“Blyth
area schools to see enrolment increase”
This was a front page headline in this week's Citizen.
How could a seven word statement contain so many false and misleading concepts? It suggests that there are several Blyth area schools, and there are not; in fact, there are no Blyth area schools. The last one was closed last year by the Avon Maitland District School Board, the institution that issued the press release. Besides, the Blyth area schools cannot increase their enrolment, because they do not exist and have no enrolment.
The article continues talking about other schools in Wingham - MRES, the monster school, and F.E. Madill Grades 7 & 8. What happened to the discussion of Blyth? Very few of the Blyth students have opted to attend those schools; most are trundled off to Huron Central School in Londesborough. They apparently don't warrant a mention. To the Avon Maitland Communications Department, that school doesn't exist either.
Yesterday, I got my copy of the Wingham Advance-Times EXTRA, and it all became clear how this very slip-shod communication process went off the rails. Its headline reads:
"Wingham and area student numbers to increase"
What follows is the exactly same content as the "Blyth area" piece except Wingham is substituted for Blyth. In the name of efficiency, the Wingham version of the article seems to have been written first, and with no further thought, they substituted Blyth for Wingham thinking that they have saved a lot of time and made the little people in Blyth happy that they are being recognized.
Interesting to note that they had no mention of Brussels which is an equal partner in the Citizen coverage area.
The AMDSB's communication department has never been accused of being honest or intelligent, but this fiasco takes the cake.
Communications departments are usually intended to create a positive image of the organization in the minds of the public, but this communications department seems to project and amplify the very internal inadequacies the Board would like to cover up.
They do a surprisingly good job of representing the board at the macro level, but, like the board, they are hopeless when it comes to dealing with and representing individual communities throughout the "empire". They could learn something from Alexander the Great or the Roman empire, about the danger of taking over more territory than your limited abilities can manage effectively.
Superintendent Ash, however, according to the article is very pleased with the fact that elementary
head count has stabilized. (I wonder if he realizes that the Blyth children have
gone AWOL, statistically speaking?) He is really pleased that the ARC process is
going to “sustain good building utilization”.
Good building utilization!
That is a performance measurement
I never heard of when I was a Superintendent of Education. I guess we were hung
up on trivia such as education quality and service to the community.
I am beginning to think that this perpetual abandonment of Blyth and Brussels by AMDSB
may be a great advantage to these communities. If we expect nothing of them, we’ll never be
disappointed when nothing is what we receive.
That sense of being on our own as far as education is concerned, casting off the yoke of a board that nether represents us or serves us, may just spur us on to create a better service than that board would be capable of providing even if they really cared.
Brock Vodden
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