Grant Alternative School

Director's Notes for the board meeting of Oct 25	Expressing sincere regret for the necessity to carry out school closures, the Board, following a series of three Committee of the Whole meetings on 19, 23 and 24 October, reached a decision to close the following six elementary schools within the Greenbelt, effective, with one exception, 1 September 2001: 1. Devonshire 2. Elmdale 3. Lamira Dow Billings 4. Merivale (on completion of a new school in South Nepean) 5. Mutchmor 6. Overbrook Read it here
School board votes to close four schools - Decisions could still be reversed Ottawa Citizen	"The atmosphere was tense as the board revisited decisions made in the past two days by a committee. Trustee Albert Chambers wept as he pleaded to keep Devonshire open." Read it here
Bell tolls for schools - District Board trustees slam doors shut on 5 schools Ottawa Sun	"Right now, I have no faith that we're doing the right thing," Chairman Jim Libbey acknowledge mid-way through the night. Read it here
Board closes four schools Three will be saved, and fate of two more decided tonight - Citizen Oct 25	"Overbrook Public School, Lamira Dow Billings, Devonshire School and Elmdale School will all close, if the board ratifies the decision. Elgin Street Public School, Mutchmor Public School, Grant School and General Vanier will all remain open." Read it here
Trustee's reprieve for Elgin Street school temporary Citizen Oct 21	"I would really be hesitant to say that Elgin has been saved," said Lynn Scott, the trustee for Zone 1 of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. Read it here
Ecker's words on school closures baffle, officials, Ottawa Sun, Oct 20	In a letter received yesterday Ecker "doesn't clearly say yes or no," Chairman Jim Libbey of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said last night. He also called Ecker's letter "not positive." Read it here (seems to have disappeared)
Letter sent to Minster or Education, Janet Ecker from Chair of the Board, Jim Libbey on Oct 11, 2000	"Dear Ms. Janet Ecker: At the Board meeting of October 10, 2000, trustees for the OCDSB passed the motion attached to request an extension of the December 31, 2000 deadline regarding the offering of surplus school spaces so that they may be removed from the Board's inventory,..." Read it here
Three questions for the school board, Citizen, Oct 19	"We need reasonable, energetic trustees who have good ideas. Even if the pay is lousy." Read it here
Save schools that have kids in them, Citizen, October 19	"Citing figures from the regional planning department, a group of parents representing the Save Our Schools coalition says the board should hold off on school closings and instead sell, at market value, the old Ottawa Tech high school on Albert Street, the former Ottawa Board of Education main office on Gilmour Street, board shops in Stittsville and on Bronson Avenue, and Brook Lane and Queensway schools. " Read it here
Closing schools 'shortsighted' Business leaders plead with board to rethink plan, Citizen, Oct 18	"About three dozen Ottawa business leaders have pleaded with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to think twice about closing nine downtown schools. " Read it here
Trustees need time to make final decision - CBC WebPosted Oct 11	"Trustees passed a motion Tuesday night asking the provincial government for more time to deal with the issue. The deadline is the end of the year. " .... " But there's a catch" ... Read it here
Fight for survival - Hundreds protest school closures in city's urban core - Ann Marie McQueen, Ottawa Sun	"About 300 parents and children rallied outside the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board offices last night, some clutching pieces of timbits and SOS signs." Read it here Also: Photo of the day
500 protest in bid to save nine schools - Parents, children, politicians descend on board offices - Ryan Baker - The Ottawa Citizen	"Amid the speeches and protest songs, a forest of placards surrounded the politicians and community activists who led the protest." Read it here
Board has $14M for new schools - Citizen - Carrie Buchanan Sept 26	"We're not closing schools inside (the Greenbelt) to build schools outside. That's a myth," said Rose-Marie Batley, superintendent of facilities and physical planning for the board. Read it here
MPPs hold key to school closings - Citizen - Sept 26	"It's all cut and dried, and quite defensible as public policy. " Get out your flame throwers Read it here
Parents rally to save schools - Sept 25 Citizen - Carrie Buchanan	"Over the weekend, yellow lawn signs sprung up around the city as part of a campaign to convince the board to keep the schools open" Read it here
Voters polarized on Harris record Education poorly handled, poll finds - Globe abd Mail - Sept 23- Richard Mackie	"The Ontario government got poor marks from voters for its handling of the education system, and Mike Harris got a failing grade for his performance as Premier in the latest survey of political opinion by the Angus Reid Group." Read it here
Teachers dash Tories' expectations - Toronto Star - Sept 23 - Ian Urquhart	"THE EDUCATION universe is not unfolding as the Tory government had anticipated." Read it here
MPP not allowed in schools Sept 20 2000 - Richard Patten on CBC	"The board says no MPPs of any political stripe will be allowed to visit schools while classes are on." Read it here
"Teachers, not Tories, winning over public" National Post - Mark Gollom - Sept 18	"The latest poll indicates the union currently has the upper hand when it comes to public favour, most likely because it has said it will not close any schools this year." Read it here
"High-tech heavyweights oppose school closures" Ottawa Business Journal, BRIAN SALISBURY - Sept 18	"People in Raleigh (North Carolina) and Austin (Texas) have warned us of their mistakes. Their inner cities are gutted. Right now, our city centre is vibrant, but that could change with short-sighted decisions like this." Read it here
"Parents should fight 'intimidation' over school closures" Joel Haslam The Ottawa Citizen Sept 14	"Since when is blackmail an acceptable practice of governments? Are elected trustees the representatives of our children's interests or the custodians of a "revolution" fuelled by anything but "common sense?" " Read it here
Ottawa Citizen "Boom busts job, housing predictions"	"Growth in jobs and housing in Ottawa-Carleton hit record levels in the past three years, far exceeding projections made by the region's economic planners, a new regional report says." Mohammed Adam Read it here
CBC "City committee opposes school closures" WebPosted Sep 13 2000 6:52 PM EDT "	"A committee of Ottawa City Council says the public school board should rethink plans to close several downtown schools. " ... for the whole story go to Read it or listen and watch it here
Citizen "Tory arithmetic on schools doesn't add up" - Randall Denley	"Earlier this month, the Ottawa-Carleton public school board distributed a pamphlet called Formula Facts that made some rather difficult-to-refute criticisms of the Tories' magic funding formula . Now MPPs John Baird and Brian Coburn have delivered the government's response. They've sent out a press release saying the government is providing plenty of money for education, and the two Tories are prepared to work with the boys and girls at the school board until they get their sums right. ... "The funding formula is fine in theory, but the Tories don't have the details right. The public has to tell them that, forcefully, before harm is done to our schools. " Read it here.
Earl McRae hosts CFRA radio show	Earl, again, was on our side and was hosting a radio call-in show Sunday Sept 3. During that show his call-in guests included our own teacher, Larry Stonebridge. As well, Mitchell Beer, from Mutchmor Public, and our favourite Grant entertainer and former co-chair, John Lloyd.
Grant Teacher writes letters to Sun and Citizen	Larry Stonebridge is the Grant Alternative School teacher whose passionate letter to the editor ran in the Ottawa Citizen and Sun in the week of Aug 28, despite a gag order from central admin, directing school staff to stay out of the closure fight. Read the letter here.
Earl McRae, Ottawa Sun, column "Memories alive in School Buildings"	Earl McRae had a wonderful column on the proposed Grant closure in the Ottawa Sun on Wednesday, Aug 30. He went to grant in it's former life as Grant Consolidated Public School. He had fond memories of the "old red-brick fortress".
CBC Radio - The Doughnut effect, Aug 30	"The difficulty is that there's not as many families with small children or children in school, because the housing isn't the kind that young families want when they have small children," says Rosemary Batley, the superintendent in charge of planning at the board. "They want more house and more land. And there's a lot of empty-nesters moving into the city." Read it or listen to it here
Ottawa Citizen - "Nine Scools on Short List to Close" - Aug 29	The original announcement Read it here.

OCDSB Area Review - School Closure Study	Some questions and answers by "families" about the closures
School Board asks us to help persuade the Ministry of Education	Forumula of Facts "We're publicly appealing to the community to join us in calling upon the Minister of Education to correct the funding formula to support the learning environment our children deserve," states the report.

Letters to the Editor, columns and other media events
in support of our schools

Links to information

Grant Alternative School

Letters to the Editor, columns and other media events in support of our schools

Links to information

Letters to the Editor, columns and other media events
in support of our schools