-Ashley Warrilow

Good Evening Board Staff, Trustees, and members of the public.

There were many themes identified by board staff that arose during the public consultation period. Two recognized areas I wish to highlight tonight include the need for rural options and support of keeping groups together.
We want you to give the families at Derby who are being split apart the choice of sending their children to Arran-Tara elementary school with the majority of Derby students. We encourage you to consolidate Derby to keep the community together.
The current recommendation has displaced a small number of families from their respective school, forcing them out of their community of friends, family and neighbours. These families who are on the outer boundary of Arran-Tara Elementary are being singled out and sent to Hepworth or Hillcrest schools. They did notchoose to move from their home or their community. They did not make the decision to leave family and friends to have students attend a new school. My family is among this group of residents who wish to attend Tara school with the majority of Derby students. Where is the value to the student in forcing them to leave those supports and strong relationships, not by choice, but because the board is manipulating numbers. Appendix B of the report states that boundary lines are only estimates and are subject to change. Those boundary lines can be extended a mere concession, in many cases, and provide families with a choice to attend rural schools. I understand the importance to examine bus routes, transportation time and number of rural stops. However, to the students involved it is much more important to remain in a rural school, to move to a new building with friendships and familiar faces, than the logistics of a bus route. With the recommendation to close Derby Public School at the end of June, the board has a responsibility to those students and families to accommodate the school together as a whole group. The board has indicated that Derby students would have access to rural school options as preferred. They should not be subjected to out of bounds ruling in order to remain with the majority of their community. A small number of families may choose alternative schools which may be closer to home or work locations, but that should be their option, their choice.
The closure of Derby and division of students to 3 different schools is imbalanced in the preliminary report and unfair to students. It is worded as "consolidate students from Bayview and Sydenham" to OSCVI. But Derby is worded as "closure with students move to [Arran-Tara, Hepworth, and Hillcrest]". This provides a non-cohesive transition for the Derby community, which is inequitable in comparison to other elementary schools in the review. Sending 10 students to Hepworth with a utilization rate of 55% is imprudent for future planning. Sending 64 students to Hillcrest while stating a capacity issue at Hillcrest is causing the delay of Dufferin student movement is contradictory. The report states that increased utilization rates and decreased surplus space was achieved by moving students outside of the Owen Sound area. Why not allow all the students who wish to attend Tara the same opportunity to stay with their community? Closure of a school and splitting students between several schools is not in the best interest or providing value to the student. During meetings of the ARC, board staff committed to pathway planning and providing smooth transition to students who are exposed to school closures. The recommended splitting of the Derby School community has contributed to unnecessary stress and turbulence to those unhappy with boundary division. There are ways to provide transportation and accommodate space at the receiving schools, such as use of portables or shared resources until enrolment declines in coming years, as referenced in the Initial Staff Report, using central bus hubs to decrease transportation route schedule time and number of stops, et cetera.
If Derby was given the two years promised before the rescinding of the previous accommodation review ruling, Derby could also be consolidated to Tara in a similar fashion as decided for Owen Sound elementary schools with declining enrolment data from the Initial staff report. So if the decision to close Derby comes at the end of June, it is only fair to follow the same model to consolidate Derby to Tara.
Further, when you use the word consolidation, the Board has the ability to allow for more equitable treatment of our Derby staff, similar to the consolidations you are using in Owen Sound. The language in the collective agreement with staff, give leeway for easier transition to the consolidated or amalgamated school and less issues to be dealt with in the transfer process. This makes for less stress for school and administrative staff. A plus all around. When you choose to use the word "closed" it makes for more issues and places staff in a more precarious situation. Consolidation of all students and staff, and then giving them choice of location is supportive and shows respect and integrity.
Let it be noted that this consolidation of Derby to Tara can recognize that some parents may wish their children to go to alternative schools depending on where they live and work.
Whether the closure of Derby School comes at the end of June this year or next, the consolidation of Derby to Arran-Tara school allows for value to both the student and the board.

Public school enrollment is dropping. A published report titled "The Fiscal Case for Closing Schools and School Consolidation: Myth vs. Facts" explains that for education planners and school boards, this means excess capacity and an opportunity to build more efficient alternatives. The conventional wisdom is to close half-empty schools. The preferred code words for school closures are school consolidation. All across Canada we see small neighbourhood schools with falling enrolment are being closed, with their students being bused to larger schools. School consolidation is assumed to be a way of creating greater efficiencies, while providing enhanced learning opportunities for students. The writer of this report points out that this assumption is wrong. Research shows closing schools doesn't save money and produces inferior academic and behavioural outcomes. The published report states that bringing social services into rural schools, providing a community hub, is a better viable solution than consolidation. The Ministry of Education is enabling school boards to deal with low enrolment by closing small schools and busing students to larger consolidating schools. Clearly the option of closing schools is the easiest way to remedy low enrollment. However, the easier response is not always the best response in terms of cost savings. If numerous studies find that school consolidation does not reduce cost or provide better learning outcomes for students, why is this trend occurring?
The board has committed to building a capital plan with long term strategy. The ambitious pledge to decrease excess space to eliminate deficit must also focus on improved programming and student success. The impact of these closures and precedent changes in the BWDSB needs to also be sensitive to the communities and families being deeply affected. The board is being challenged to look at creative options in accommodating school closures and displacement of students. Rural education is important and the board needs to recognize the importance of our farming communities and the impact of a small school closure on the community. The board has indicated that their financial situation requires the closure of Derby sooner than later. Elementary schools in Owen Sound have been recommended for closure in 2017-2018 to allow for school groups to move as a whole to receiving schools. Should Derby be closed this June, students need to be consolidated together to a school as well. Transfer of Derby students to Tara would result in full capacity at Arran-Tara elementary. There is opportunity to merge Derby school assets and history into a neighbouring rural municipality with hopes of building stronger community connections.
Long before my children started school we made the decision to attend rural schools, developed roots in our community and built a long term plan. The board may choose to close schools to bring value to their education system and meet budgetary constraints, but they should not have disregard for the value of ones' community and the success of students to meet those needs. Eliminating surplus space and deficits is important to this board, but it should not come at the expense of the communities it serves. If I wanted my children to attend Owen Sound schools, I would have choose to live in the city limits. However, we are raising our children on agricultural land exposing them to farming practices. We want rural options for public education.

Thank you for your consideration of my request and commitment to students and our rural communities.