I received a letter today from Ontario's Minister of Education, Leona Dombrowsky. I waited for seven weeks for this letter. I had no great expectations that this letter would contain good news or any nice surprises. My modest expectations turned out to be appropriate. There was nothing good in the letter. Still it has had a dramatic effect on me.
I AM ANGRY? DEEPLY ANGRY!
Actually the anger that I feel surprises me. I have been in this fight on the closing of our Blyth Public School for years. I am fully aware that the chances are slim to nil that the decision will be reversed.
So I am asking myself why am I suddenly so bitterly angry at Leona Dombrowsky.
Perhaps it is in part because of the experience we've been through during the past week with the death of Jack Layton and the outpouring of emotion we have been feeling. Yes, that is really part of it. Here I am reading a letter from an Ontario Cabinet Minister who is presiding over a slimy government ploy, a kind of tag team game with Avon Maitland DSB, closing schools for no good reason, pretending that they have consulted us, telling us lies and manufacturing stories to make un-involved people think that they are "doing the right things".
Yes, this is one reason why the anger boils over. We have marvelled at the stories of Jack, this very courageous man, we've been moved by his letter to Canadians, we've shed a few tears seeing the deep sorrow of his wife, Olivia, and noting her personal strength. Even though I have never voted for his party, I have been thinking how great it would be to find another provincial or federal leader with that kind of character and moral fiber. None come to mind at the present.
And here I am instead reading a letter from a political hack, covering up her tracks, trying to justify the actions of school boards who are tearing the heart and soul out of community after community by closing their only schools. There is no right of appeal. They do not need to explain their reasoning to anyone. They don't even need to apologize. And the Minister just turns a blind eye to the carnage these boards like AMDSB are inflicting on their neighbours' communities. And she writes letters to us, as if we are just having a minor disagreement of opinion. Then she has the nerve to suggest that concerned people like me "work with their local school board and assist in the transition of students to their new accommodations..."
How do we deal with people whom we cannot believe? How can we trust our local school board once they have stabbed our community in the back? The big shock came about a few weeks ago when I came to the realization that this is not just a local scam perpetrated by our school board; it is being done in collusion with our provincial Liberal government who issued what appear to be very strict rules for boards to be open, consultative, fair, community-sensitive, and then do absolutely nothing to enforce those rules.
I have no idea which party I will vote for on October 6, but it will definitely not be the Ontario Liberal Party!
Brock Vodden
No comments:
Post a Comment