Friends of Niagara District Secondary School are ready to make their voices heard at a special District School Board of Niagara meeting on Monday.
It will be one of the final meetings before the board decides for or against a modern education centre on the current high school's site. The meeting is being held to accommodate the surplus of delegations regarding the issue.
The proposed site would accommodate Colonel John Butler and Virgil students, as those schools would be closed, as well as Niagara-on-the-Lake high school students.
The alternative is closing down Niagara District Secondary School and build a new elementary school.
Taysha Palmer, acting executive director of Friends of NDSS, said her group is optimistic the board will go ahead with the school that could allow elementary and secondary school students to share resources.
She added that 90-100 per cent of schools with similar set-ups retain their students through high school.
The focus for Friends is to convince Virgil Public School parents, as well as Colonel John Butler parents, to support the new school.
They are hoping to bring thousands of individual petitions signed by the majority of Virgil and Colonel John Butler parents to the board meeting to demonstrate that parents intend to enroll their students at the revitalized school.
Already they have over 4,000 signatures supporting the high school in NOTL.
The organization is planning Rally and Ride for Monday -- a free barbecue with an alumni band on the night of the board's meeting.
It is taking place at NDSS from 4-6 p.m., with the buses leaving at 5:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. to take supporters to the board meeting.
Palmer said there has been an intense community interest.
Bill Morrison Jr., the Friends' student representative, has recruited 30 students to canvas the community with petitions.
Sue Rumsey, a Virgil Public School parent, was a delegate at the last DSBN board meeting. She had collected over 100 signatures in support of the centre.
It was one person's effort in just a few hours, she said, encouraging others to do the same with the petitions in what she calls, "pay it forward."
Her idea at the meeting was that every person who signed a petition would take a petition and have it signed, too.
She said the initiative would be similar to a system that Oprah developed in order to get as many signatures as possible.
Friends of NDSS Rally and Ride bus tickets are $2 for adults and $1 for kids, just to cover the cost of the buses, and can be purchased at the door.
Community weighs options on Friends of NDSS proposal gearing up for May 26 board meeting
By Eddie Chau, Niagara This Week, May 23, 2008
"I'm going to play sports and go out with boys. Me and my boyfriend will go to Niagara District," Jessica said as she and her friends held up a poster with drawings of how they see themselves years from now. The concept of having Niagara District Secondary School was on the minds of the Virgil and Colonel John Butler students and the more than 50 people who turned up at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre to give feedback on the proposal for a campus education centre on the NDSS site. A conceptual drawing was revealed to those in attendance, including parents, politicians and current NDSS students. The drawing revealed plans for a two-storey, 42,000 square-foot secondary school, a two-storey, 27,000 square-foot elementary school, and a 42,000 square foot community centre between the two facilities. The schools would share a common football field, track, baseball diamond and soccer field. The estimated total cost of the project, which also includes costs for building an addition to St. Davids elementary to house Laura Secord students and upgrade for Parliament Oak is $16.5 million. "Up until this point there was no financial framework provided. Many agreed to having a new elementary school and high school on one site," said Jamie King, Friends of NDSS member and moderator for the information session. "The school board's recommendation is a departure from the Accommodation Review Committee's recommendation. What we have here (the campus proposal), is what the community wants." Those in attendance split into 10 tables where they discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the proposal. Parent Mike Dunn said having the campus would offer special programing to NOTL students as well as attract students from other areas. The one concern Dunn's group had was what would happen to the schools left empty by the campus. Mark Hicks said the new campus would create a 90 to 100 per cent retention rate of students in Niagara-on-the-Lake. However, he said a possible weakness would be funding the project and the time line to build the facility. Coun. Jim Collard said the campus would build community pride and set an example as a world-class education facility. "The only weakness I can see is that trying to please everyone (in the community) is like herding cats," Collard said. School trustees Gary Atamanyk, Lora Campbell and Lynn Campbell attended the meeting to gather information they could use in their June 10 vote. Lynn Campbell said she was impressed by how the community is working hard at finding a solution to the closure of NDSS. "This is a lot of information and it's my job to take it all and make a decision," Campbell said. "There's a lot of organization here. They're all thinking about the future." The next step for Friends of NDSS is a rally outside the DSBN Education Centre in St. Catharines this Monday before the special DSBN meeting for the accommodation review at 6 p.m. A free family barbecue will kick off the rally at NDSS at 4 p.m. Buses will leave NDSS at 5:15 p.m. and arrive in St. Catharines by 6 p.m. A late bus will also leave at 5:45 p.m. Tickets for the bus ride are $1 for students and $2 for adults. Tickets are available at Mori Garden Centre. THE COSTS OF BUILDING SCHOOL PROJECTS - Addition and renovation of St. Davids, $2.4 million - New elementary school on NDSS campus, $8.2 million - New senior school on NDSS campus, $8.9 million - Demolition of old NDSS, $500,000 - Gym for senior school, $1.5 million - Gym for elementary school, $1.5 million - New 600-seat theatre, $1.5 million - Shared library, $500,000 - Facility renewal of Parliament Oak, $1.2 million - Sale price of Laura Secord, $800,000 - Sale of Virgil, $1.8 million - Sale of Col. John Butler, $600,000 - Funds from Ministry of Education prohibitive to repair, $6.6 million
Parents and community members got their first look at what a shared site for elementary and secondary school could look like at Tuesday’s meeting organized by the Friends of NDSS.
Separate buildings, possibly with a community centre dividing them, would ensure students are separated indoors and out, parents heard.
The plan, organizers of the meeting at the community centre explained, carries out the recommendations of the recent accommodation review committee with only one exception: a new elementary school would be built on the NDSS site. The committee left the location of a new school open, but the board staff report has suggested it be on the same property as Virgil Public School, to accommodate Virgil and Col. John Butler students.
The campus development is being supported by the Friends of NDSS and the town council, who hope to convince the trustees it will benefit all students and help increase the enrollment at NDSS, with a new building for about 500 to 550 students.
The benefits of using the NDSS property, as outlined by those attending Tuesday’s meeting, include more greenspace, with enough room for a football and soccer fields, a ball diamond, tennis courts, a playground area, and safe entry and parking for buses.
Specialty teachers, opportunities for senior students in mentoring and leadership in both sports and academics, a shared gymnasium and possibly an auditorium, and an opportunity to share resources for all ages with a community centre on site are just some of the strengths of the campus concept presented.
But the retention of high-school aged students—keeping NOTL kids in their own community and allowing them the opportunity of after-school sports and extracurricular activities without busing them to other cities—was perhaps the most important benefit mentioned—that, and the possibility of attracting students from other schools, all of which will mean increased programming and long-term viability.
Parent commitment to NDSS through support of the campus concept, and a study commissioned by the town to look at future demographics, will be needed to convince trustees to keep the school open, town administrator Lew Holloway said.
Without that commitment, which will bring with it increased enrollment, the board will have difficulty justifying the expense of a new high school, Holloway said.
Send an email to lordmayor@notl.org to express your opinion about the campus school, call or write trustees, talk to friends and neighbours and attend the May 26 rally at the board offices—visit www.friendsofndss.com for more information. Buses will leave NDSS at 5:15, after a barbecue beginning at 4 p.m.
Grade 12 student Billy Morrison wants to graduate from Niagara District Secondary School, but he doesn’t want to be one of the last graduating classes.
He fears, however, if a decision to close NDSS is made this spring, those who are registered to begin next September will likely jump ship.
“A decision to keep NDSS open would increase the school population, or at least stabilize it,” he said.
And Derek Beatty, in Grade 10 at NDSS, not only wants to finish, he wants his sister in Grade 6 to be able to attend the local high school.
These teens plus a strong contingent of parents, students and community members fighting for their community high school were at the Virgil Stampede this weekend to drum up support for their cause.
Their efforts were two-fold, said Morrison.
First, they were asking people to sign a petition that supports keeping a local high school. That was easy.
Then, they were asking people to endorse the campus concept favoured by the Friends of NDSS and the town council, their solution to keeping the high school open by also building a new elementary school on the high school site.
Friends of NDSS member Laura Hernder says the support for the campus concept from parents who attended the stampede, and who stopped to sign petitions, was strong.
“I keep hearing about the number of people who are opposed,” she said, “but I don’t know where they are.”
Although stampede organizers usually steer clear of anything that could be considered political, the Friends of NDSS were given permission to set up tables at entrances to the two-day event and to hand out buttons. They were not allowed to sell anything, but they could accept donations, said Morrison.
Several of the students were there all day both days.
“I’m here because I will do whatever it takes,” said Morrison. “I’m here for future students. I want everybody to have the same choices, the same great experiences I’ve had here.”
Morrison says the town is always described as unique, and NDSS represents one of the reasons why—it is so different from larger city high schools.
“We seriously have a sense of family here. We’re a separate community and it feels great to be here, everybody together. I would never have thought we would have to think about going somewhere else. NDSS has none of the problems people talk about—no drugs, no alcohol. We just have a great bunch of kids, great character and great academically. We get more help here from teachers than we ever could at a bigger school. We’re not just numbers, and we have way more opportunities because the school is small.
“I don’t think parents (who are opposed to the campus concept) are looking far enough down the road,” said Morrison.
“As a student I wouldn’t want to be bused to a place I’m not familiar with, with no opportunity for extra curricular activities or a part-time job, and no time for a personal life.”
Derek Beatty went to St. Davids Public School before moving on to NDSS, and he has a sister still at St. Davids.
“She has a close group of friends. I can’t imagine her and her friends going from a small community school like St. Davids to a big high school in some other city, where she won’t know anybody. I want everyone in NOTL to be able to graduate from their community high school.”
There is also an “incredible amount of talent” at the local school, something the trustees seem to be missing, says Morrison, pointing to the school choirs who just won silver and gold medals at a music competition in Ottawa, against much larger schools from across the country.
“The talent and skill, in arts, academics and athletics, is amazing. Even with the few sports we have left, we do well—swimming, golf, volleyball, badminton. The best of the best come from NDSS. We just have to convince the trustees of that.”
Lew Holloway told a crowded council chamber that when he and Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs met with the director and chair recently, they left no doubt about the future of the high school, but perked up a little when talk turned to a campus concept—an elementary school paid for by the province on the grounds of Niagara District Secondary School.
Holloway was responding to a plea from Save Our Schools representative Daniel Feuer, who was at council to ask them to support accommodation review committee recommendations to keep the high school and neighbourhood elementary schools.
Holloway said it is clear that option, discarded by board staff and at one point in the process endorsed by council, is no longer on the table.
When the trustees debate the future of the high school, they will be debating the board’s senior staff report that recommends closure of NDSS.
As Councillor Jim Collard pointed out, municipal politicians seldom ignore the advice of their senior staff, and when they do, it usually leads to trouble, and often added expense.
“We generally lose when we fight our own staff,” he said.
There is no reason to think school board trustees operate differently, he suggested to Feuer, who wanted council to drop the option they are backing, an elementary school on the NDSS site for Virgil and Butler students.
Feuer maintains the majority of parents continue to support the accommodation review committee recommendations in favour of neighbourhood elementary schools and a high school, and that if 15,000 people go to the board meetings and offer a united front, the board will listen.
“This is the only educationally sound solution. The ARC reflects how the community feels and it keeps the current configuration of education intact – separate elementary and high schools,” he said.
Since the release of the board staff report, neighbour and friend have turned against each other, he said, but the only thing that has changed is that the board “has put one more option on the table,” he said.
“Why now, all of a sudden are people running around like chickens with their heads cut off?”
Collard wasn’t ready to dismiss that as an insignificant change, saying there is a different playing field now “and an uphill battle” to convince trustees to keep NDSS open—that one more option is the closure of the town’s only school.
But Feuer said a renovated high school facility, at a cost of about $2 million, with guaranteed programming, is all it will take to save the school.
“Our youth need courses. Post secondary institutions do not ask how shiny or new your high school is. They ask what courses you took and your marks.”
Councillor Dennis Dick had the last word on the subject before council voted to support the option to locate an elementary school on NDSS property.
After 10 months of following the process, “we have tried to find out how to keep the high school and we have done that. That’s what we are doing with this recommendation. Let’s put it forward and let parents comment on it,” he said.
“Here at this council table we have to be visionaries. That’s our job, and we don’t do it often enough. We have to do what’s best for the majority of people. It’s so simple to me.”
The priority these days is saving the high school, even if it takes relocating the new elementary school to do it.
Council members, taken to task months ago for discussing a shared-campus concept, were back at it Monday night, voting to support bringing the amalgamation of Virgil and Col. Butler schools to the NDSS property in an effort to boost future enrolment.
Presented with four options by Chief Administrative Officer Lew Holloway, council voted to publicly champion a rebuilt NDSS facility with revitalized programming, and a relocated Virgil elementary school to house Butler and Virgil students.
Since the ARC recommendations initially supported by council called for combining those two elementary schools on an unspecified site and revitalizing the high school to attract new students, Councillor Terry Flynn said Monday night’s decision was in line with council’s earlier support for the ARC recommendations.
“We supported one new school in Virgil,” he said. “We didn’t say what site.”
Subsequently, the school board appears to want the new elementary school on the current Virgil school site. Flynn said all the town would really be doing is asking the school board to relocate the new building.
Holloway said it was important for council to be as decisive as possible, to best represent their decision to the school board.
“If we don’t take a strong position about one of these options, the chances of NDSS closing are almost certain,” he said.
Taysha Palmer, spokesperson for Friends of NDSS, came to pitch council on the concept of an education centre, moving at least one of the town’s elementary schools to the high school site to maximize student retention.
“Other Ontario school boards report 90-100 per cent retention when junior and senior schools are co-located,” Palmer said.
Holloway thanked Friends of NDSS members for helping him write his report for council.
NDSS students have joined the fight, forming themselves into the Trojan Army–that message on the back of pro-NDSS shirts came at the request of students–and responding to a student-oriented version of the satisfaction surveys offered.
NDSS principal Mike Cockburn said he’s stayed out of campaigning, but expressed pride in how students and community members were handling the situation.
“They’re bright, intelligent kids who are concerned about their own futures and the future of schooling in NOTL,” he said.
“What the board listens to are reasoned, rationed explanations. They aren’t going to be swayed by signs, they aren’t going to be swayed by protests, they aren’t going to be swayed by songs.”
Cockburn said the single-campus solution is worth considering again.
He denied the DSBN has issued any sort of gag order for school faculty on the subject.
“Basically what they told us was when you’re expressing your opinions about the ARC process, remember the DSBN is your employer,” he said.
“Teachers are talking about this all the time.”
Staff have been invited to give delegations to the board in defense of their school, and Cockburn said he’d offered to speak on their behalf.
Council will be speaking up on the high school’s behalf, too, something Councillor Jim Collard expressed eloquently.
“We can only be concerned about the high school,” he said. “That trumps everything. We have to be concerned with that decision this evening. There may be some residents who may not like this, but I hope they’ll understand that we have to represent the high school at this point.”
Bonnie Heuving sees things differently.
The Virgil parent council president sat on ARC and says the theory of student retention is implausible at best.
In order to meet the 400-student mark with the number of students currently enrolled in Grades 3-7, NDSS would need to retain 100 per cent.
“Of the 48 students graduating from Virgil this year, only 13 are going to NDSS,” she said.
Heuving said the current plan is that her four children will attend NDSS when the time comes, though she said realistically, she expects that to change.
“Some people’s grandfathers built Eden with their bare hands,” she said. “That’s not going to change in a few years, that’s going to take generations to change.”
The May 26 public comment session–the only one NOTL residents have been allowed despite promises of more, Palmer says–is a Monday night.
Council, who regularly meets Mondays, voted unanimously to reschedule their meeting to attend.
Niagara-on-the-Lake town council is sticking with its decision to support a campus concept for elementary and high school students, despite some opposition from elementary school parents.
Two parents addressed town council and an overflowing public gallery Monday: one in favour of housing students from Colonel John Butler and Virgil school at the high school site, and the other supporting the retention of three neighbourhood elementary schools.
Jamie King, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of about 20 parents with children at Virgil School, told council relocating students from the two schools to the Niagara District Secondary School site would have many benefits, including shared facilities and more greenspace.
"This is a small price to pay (to save the high school)," he said. "New facilities would retain and attract students."
Daniel Feuer, whose children attend Parliament Oak School, argued against the campus concept and urged council to support the recommendations made by the accommodation review committee in March. The committee had recommended that a new, smaller high school be built and three elementary schools, out of the current five, be kept open. However, board staff recently recommended that the high school be closed.
Feuer said the elementary school issue "has turned neighbours against one another. The organic fertilizer has hit the fan."
He suggested that NDSS be renovated rather than rebuilt, and money be spent on improved programming to attract more students.
Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs is asking parents to let the town know what they think about the schools issue by e-mailing him at lordmayor@notl.org.
The results of the survey will be provided to school board trustees before a decision is made, which is expected to be June 10.
An Open Letter to the District School Board of Niagara Board of Trustees
from Jamie King
May 14, 2008
Dear Chairman Maves and Trustee (Lynn) Campbell,
I attended the DSBN Board Meeting last night (May 13, 2008) and enjoyed having the opportunity to sit through several delegations made to the Trustees by a variety of individuals and groups.
It is important for you to know that in one of the delegations last night, that from, Nancy Shulman, Dorothy Wiens and Bonnie Heuving, you received erroneous information.
My name is Jamie King and I am the parent of a Virgil student. My wife Rebecca Kamin sits on the Parents Council at Virgil School.
I was surprised to hear Ms. Shulman introduce herself last night by stating that the “school communities are united in their preference for neighbourhood-based JK-8 schooling.” Ms. Heuving then went on to introduce herself as a “Parent Councillor to communicate where the Virgil community stands.” In each case the presenter then went on to elaborate upon their participation in the ARC, and our parent community’s lack of opposition to the plan created by the ARC.
I should be clear – I personally endorse the ARC recommendations Ms. Shulman and Ms. Heuving refer to. I see nothing wrong with the recommendations. What I have become concerned about though (as well as many other parents) is the DSBN Administration’s selective interpretation of these recommendations, and their recommendation to close the local high school.
Since the DSBN Administration’s tabling of the Report of the Board Administration on April 8th, 2008, I have effectively retracted my endorsement of the ARC recommendation. I have been pleased more recently to support my Town’s endorsement of the campus concept that has been developed with the Friends of NDSS. I am not alone.
Ms. Heuving’s endorsement of the ARC’s recommendations is understandable considering the important role she played in the formation of its conclusions. In light of our community’s recent reaction to the Board Administration’s report though, her suggestion that as Parent Councillor she can “communicate where the Virgil community stands” is not at all accurate. Bonnie Heuving is Virgil School’s outgoing Parents Council Chair, and has made no efforts to poll fellow Parents Council members on where the Council’s opinions lie on these matters – my wife included.
I respectfully suggest to the Board that the minutes being prepared for last night’s meeting should reflect that Ms. Heuving’s opinions referring to the feelings of the Virgil community are simply her own, and do not represent the views of the Virgil community (or, by suggestion, the Parents Council as her position as Councillor and outgoing Chair entitles her to speak on behalf of). Besides clarifying this matter within the minutes, I believe that the Board of Trustees should also be made aware of this correction.
The claims that Ms. Heuving shared with the Trustees last night – purportedly on behalf of Virgil parents - are not only untrue, they are misleading. My wife who sits on the Parent’s Council at Virgil School informs me such a stance has never been discussed, and I know that many Virgil parents in attendance last night were bewildered to hear Ms. Heuving make several claims to represent their views.
Let me be clear that I respect Ms. Heuving’s right to assert personal opinions as an ARC member and as a concerned parent. As a parent in her school and as a neighbour within her community I think it is admirable she is expressing herself passionately with regards to her educational views. This being said, I respectfully insist that it is abundantly clear to anyone within our community that Ms. Heuving has no authority or mandate to make comments on behalf of any other group – particularly the educational views of Virgil School parents. Frankly, the only group with an accurate gauge on the feelings of our community right now is our Town Council.
I spoke with Virgil Principal Bruce Pratt last week to respond to related comments Ms. Heuving made, and he assured me that Ms. Heuving had no authority to speak on behalf of the views of Virgil parents. He mentioned to me he would discuss this with her. Furthermore, I spoke at my Town Council meeting this past Monday night (May 11, 2008) on behalf of Virgil families who are concerned about the politicization of our school, and those who purport to speak on behalf of Virgil parents.
The DSBN’s Communications Officer – Brett Sweeney – informed me by email on May 8, 2008 that the “DSBN Board feels that schools are, and should remain, learning environments free from political messaging.”
Simply put – no one, including the DSBN, Save our Schools or Friends of NDSS can currently claim to accurately understand or represent the views of Virgil parents – specifically - right now. To illustrate this fact – quite clearly – I point to the fact that each interest group (including the DSBN) is currently conducting surveys in attempts to gauge the interests of the Virgil parent community.
For Ms. Heuving to suggest as the Outgoing Chair of Virgil School’s Parent’s Council that she has the ability to communicate any “united” stance (or any stance at all) on behalf of the Virgil community is false. The historical record of last night’s board meeting should not include such erroneous statements that I must also point out were neither challenged nor clarified by any member of the Board of Trustees.
As Virgil parents we have an expectation that the DSBN and its Board will respect our request as a community to not be misrepresented in such a public and respected forum. As such, I have copied my Lord Mayor and Town Council to indicate my displeasure with this situation.
I hope the Board realizes that my concerns and request for clarity on the part of Ms. Heuving are reasonable, and related to the fact the Ms. Heuving made claims that may have impacted the opinions of several members of the Board of Trustees. These Trustees must recognize that Ms. Heuving – in no way – represents any opinion whatsoever regarding the educational views of the Virgil community other than her own.
Trustee Campbell, I trust that you can advocate for my request which I believe is a very reasonable one. Chairman Maves, I hope you will advise me with regards to any additional steps I may need to take as a parent to ensure my community’s views do not continue to be carelessly expressed.
On a final note, I do wish to indicate that I feel a responsibility to speak up as a Virgil parent when I feel Niagara-on-the-Lake’s educational interests are being misrepresented. I wish to echo Sue Rumsey’s heartfelt comments from last night that indicated her sincere concern and sadness. I share her frustration that the DSBN has placed our community in the position where we are attempting to achieve some kind of consensus of opinion in the absence of any meaningful guidance from the DSBN at this stage in your decision-making process.
Sincerely,
Jamie King
A fierce debate has been waged in Niagara-on-the-Lake over whether to close Niagara District School or have it remain open. Presentations to the Niagara District School Board will be held May 13 that will go a long way toward determining whether or not that town of 15,000 people (with the highest projected growth rate in Niagara) will have a high school or not.
The debate from the board's side has been singularly focused on short-term cost savings. They'll tell you it is long-term because they won't have a high school to maintain, but that type of thinking is extremely short-sighted.
Unfortunately, the pro-NDSS side has floated the idea of forcing the many families that have made Eden Christian school their high school educational choice to attend NDSS by eliminating busing to Eden from Niagara District.
Ten years of neglect to both the curriculum and the physical structure of the school have forced some families to make the choice of sending their children to what they think are better high schools elsewhere. It's not fair to disrupt the lives of those families, whatever the reasons for their choice.
Making a decision on the board's own self-fulfilling prophecy seems wrong on every level. On the other hand, it's also not right to eliminate the choice for parents and children to attend NDSS, either - a proper educational facility, that is, with a full curriculum in a safe physical environment.
Families with many generations in Niagara-on-the-Lake and new families (and there'll be more new families), deserve to attend their hometown high school, which is a part of the very fabric that makes a community a community.
The local high school takes children and builds adults. And it builds adults to hopefully become productive members of that community - working, volunteering, coaching and playing. But two hours per day on a school bus puts a burden on the children and parents that we cannot yet put a price on. This can be said for certain.
Choices will have to be made by these families and none of them are good. How many extracurricular activities will they have to take a pass on? If they don't, what extra family stress is associated with the additional running around?
Either way, these children are at an immediate disadvantage. Some won't be able to fully be a part of the school community nor their own community. How, we wonder, can the school board even consider such an unconscionable decision to potentially create disaffected children for the sake of some short-term savings?
It seems to us the long term effects could be potentially disastrous. Having no sense of community sets up some potential problems we already know occur with such disaffection - behavioural problems, drug problems and the like.
Certainly, it's not to say that this will happen to all or maybe any. But why even set the plate for the potential problems? We already know the long-term costs are a heck of a lot more than setting a proper curriculum and fixing up the school. We hope the board will do the right thing for everyone. They have that choice.
If trustees close the school, many families no longer will have a choice. We hope that the DSBN does the right thing
A contingent of Virgil parents and students demonstrated their enthusiasm for town council’s decision to back a new elementary school on the high school property, saying the decision is not only best for their kids, but for the whole community.
Local father Jamie King, a graduate of Niagara District Secondary School with a son now at Virgil and a younger boy “who wishes he could be there with his big brother” encouraged council to continue their support of a provincially-funded elementary school for students now attending Col. John Butler and Virgil public schools, not on the Virgil site as board staff are recommending, but on the 27-acre NDSS property on Niagara Stone Road.
And moving the elementary school will, despite claims to the contrary, help save the high school, he told councillors.
“This is not just an issue about Virgil and Butler kids – this is an issue for our entire community. Let us show some vision, some commitment and some passion to ensure we win this fight for our high school,” he said.
“In Ontario school boards where elementary and high schools are co-located, the retention rate of students entering Grade 9 from an on-site elementary school is listed at 90 to 100 percent.”
Despite being denied an opportunity to reach Virgil parents—both the board and school refused him the right to distribute a flyer balancing a school letter sent home with what he considers a political agenda—King was able to mobilize parents to fill the council chamber Monday in support of the decision made at last week’s committee meeting and ratified this week by council.
For more than 100 years, Virgil School has been a wonderful place for children to learn, grow and spread their wings, he said.
“Many of us have parents, grandparents, and I am certain - great-grandparents who remember their own experiences in this wonderful community school.”
But it is time to move on, he said.
To counter fears of mixing age groups on the same property, he said the two school populations could be separated through building design, giving students a chance to thrive at both levels.
While parents supporting NDSS have been accused of mounting an argument based on emotion, King says there are compelling reasons for considering the campus concept for Virgil and Butler students, including better, shared facilities, more greenspace and the elimination of displacement of students while the new school is built.
Parents backing a Virgil location cite busing as a concern, but King says Butler students would need to be bused to either site.
A multi-storey building would be unsuitable for the residential Virgil neighbourhood, he added, and while acknowledging the proximity to the seniors’ home and arena for students to visit, said those school outings are just a few times a year.
A combination of new high school, elementary school and community centre on the same site would increase enrolment and programming at the high school, he said.
“New facilities attract and retain students. This is recognized by many colleges and universities within their strategic plans because they need to attract new students – we could learn a lesson from Niagara College, number one in student satisfaction—facility investments are the key to attracting and retaining the best and brightest students, not to mention faculty and staff as well.”
But in return for supporting council’s decision, Virgil parents want to be involved in discussions about the layout and design of the school, and assurance that the town will request busing policies that will support the high school.
Councillors Jack Lowrey and Art Viola were the only dissenters, with Viola saying he wished for more time and more dialogue to reach some compromise. The option as presented will further divide the community, he said.
The town can ask for more time, said Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs, but the best that could do would be a two-week deferral of the board decision, which is expected June 10. The last meeting before the summer recess will be June 24.
Council also supported moving their May 26 council meeting to Tuesday, May 27 so councillors can attend the Monday meeting at the school board, called to give the public a full evening to comment on the recommendations before the board, which include the closure of Niagara District Secondary School.
Burroughs also encouraged parents to let the town know how they feel about an elementary school on NDSS property by emailing him at lordmayor@notl.org.
Lew Holloway told a crowded council chamber that when he and Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs met with the director and chair recently, they left no doubt about the future of the high school, but perked up a little when talk turned to a campus concept—an elementary school paid for by the province on the grounds of Niagara District Secondary School.
Holloway was responding to a plea from Save Our Schools representative Daniel Feuer, who was at council to ask them to support accommodation review committee recommendations to keep the high school and neighbourhood elementary schools.
Holloway said it is clear that option, discarded by board staff and at one point in the process endorsed by council, is no longer on the table.
When the trustees debate the future of the high school, they will be debating the board’s senior staff report that recommends closure of NDSS.
As Councillor Jim Collard pointed out, municipal politicians seldom ignore the advice of their senior staff, and when they do, it usually leads to trouble, and often added expense.
“We generally lose when we fight our own staff,” he said.
There is no reason to think school board trustees operate differently, he suggested to Feuer, who wanted council to drop the option they are backing, an elementary school on the NDSS site for Virgil and Butler students.
Feuer maintains the majority of parents continue to support the accommodation review committee recommendations in favour of neighbourhood elementary schools and a high school, and that if 15,000 people go to the board meetings and offer a united front, the board will listen.
“This is the only educationally sound solution. The ARC reflects how the community feels and it keeps the current configuration of education intact – separate elementary and high schools,” he said.
Since the release of the board staff report, neighbour and friend have turned against each other, he said, but the only thing that has changed is that the board “has put one more option on the table,” he said.
“Why now, all of a sudden are people running around like chickens with their heads cut off?”
Collard wasn’t ready to dismiss that as an insignificant change, saying there is a different playing field now “and an uphill battle” to convince trustees to keep NDSS open—that one more option is the closure of the town’s only school.
But Feuer said a renovated high school facility, at a cost of about $2 million, with guaranteed programming, is all it will take to save the school.
“Our youth need courses. Post secondary institutions do not ask how shiny or new your high school is. They ask what courses you took and your marks.”
Councillor Dennis Dick had the last word on the subject before council voted to support the option to locate an elementary school on NDSS property.
After 10 months of following the process, “we have tried to find out how to keep the high school and we have done that. That’s what we are doing with this recommendation. Let’s put it forward and let parents comment on it,” he said.
“Here at this council table we have to be visionaries. That’s our job, and we don’t do it often enough. We have to do what’s best for the majority of people. It’s so simple to me.”
Council members, taken to task months ago for discussing a shared-campus concept, were back at it Monday night, voting to support bringing the amalgamation of Virgil and Col. Butler schools to the NDSS property in an effort to boost future enrolment.
Presented with four options by Chief Administrative Officer Lew Holloway, council voted to publicly champion a rebuilt NDSS facility with revitalized programming, and a relocated Virgil elementary school to house Butler and Virgil students.
Since the ARC recommendations initially supported by council called for combining those two elementary schools on an unspecified site and revitalizing the high school to attract new students, Councillor Terry Flynn said Monday night’s decision was in line with council’s earlier support for the ARC recommendations.
“We supported one new school in Virgil,” he said. “We didn’t say what site.”
Subsequently, the school board appears to want the new elementary school on the current Virgil school site. Flynn said all the town would really be doing is asking the school board to relocate the new building.
Holloway said it was important for council to be as decisive as possible, to best represent their decision to the school board.
“If we don’t take a strong position about one of these options, the chances of NDSS closing are almost certain,” he said.
Taysha Palmer, spokesperson for Friends of NDSS, came to pitch council on the concept of an education centre, moving at least one of the town’s elementary schools to the high school site to maximize student retention.
“Other Ontario school boards report 90-100 per cent retention when junior and senior schools are co-located,” Palmer said.
Holloway thanked Friends of NDSS members for helping him write his report for council.
NDSS students have joined the fight, forming themselves into the Trojan Army–that message on the back of pro-NDSS shirts came at the request of students–and responding to a student-oriented version of the satisfaction surveys offered.
NDSS principal Mike Cockburn said he’s stayed out of campaigning, but expressed pride in how students and community members were handling the situation.
“They’re bright, intelligent kids who are concerned about their own futures and the future of schooling in NOTL,” he said.
“What the board listens to are reasoned, rationed explanations. They aren’t going to be swayed by signs, they aren’t going to be swayed by protests, they aren’t going to be swayed by songs.”
Cockburn said the single-campus solution is worth considering again.
He denied the DSBN has issued any sort of gag order for school faculty on the subject.
“Basically what they told us was when you’re expressing your opinions about the ARC process, remember the DSBN is your employer,” he said.
“Teachers are talking about this all the time.”
Staff have been invited to give delegations to the board in defense of their school, and Cockburn said he’d offered to speak on their behalf.
Council will be speaking up on the high school’s behalf, too, something Councillor Jim Collard expressed eloquently.
“We can only be concerned about the high school,” he said. “That trumps everything. We have to be concerned with that decision this evening. There may be some residents who may not like this, but I hope they’ll understand that we have to represent the high school at this point.”
Bonnie Heuving sees things differently.
The Virgil parent council president sat on ARC and says the theory of student retention is implausible at best.
In order to meet the 400-student mark with the number of students currently enrolled in Grades 3-7, NDSS would need to retain 100 per cent.
“Of the 48 students graduating from Virgil this year, only 13 are going to NDSS,” she said.
Heuving said the current plan is that her four children will attend NDSS when the time comes, though she said realistically, she expects that to change.
“Some people’s grandfathers built Eden with their bare hands,” she said. “That’s not going to change in a few years, that’s going to take generations to change.”
The May 26 public comment session–the only one NOTL residents have been allowed despite promises of more, Palmer says–is a Monday night.
Council, who regularly meets Mondays, voted unanimously to reschedule their meeting to attend.
Group pitches plan to save school
The Friends of Niagara District Secondary School will propose having Virgil and Colonel John Butler elementary school students in one building, a new high school in another building and a new town community centre in the middle to give trustees another option to closing the 322-student high school, school supporter Taysha Palmer said Wednesday.
The group will also propose a capital revitalization plan for the existing high school to "remove the fear of closure," examining new grade configurations at the school and changing the District School Board of Niagara's busing policy, Palmer said.
"They would only bus students for academic reasons and for extenuating circumstances, not for religious reasons," Palmer said of the pitch.
Niagara District Secondary School, previously studied for closure in 1999, was studied again last year with the formation of an accommodation review committee, which included educators, board staff and community members.
The committee recommended in March building a new, smaller school on the Niagara District property, along with a marketing plan to improve the school's image.
A month later, board staff recommended closing the school, saying a new school would cost $15.5 million and drain the board's capital reserves. Staff also said building a new school would not guarantee more students.
Some high school supporters have been working overtime since then to save the school, Palmer said. "Many people are putting in 30 hours a week on this in addition to their full-time jobs."
Among them is Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs, who attended three high school-related meetings last Thursday. Burroughs told trustees April 22 that town council would do whatever it takes to keep the school open.
Council has donated money to a citizens group seeking legal advice, Burroughs said. A private business also donated $10,000, he said.
But when it comes to the concept of one property for two school populations, reaction is mixed, Burroughs said. He has received several e-mails from elementary school parents vehemently opposed to the idea.
"They felt my comments about saving the high school at any cost meant sacrificing elementary schools," he said. "There are sides who want to save the elementary schools and don't care about the high school. Others want to save the high school. I want both."
Both the accommodation review committee and board report recommended closing Laura Secord and sending its students to a renovated St. Davids school. It recommended closing Colonel John Butler and sending its students to Virgil school. The boundaries of Parliament Oak will be redrawn. That plan has no public opposition.
Thrust into the debate has been Eden High School, a Christian high school in St. Catharines. Currently, 160 Niagara-on-the-Lake teens are bused for free to Eden.
Eden will also make a presentation to the board on the issue May 13, said Fran Cerminara, chairwoman of the school's advisory board. She did not elaborate on the content.
Gary Atamanyk, Pelham/Thorold trustee, said he will listen eagerly to the Friends of NDSS presentation and any others. But he is most interested in proposals that boost the student population, which would boost course offerings, he said.
Atamanyk is skeptical a new busing policy would deter students from attending other schools, particularly with faith-based Eden.
"Parents made those choices to send their kids to that school based on pretty rock-solid reasons," he said. "Stopping the busing won't stop them from going. I see them forming carpools before that happens. They love their school like the people of Niagara District love their school."
Atamanyk said he will make some suggestions for Niagara District himself. "I feel a greater obligation than to just listen."
Niagara-on-the-Lake council will do "whatever it takes" to make sure the town keeps its only high school- "Failure is not an option," its mayor says.
Council is determined to prevent the closure of Niagara District Secondary School, Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs told District School Board of Niagara trustees Tuesday night. Without a high school, the town would have no sense of community, he said.
"Failure is not an option, because failure would be letting down our families and children."
Lord Mayor Burruoghs made the appeal at a DSBN board meeting Tuesday night, speaking against a staff report recommending closure of the 322-student high school. Town council has donated to a citizens' group examining legal options and could also appeal to upper levels of government, Burroughs said after his presentation. He considers the issue as important as CanGro, a local cannery he fought unsuccessfully to keep open.
"I've just come off two months of CanGro and learned how something can go wrong," Burroughs said. "We're not going to let this go wrong."
A board review of the high school and the town's five elementary schools began last year with an accommodation review. After 10 months of meetings, the review committee, comprised of parents, educators and board staff, recommended building a new high school. But a staff report that followed showed a new high school would cost $15.5 million, drain the board's capital reserves and still may not attract students.
Town council does not want to circumvent the jurisdiction of another elected body, Burroughs said. He also told trustees he recognized the difficult situation.
"But knowing that Niagara-on-the-Lake must have a high school makes that part easy," he said. "The only question is how to fund it."
Burroughs will meet with the school board's senior administration this week to discuss the high school. He also asked to see documents showing the board's capital reserve fund for the last 10 years.
The board receives about $7.8 million annually from property taxes collected in Niagara-on-the-Lake. With the town's high property assessments, $7.8 million may even be a low estimate, Burroughs said.
"We can find the money (for a new school), clearly," he said.
Burroughs was the last of nine delegates to speak against the school closure. The first was Joanne Hicks, Niagara District parent representative on the accommodation review committee.
"Some parents asked me if the whole ARC process was just a charade," Hicks said. "I said no ... but my views started to change."
The board will hold a special public meeting regarding Niagara District. It will be the public's last chance to speak before trustees make a decision June 10.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. May 26 at the board's main administration office on Carlton Street.
By Mike Williscraft, Editor,
Niagara This Week, Apr 11, 2008
The notion of closing Niagara District Secondary School in Niagara-on-the-Lake is as multi-headed a monster as I have ever seen.
In the last 15 years of "newspapering" I recall covering three separate accommodation review committee (ARC) processes. In each case, the recommendation was to close the institution being the focal point of the process.
What is different with the decision to move towards a closure of NDSS by the District School Board of Niagara on Tuesday night was the ultimate direction of the board was not even on the radar of the ARC committee's multi-pronged recommendations.
None of ARC's recommendations included an NDSS closure. However, the board took the lengthy series of suggestions and formulated three of their own, ultimately going the way of the one that would spell an end to the 51-year-old facility.
Now, I don't want to get into the nuts and bolts of why this is a bad decision from an economics point of view -- although every single property owner in town should be seriously cheesed since they are being told the big chunk of tax dollars coughed up does not carry enough weight to merit keeping a school open in their community.
Now, one might gather that part of the reason it seems a closure is merited is the fact that DSBN figures show 61 per cent of NOTL students are bused to other communities for their studies. That massive a swing does not happen overnight.
One might wonder why, if programs at other schools are in such demand, such programs were not made available at NDSS in the first place?
It used to be that mountains had to be moved to get your child into a school other than within the school-board-designated boundaries in which you live.
I have seen instances, over years, where boards tailored boundaries to nudge the reduction of a school's population to the point where anyone would agree it had to close.
In the case of NDSS, on paper and according to board's administration, it would be logical to close the high school's doors. As noted, though, scratch the surface and see that the population would double if the 300-plus students who currently get shipped to St. Catharines schools were transferred back to their "home" school.
That kind of transition would not happen overnight, either, and students would be grandfathered through their current enrolment at Sir Winston, Eden or wherever they are attending.
The bottom line is those students, or funding units as we used to be called in my college days, can be steered back to populating NDSS and suitable programs to enrich their education can and should be part of the curriculum.
In a much more social vein, what a tragedy it would be for a community the size of NOTL to not have a secondary school in its midst.
After children move on from elementary school, a deep tear in the social fabric of the community would materialize. It would have to.
Kids getting on and off buses and heading their separate ways home would eliminate much of the camaraderie of "traditional" high school life. Along with it would be a skewed sense of community as youth of that era would have two communities and the two would no longer cross.
As a newspaper, we have had a great many alliances with high schools in every community in which I have worked, as have countless businesses with co-op programs and other associations. What a shame to jeopardize all that.
Even if you don't have high-school-aged children, you should be concerned for the good of the community.
For purely selfish reasons, homeowners should be worried about a negative impact to their property values as having a high school in town would certainly contribute to that.
No doubt, school board officials should be looking at how to revive NDSS, not bleed it dry.The notion of closing Niagara District Secondary School in Niagara-on-the-Lake is as multi-headed a monster as I have ever seen.
In the last 15 years of "newspapering" I recall covering three separate accommodation review committee (ARC) processes. In each case, the recommendation was to close the institution being the focal point of the process.
What is different with the decision to move towards a closure of NDSS by the District School Board of Niagara on Tuesday night was the ultimate direction of the board was not even on the radar of the ARC committee's multi-pronged recommendations.
None of ARC's recommendations included an NDSS closure. However, the board took the lengthy series of suggestions and formulated three of their own, ultimately going the way of the one that would spell an end to the 51-year-old facility.
Now, I don't want to get into the nuts and bolts of why this is a bad decision from an economics point of view -- although every single property owner in town should be seriously cheesed since they are being told the big chunk of tax dollars coughed up does not carry enough weight to merit keeping a school open in their community.