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SCHOOLS DON'T NEED THE HARRIS TOUCH
"Open for Business" is the official slogan which graced our provincial government's website. This is the type of in-you-face leadership that Ontario's education system does not need.
Our schools' funding is being sold out to reform education to simply accommodate golden handshakes. In an economic sense, when downsizing budgets for education, it only upsizes the promise of profit for private corporations. An example of this is just as ATMs have replaced our tellers, standard text and software are slowly replacing our teachers.
Now the Harris results are in. Increases to class size and workload have reduced teachers' opportunity and enthusiasm for the hard work of tailoring curricula to students' interests. This is a real shame because teaching was once a profession desirably geared towards influencing a good old-fashioned education.
I think most parents could see this as a problem because with the taxes they have paid into the system, they rightfully demand a return on their investment.
Parents and teachers know best how the longings and passions of children take shape, what talents and aptitudes prepare them for their lives and what tensions may lie ahead as a child grows to participate in reality.
(Letter to Editor in the Sarnia Observer - Friday, Nov. 10, 2000 by David Chiasson, Sarnia)

PARISH PASTOR FEELS BETRAYED BY SCHOOL VOTE
I am writing to comment on the recent decision of the St. Clair District Catholic School Board th close Our Lady of Mercy School, Effective July, 2001.
In a previous letter (The Observer, Nov. 13, 2000), I stated my concerns about the possible closure of Our Lady of Mercy School. On Nov. 14, 2000,the board voted to reject the recommendations of its own Accommodation Review Committee that Our Lady of Mercy School remain open. I am not surprised by the decision, I was, however, shocked and numbed by the absence of any accountability on the part of the b board members who supported closure of the school. Board member and chair of the Review Committee, Brother Anthony VandenHeuval, offered a detailed, sane and accurate statement as to the rationale of the committee in recommending that the school remain open. Trustees Anne Marie Gillis and Bob Hubbard expressed support for Br. Anthony's statement but his recommendation and that of the committee were rejected by other board members.
I left the meeting feeling like someone I loved had died. My sadness was compounded by a sense of betrayal--it was a member of the family who was responsible for the death.
In these past few days, as the numbness has worn off and been replaced by anger, my sense of betrayal has remained. Any trust that I had in the administration has evaporated. The board made the politically correct decision but showed itself to be morally bankrupt. Obviously, the moral authority of Bishop Sherlock, the parents, the children and myself as pastor of the parish means little to the majority of the board.
The statement of Trustee Wayne VanDamme (who supported closure) is perhaps the most tellin of all. In responding to Br. Anthony, Mr. Vandamme stated that his heart was telling him to support Br. Anthony but his brain told him that closure was the right decision. Well, Catholic education has always been about heart. It is a good analogy. What happens to a person who may have a fully functioning brain when the heart stops?
Many of us can see that the provincial government would like to establish one education system in Ontario. I'm afraid that the administration of the board has further opened the door.
The heart of Our Lady of mercy has sustained a terrible blow, but not a fatal one. We will continue to provide quality religious education and faith development to our children and their families, even if it is at our own expense and on our own time.
The administration of the St. Clair District School Board has shown its true colours. In the words of Jesus, "by their fruits you will know them." The faith community of Our Lady of Mercy is deeply saddened and disillusioned, but we know that the truth will make us free.
(Letter to Editor in the Sarnia Observer - Sat., Nov. 11, 2000 by Fr. Dan Rocheleau, Sarnia)

HIGH-NEED STUDENTS HURT EDUCATION OF OTHER 97%
Re: Grades 3 and 6 test results
November has been a bad month.
I reviewed my income tax correspondence for the years 1993 to 1998 inclusive and, in every case, they were in error within the range of $8 to $4000 (mostly arithmetic).
Then the school test results came out.
It is not reassuring to learn that the students will not graduate until they pass the Grade 10 literacy test. By that time they will be 16 and can quit.
In a fury, I called Lambton Literacy who admitted discussing the problem of grade three literacy but referred me to another department who gave me a lecture on statistics and the phone number of the superintendent (who was out of the office). The lecturer said that the mentally and physically fragile students who had been excluded from the testing had been included and, as they represented three per cent of the school population, they pulled the overall average down. When I pointed out that this three per cent impeded the education of the remaining 97 per cent, I was told that public education had the mandate to teach the three per cent.
Therein is the problem.
Obviously our political correctness is forcing parents who wish to give their children a good education to look elsewhere as the priority is the three per cent who are uneducatable (sic). This philosophy will result in an abundance of private schools each targeting one segment of the population.
Perhaps the government is gradually working toward this ultimate destiny of running jails, hospitals, insane asylums and now public education. The prudent parent will find a private school to meet their children's talents and we will have a group of graduates better able to compete in the third millennium.
In the meantime, build more jails, asylums and hospitals, and leave education to private industry where school boards are unnecessary.
(Letter to Editor in the Sarnia Observer - Friday, Nov. 10, 2000 by Joseph H. Gregson, Sarnia)

SCHOOL CRISIS DUE TO UNDERFUNDING
The various letters written by students in recent days have been poignant testimonials to at least two fundamental aspects of the provision of extracurricular activities in our schools - the fostering of school identity/spirit and the universal access to these activities for all students, irrespective of social or economic status.
It is precisely this latter tenet, however, which is currently being eroded, not by the behaviour of teachers but by the Conservative government's treatment of the public school system as an economic liability to the fiscal ledger of Ontario.
For those critics and pundits who have still not caught on to the root cause of the present "crisis" in education (with all due respect to former Education Minister John Snobelen for the use of the terminology he coined at the outset of his government's administration), the singular, overriding concern of the Tory agenda is a simple one - to cut costs at all costs.
so, when the government...

cuts budgets to the point where three classes at a time share a "study hall" in the cafeteria when their teachers are absent:
legislates teachers' instruction of an additional half-credit at the same rate of pay they've had for the past ten years;
eliminates the OAC year of high school altogether

... it becomes painfully obvious that its program of "education accountability" has more to do with accounting than education.
Extracurriculars face the same cold, calculating scrutiny. Much of the ciost of these activities has already been covered through the levy of activity fees and the fundraising efforts teacher-advisors and coaches. Now, not only has provincial funding of these activities been curtailed, but also the working conditions of the very people most responsible for providing them is under assault, all for the sake of the same rock-bottom line.
What is at stake here is the very existence of all the things that made school fun and were offered to anyone who wished to participate in them.
Surely citizens without children in the school system can still see the societal benefits of a healthy extracurricular program. If the public is truly concerned with the provision of extracurricular activities in the school, do not point the long finger of blame towards the teachers who have volunteered in good faith to deliver them until now.
(Letter to Editor in the Sarnia Observer - Saturday, Dec. 2, 2000 by Rob Pecora, Lambton)

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