Attendance is better, graduation rates are higher, and post-secondary entrance rates are higher. Also, teachers and parents report greater satisfaction. The kids also have higher self-esteem, more self-confidence, and have a sense of belonging and community pride.
I have sent 2 of my 3 children to NDSS - one to graduate this year, one graduated in 2004.Both have done extremely well and with some creativity were able to get all the courses they required/wanted. I have every intention to send my last child - who will attend in the 2009/2010 year. The thought of bussing her out of isn't something that I want to do. Huge waste of valuable time.
I would love to be able to send my 10-year old to a junior high school located on the NDSS site. I like the idea of shared facilities, and being able to stay on site with all her friends to start grade 9. I don't agree AT ALL with the notion that younger children sharing a site with older children will lead to the younger kids being currupted. Every single one of our children will be a teen in a few short years. We need to teach them to make good decisions for themsleves. We need to give them healthy teen role models and NDSS is full of those! Certainly there are always a few misguided teens who get into trouble, but they are the exception not the norm. Especially if a single campus will mean a viable long-term solution for K-12 education in NOTL, I am all for it.
NDSS had such a huge positive impact on my life! Please keep it open so other children can have the same positive experience that myself and my friends all had
The Ont. Liberals $66M funding of their Community Use of Schools program have endorsed community schools to become the heart of their neighborhood - force the Liberals & DSBN to prove it! The elected trustees of the DSBN must enforce community school boundaries and if necessary change their policy to support this!The Ont. Liberals need to be politically attacked to live up to their rhetoric from the last provincial election and force the DSBN to eliminate public funding of faith-based schools by closing Eden!
My daughter will be starting school in NOTL (St. Davids) in 3 years...we moved here because it is a small community, and had access to small community schools. We want her to be able to attend high school in her own community, without having to suffer long bus rides (which would also restrict her access to extra-curricular activities, which we feel are very important). Other communities are able to run alternative schools with small populations...why is that not a possible model for NOTL?
As an alumni '87 I have decided to raise my kids here. NDSS gave me that opportunity to far exceed my goals and created a learning community that was blended from 9-13. I want my kids to have that experience, where they are not lost in a crowd, know their teachers and respect them, and bond to a fantasitic community that will shape who they will become in their future. Small communities foster a far greater learning experience that goes beyond the text, it develops individuals into well rounded citizens!!
I would really support a community type aquatic centre in a new building. This would give the school the opportunity to be more inviting to many students in the area as well as it being more communtiy friendly. I also feel university and french courses need to be address, so as we don't lose students past grade 10 and we can offer the same as city schools.