THE THEFT OF OUR BLYTH SCHOOL

Scene of the Crime

 The closing of Blyth Public School is a tragic affair, but it is the outcome of years of incompetent management by the Avon Maitland School Board, incompetent governance by the Ministry of Education under both the previous PC government and the current Liberal government. Mike Harris started the decline and Dalton McGuinty is working hard to outdo him.

The decline of public education in Huron County has been augmented by the increased involvement of faith-based education systems which have grown as a result of the loss of confidence many families have felt towards the public system as it exists in this county.

Public education, in my view, is the ideal basis for developing a solid, tolerant, fair, and progressive society. The fragmentation of education which has increased dramatically in recent decades, while consistent with legislation, has done a great deal of harm to our education system.

The sign announcing the coming auction.

Part of the problems stem from the progression of amalgamations of school boards from community-based boards to county boards to a two-county board, Avon Maitland District Board of Education, which covers both Huron and Perth counties: covers, but serves poorly. The effect of the enlarged "area of administration" has been that board members have lost all meaningful contact with most of the communities for which they are responsible. And the result of that is that communities like Blyth, Brussels, and Zurich have no representation at all. As that process plays itself out, board members end up representing no one but themselves and most citizens within the two counties have no one tending to their concerns, needs, interests, or welfare. Accountability to the people and community connection are diluted to the point of being undetectable.

At the same time, as elected boards lose touch with their constituencies the entire focus of power and decision-making falls to the senior staff of the school board, the Director of Education, and the various Superintendents and Managers. The system then is controlled by people who are unaccountable to the people of the counties.

Blyth Public School on the market

This situation is a complete denial of the fundamental principles of public education. It could be rendered tolerable if the elected board members have the capacity to value and respond to their entire constituency, and the administrators have the competency, wisdom and the ethical foundation to provide a sound and effective public education system.

Unfortunately, in our case, we have been unlucky on both counts with the quality of most board members and of administrators. The people of Huron County have been short-changed in terms of both governance and operations. We have been routinely misinformed about what it happening and why. Administration officials have become spin doctors as opposed to responsible public servants. Board members have to rely on sound bites provided by their hirelings.

The entire scenario related to school closures and the construction of the Maitland River Elementary School makes absolutely no sense from either an educational or fiscal point of view. The only explanation that makes any sense is that the board's primary and only goal was to build a large new school to serve as a monument to the present and recent board members and to create a symmetry with the new school recently opened in the Perth County side of the area (St. Marys). Several schools, including Blyth and East Wawanosh are being sacrificed to "justify" that multi-million dollar adventure.

A question that is still being asked is why the Blyth school is being closed while the Hullett Central School in Londesborough remains open. Also, why are the schools being closed even though the new school will not be completed for a year or more. The answer is MONEY.

Blyth school is considered to have greater real estate value than the Londesborough location. So Blyth loses because it has a slightly higher real estate value and therefor subject of a cash grab. The rush to close schools is simply a matter of getting the cash as quickly as possible to help pay for the Wingham monument.

The school board and its officials continually trot out the phrase "It's all for the children" to try to explain their bizarre actions and to cover up the unexplainable. That won't work in this case.

The salient actions of Avon Maitland DSB have nothing whatsoever to do with the children or with education quality. It's all about the names that will be on the plaque in the new school.

So Blyth Public School has been stolen from this community. Blyth cannot afford this loss. And the school board does not care because they do not represent us.

Blyth will survive as it always has through times of change.

Perhaps one of the long term benefits of this period of neglect and abuse by AMDSB will be that in the next election of 2014 we will take a lot more care to see that we have responsible candidates for school board positions and our votes will be determined by much more cogent thought than the last time.