Closing Central is board’s plan for city
The Barrie Advance. Laurie Watt, STAFF, Sep 22, 2010 – 7:30 PM
BARRIE – At least the community knows what it’s up against: the case to close Barrie Central was made public Tuesday night.
The Accommodation Review Committee on Barrie secondary schools met for the first time – and was told the school board plans to close Central in June 2012, and redistribute its students.
“What did you expect? (SCDSB associate director) Carol McAulay said it six months ago,” said Barrie Ward 2 Coun. Jeff Lehman.
“When you get the preferred outcome at the beginning, you have to question the integrity of the process. I hope (the school board) will be genuinely interested in the other options.”
Closing Central would increase overcrowding at the city’s other high schools, the board’s staff report shows, however.
Barrie North would take the most of Central’s 995 students – 614 of them – although North is already over capacity. Today, the school has 1,318 students, although it is built to hold only 1,146.
The board’s plan also calls for 128 Central students to move to Innisdale – which is already even more over-capacity than North. Today, Innisdale has 1,778 students and 12 portables.
Bear Creek would take 113 Central students, including its special-needs students, although it too is over capacity, with 2,070 students and a building that can house 1,407.
Changing demographics improve the situation slightly, as a bubble of students moves through the secondary system and numbers drop over the short term.
However, Barrie – especially its downtown – is set to grow, as Ontario has designated the city the only urban growth centre north of the GTA. Ontario has told Barrie it must triple the population in the city core, as well as accommodate 40 per cent of future growth within the existing built boundary.
Still, the public school board is proposing closing Central and then later asking for provincial funding for a new high school in the southeast.
“The ARC process pits community against community, parts of cities against parts of cities. There is no reason at all why the oldest institution in the city has to close if there are willing partners to help,” said Lehman, who has suggested the city would support creating an education hub – with athletic fields, a theatre, and a university – on the edge of downtown, which must be more diverse and more of a service centre than it already is.
The public school board has been refusing to deal with an ARC in the county’s north end, which is keeping both Midland and Penetanguishene high schools open – although both are half empty. The ARC recommended closing Penetanguishene Secondary and sending teens to nearby Midland Secondary.
Barrie Central parent representative Stuart Bailey said he’s disappointed not just in the closure recommendation, but the lack of rationale substantiating it.
“What’s more disappointing is that it was the only option the board considered and it has significant impact in terms of money and in terms of impact on families. It didn’t seem to have a lot of analysis,” he said.
“It seems the accommodation review committee is doing the job of the board staff. I would have expected more analysis.”
Barrie Ward 5 Coun. Lynn Strachan sat on an ARC last year that recommended closing Prince of Wales and is the city appointee on the secondary ARC.
“They’re not looking at other criteria, such as value to students, value to the community or opportunities for partnerships,” she said.
“I was really happy they came forward with this at the beginning, because we know what we’re up against.”
Collingwood/Clearview Trustee Caroline Smith – who has been appointed to the ARC because she has one street that feeds into Barrie North – agreed at least people know what they’re dealing with.
“If you have an elephant in the room, do you want to know its name and its colour – or do you try to ignore it and walk around it? Hopefully, there will be a better chance for a good dialogue and people can find the elephant a better home,” she said.
“Sometimes people don’t like the information they’re given but they deserve the time to analyze it and come forward with ideas on how to resolve the issue.”
The ARC meets again Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. at Barrie North.
lwatt@simcoe.com
