We are writing this letter in support of the decision made on April 19th as we feel both sides need to be heard.
Mr. Bill Walker, Honourable Mayor, City Councillors and Community Members,
Heritage before Education! Yes the very thought of this bothers us, both as parents and members of this community. O.S.C.V.I. and its Alumni are proving this time and time again but ultimately if this decision gets overturned then that's what has won out. Our goal as parents is to provide our children with the best education possible and at least with a combined high school and more funding then the expanded programs will provide this for them. Some people think that reports of our ever diminishing population of youth in this town are not accurate and that we will grow as a young community but what if they are wrong as statistics have shown over the last 10 plus years? The reality is that even more programs will disappear as the school enrolment decreases but that seems to be fine because we will still have our school name to help them get to college or university successfully. I fear that this process and some of the facts and lack of knowledge have left many in the dark about the truth simply because one side is louder than the other. I encourage all parents to not listen to the loud voices but actually do the homework yourself to figure out what really is important to your children.
Since this decision alone, there have been many misconceptions on social media and in the media which we believe everyone should look into. We believe a school name alone will not get your child further in college and university but more program options will.
As far as City Council is concerned, two questions arise. Did they know about this process? Or didn't they know?
If you knew about this process from the beginning and were as concerned as you are now then why were you not present throughout it.
If you weren't aware of this whole procedure then this proves to us, and I'm sure many others, that none of you either must have children currently in the schooling system, have listened to any radio station or read a local newspaper in the last 8 months! Since October of 2015 all meetings have been widely publicized including several open meetings that saw very little community support, no council members and at least 50 to 100 empty chairs. It's frustrating for some of us who were there from the beginning speaking our minds and opinions, trying to help solve the issues at hand of under-utilized spaces in our classrooms. As usual though, once a decision is made, we finally see some of the community and some of the councillors swing in with their capes on to save the day. We don't need a hero that saves us at the last moment like the scene out of a movie but one that is there for us day after day.
So, my question is this, where were you all from the beginning? Our schools in this area have been under- utilized for years but our community was slow to catch up to provincial standards so why the shock and surprise that decisions had to made to close some of them! We feel the Board did the best job they could with this very sensitive and difficult matter and task at hand.
Yet another question is what effects is this having on the children who are continuously on a roller coaster ride of emotions? Every up and down is getting bigger and bigger. During the ARC meetings some members spoke of how moving children around could create anxiety for them but this constant battle can't be good for them either. Lots of distractions are keeping them from their day to day school work.
Another question to ask is how many students really care about this at school? My bet is it's isolated to a smaller percentage then what is thought. We fear that the petition is being signed by some of the O.S.C.V.I. students, parents and alumni but does not represent Owen Sound as a whole. Many people sign up for things or support them in an unconscious matter as not to be left out or they have a lack of knowledge of both sides. Having children in high school gives a person some insight as to how they really feel and not what pressures are being fielded through media, teachers, parents and such. I can tell you that of the friends our children have at both schools, many of them don't care about all the protesting they just want to go to school and learn.
What about the other schools closing in the town? Where are the protests and support for Bayview, Sydenham, and Dufferin? Also no thought has been given to West Hill being re-branded next year, possibly even being re-named O.S.C.V.I. in honour of their heritage which has been discussed at the ARC meetings throughout this process. Better yet, West Hill will not only lose its heritage but that the school will be torn down in the next few years and be replaced somewhere in town with a new school. Where is their petition? Are there any thoughts to this? Maybe West Hill is more prepared for the next big chapter and excited to get the programming they deserve.
So if Council or the Petition being collected saves our under-populated schools, where might the money come from to maintain them when the funds allocated for them by the government and the school board isn't enough to run them? City tax hike for Owen Sound residents maybe? The thing is our community is slowly being split apart and no one wants to give up that which is important to them. If the heritage of a building that is only 16 years old is more important than providing proper expanded programs and education for our children's future then I say overturn it!
On the matter of the 7-12 model which is still being pushed after the decision, we feel it does not give any extra programming to the high school aged children, just the grade 7 and 8's only. Another option, in light of this decision is for some students to go to the Catholic School Board. The Catholic School Board however hasn't just suddenly seen a move in their direction because of this decision. For the last few years this has been going on which leads one to believe that maybe children are moving from West Hill and O.S.C.V.I. to get the expanded programming they can't get right now but will get when the schools combine. This is what the amalgamation could provide for our public school children - programming choices!
The Owen Sound Community doesn't like change as they have proved many times over but moving and change doesn't have to be a bad experience. Think about it this way, how many of us as parents in our life time choose to move from one house to another. Many people buy new houses across town, in another neighbourhood, or even in a new town with little or no worries to the impact it has on our children. We positively support our children in our choice to pick-up and move. It's only our support that helps them adjust to make new friends and give them the best possible feelings they can experience. So why can't we do the same when our children need to adjust to new schools?
We are extremely frustrated by this whole procedure. If you, the councillors and the few supporters against this decision, manage to delay this process then unlike yourselves who feel you were blindsided by this decision, you will have wasted the time of the ARC committee members who spent not a month and a half on this like you have but 6 months of our valuable time away from our families at meetings and proposing ideas helping to formulate the best possible decision. We finally thought we could move on and help pick up the pieces left to rebuild our schools in this community but instead we are all back spinning our wheels.
Hopefully at some point our community can come together and be positive towards these changes that have been made and help our children move on! Life is about change but not all change has to be bad. Let's embrace this new change and help our children get the future they deserve!
Thank-you for your time.
Sincerely,
Chris and Sarah Cathrae.
