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Grant Alternative SchoolWhat's happening to save our schoolCowardice asks the question: is it
safe? Rev. Martin L. King Jr. in a speech to a convention of the California Democratic Council in mid-March 1968 |
The "Grant Guys" Now in MP3 Format "Public Education is SlipSlidingAway" |
| Our answer to the Board's Visual report | Read our report here and the itemized, realistic costs here | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ten Best Reasons for not closing Grant Alternative School |
- 10 - It's a beautiful school with superb
grounds and secure fence. - 9 - It has trees in the yard, some of which were planted by students 10 years ago. Have you heard about the O-zone problems? - 8 - Contrary to staff belief, it is not crumbling and in disrepair. Read our report and costs. - 7 - You can open the windows. - 6 - It's more that 100% full. - 5 - Being an Alternative school, parents have put thousands of hours into making it better. Look at the pavement paintings, the gardens, the computer lab and the condition of the library. All this free labour from loving parents. - 4 - We won't fit into Bayshore Public School. - 3 - Ottawa's population is growing. Read the newspapers. - 2 - Our motto, "Kid's Come First", means we need to keep our school open, and - 1 - You have stated in your "Formula of Facts" that you do not agree with the provincial formula. Prove it. Sent to all trustees, Oct 18th |
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| NEWS CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2000 10:30 AM 440 ALBERT STREET, OTTAWA (outside the former Ottawa Technical High School) |
MEDIA RELEASE "SAVE OUR SCHOOLS … SELL YOUR BUILDINGS" The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is sitting on the money it needs to build new schools outside the Greenbelt. Vacant properties owned by the Board that would net millions of dollars, if sold, have never been put on the market. Parents fighting the proposed closure of 9 elementary schools are demanding to know why. Where is the fiscal responsibility? Where is the Board’s accountability to taxpayers? If the Board has plans for these buildings, why is it not divulging that information? A news conference tomorrow morning will address this urgent matter. Detailed information about the properties in question, including their assessed values, will be provided. Members of the business community will be present and available for comment. For more information, CONTACT: Paula Roy (722-5262) or Andrea Douglas (728-0034), Save our Schools Campaign Spokespersons. |
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| Perhaps a new song
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Similar to this one. Suggestions for
words to John or Pierre Don't let 'em tear our little
old schoolhouse down And, as Arlo Guthrie said: "And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Little Schoolhouse and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Little Schoolhouse and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement." The original |
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| Meeting at Mutchmor | Thursday, September 14 7:30 p.m. in Mutchmor
Public School gym 185 Fifth Ave., corner of Lyon St. S. (entrance via Fourth Ave.)
The session will include an update on the August 28 staff report that recommended Mutchmor
and eight other elementary schools for closure, and on the strategies that are rapidly
taking shape to stop the process. Speakers will address the huge information gaps and
process problems that will make it impossible for trustees to make an informed decision on
school closures this fall. Trustee Lynn Graham is confirmed as a speaker. Others will follow. |
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| Visit Bayshore Public School | Tuesday, September 19th, 1:15 P.M. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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." Take a look at the neighbourhood around Grant. Lot's of kids, baby carriages and young couples and new, modern, houses. |
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| Help our School Board persuade the Ministry of Education (This from the OCDSB site) | 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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contact your local MPP | Who Are They | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Read and react to the School Closure Study | Find it here | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contact Trustees | OCDSB Trustees
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| What we have done | Attended board meeting of April 25, 2000 equiped with song and overheads. |
| Letter to the editor of "The News" Response to "School Advocates angered by latest closure list" pg.2, in "The News" September 7th, 2000. I am a parent that has children attending Grant Alternative School and I would most certainly telling you that Grant Alternative School should not be closed! The most disheartening part of your article however was the quotes from our zones own trustee, Patty Anne Hill. How can one disagree with the ministry on its funding formula and then go ahead and do their bidding and vote to close schools based on that lack of funding? A trustee represents all constituents in his/her zone. To make up ones mind and publicly declare intentions before all the facts are in is a rush to judgement and should be a serious concern for people living in our school board zone! Our schools in our city are our property! A trustee should be looking at the best available information on school closures. (Data that regional chair, Bob Chiarelli says is due in January 2001!) Our trustee is not adhering to the board guiding principles (policy P.048.GOV) from 15 May 1998, which states," make efficient, effective and innovative use of resources, based on sound planning and best available information". Grant Alternative School was expected to be only around 75% capacity this year. Right now the school is 109% capacity! An extra portable was brought in to meet the needs of our children. Why are parents enrolling their children here? 309 children attend Grant Alternative School. Are they getting fair treatment and equal rights to an education when their school is getting needlessly sacrificed just to abide by Ministry of Education "unfair funding formula"! We need our trustees to listen to the facts, the inside the greenbelt communities do not deserve to be blamed for the lack of resources which are being withheld from our outside the greenbelt communities! Last May, a motion by trustee Sheryl Macdonald was passed stating "aside from reductions resulting from amalgamation, harmonization of programs and services and prudent management decisions, the OCDSB commit itself in principle to no further reductions in programs and services due to inadequate allocations in the provincial funding formula". The root of the problem is this "DEFUNDING FORMULA"! The citizens of Ottawa /Carleton need to send a clear message to the provincial government that our board is not able to act in the best interests of its students. Are OCDSB trustees allowed to disagree with the Province? Are OCDSB trustees allowed to listen to parents? It is time to stand up on principle and seek the truth. The new city of Ottawa deserves nothing less than the truth.
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To whom it may concern, Earl Mcrae’s piece on Grant School tugged at the strings on my heart. Here in the year 2000, the dawn of a new era, it would surely be an error to allow such institutions of educational history to be closed merely to satisfy a Provincial Government’s ridiculous rules. The issues is one of divide and conquer. Inside Greenbelt schools must be closed or the outside Greenbelt families will not receive any money to build new schools. Why is this kind of unfair tactic applied? Why do the older buildings get tossed aside as if they did not matter? The Beach Boys sing "Be true to your School". The message of the song is to treat that place, that group of people, that School with respect, love and loyalty. Earl knows what that song is about. The Students of today need a chance to develop this kind of devotion and respect. These are things you just can’t have a province wide test for. These elements are achieved through a dedicated staff teaching its students. Grant Alternative School has the track record and a fine team of teachers as well as some pretty good students! On the basis of performance, Grant Alternative School should not be shut down! Nine schools are faced with this threat. Everyone should consider how he or she feels about this. Should we close Lisgar Collegiate as well because it’s just too old? What’s next, The Parliament Buildings? Save our Schools! Save our History! Save our City! Yours Truly, |
| From: ac210@freenet.carleton.ca
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 5:43 PM To: janet_eckerco@ontla.ola.org Cc: garry_guzzo@ontla.ola.org; PattyAnne_Hill@ocdsb.edu.on.ca; jim_libbey@ocdsb.edu.on.ca Subject: Please help educate our children Dear Ms. Ecker: I am writing to you about education funding in Ottawa. I have two children in the school system right now, a daughter in grade 11 and a son in grade 5. My son’s school, which is also where my daughter went, is on a short list of 9 schools that may be closed in 2001. This upsets our children and they have a hard time understanding why someone would want to close their beautiful school and put them into portables. What can I say to them? I have always been an active parent at my children’s school, taking several positions on the school council and attending every school council meeting. You have managed to get thousands of hours of my time in the last 11 years, supporting education in Ontario, at no cost. But, it seems, that my efforts in the last year have been towards trying to help our teachers and school board deal with your funding formula rather than educating our children. For example, last night we had our first school council meeting. We introduced new and old teachers, welcomed new parents and then only had about 20 minutes to talk about business other than the school closure problem. I would have much preferred to talk about the curriculum, fund raising, parent involvement in noon-time activities, safety in the schoolyard, plans for our gardens and scheduling our music nights. Instead we talked about who was going to make signs for demonstrating outside of the next school board meeting and who was going to dig up demographic data that would prove that our student population was not going to decrease but in fact, is and would be increasing with the new housing developments in close proximity to the school. Your formula pits the residents outside of Ottawa’s greenbelt against those within. We have old, well-established school buildings with communities that go back 100 years or more. We also have portables. Playing with occupancy numbers reveal that there must be empty desks somewhere and if there are, no new schools will be built. This is not a good way to educate our children. This province must invest in our future. Please re-consider your restrictions on our school board and allow them to
And, her reply (well, at least someone who works for her)October 4, 2000 Dear Mr. Kerr, Thank you for your correspondence to the Premier and Minister of Education regarding possible school closures by the Ottawa Carleton District School Board. I have been asked to o(sic) respond to your concerns on their behalf. Under the Education Act, decisions regarding pupil accommodation have always been the responsibility of the school board. Boards across the province have decided each year for various reasons to close some schools. It would therefore be inappropriate for the ministry to intervene in the processes of your local school board. This ministry is working with school boards to ensure that boards have adequate systems and procedures in place to respond to many local variables in their planning and decision-making. As a result, the ministry has asked all boards to develop long-term plans to identify accommodation issues that they expect to face over the next several years and strategies to address them. I am confident that these plans will help ensure an effective learning environment for students across the province. It is my understanding that the Ottawa Carleton District School Board is working towards the completion of its long-term plan for pupil accommodation. I encourage you to make your views known to the members of the board as they prepare to finalize their long-term plan over the next several weeks. Thank you again for writing. Original signed by Drew Nameth Director |
To the Ottawa Citizen and Sun "I had hoped that senior staff at the Ottawa Carleton District School Board would have had the courage to say enough is enough and refuse to close another school in Ottawa Carleton, but they decided to close 9 schools. As a teacher at Grant Alternative School and an employee of the school board I have been instructed to say nothing, but who better to speak for the children then their teacher. I cannot in good conscience sit by and not lend my voice to the protest of yet a further erosion of our educational system and the quality of life and learning in our schools. "My school just had a portable delivered to accommodate an increased enrollment, yet it has been slated for closure. Grant is a beautiful, grand old community school with wonderful children, supportive parents, and caring staff. Closing Grant and squeezing our 280 children into another school next year is a very bad idea no matter how you look at it! "We can only hope that waves of protests sweep across Ottawa Carleton and when it comes time for the trustees to make a decision on the closures, they will somehow find the courage to say no more cuts to Mr. Harris. "As for me ........... I will be on the side of the children.
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Last updated by: Pierre Kerr ac210@freenet.carleton.ca on June 6, 2001
