Another school bites the dust (reader letter)

SooToday.com received the following letter from a faithful reader, Robert Bressan, expressing his concerns about the recent school closure announcements.

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Another school bites the dust (St. Theresa).

And another one down (St. Pius), and another one down (St. Ann), another school bites the dust (St. John).

Yikes!

Just like another move in chess, the Huron Superior Catholic District School Board (HSCDSB) officially and strategically announced the closure of yet another two valuable central neighbourhood schools (St. Theresa and St. John) and is singing this classic Queen song with a smirk.

Rest in peace neighbourhood schools!

When will parents around these neighbourhoods and City Council finally come to realize their property values are declining and hope for a better vibrant, sustainable, and diversified community is slowly going down the drain?

When will anyone even care to speak up and question what is happening?

The National Policy and Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN) just released a policy package entitled Model School Siting Policies for School Districts.

Maybe everyone including those at the Ministry of Education and local school boards should take this home tonight as homework and read it.

What does it state?

“Two-thirds of today’s schools are located far from where children live… the number of children walking and bicycling to school has shrunk dramatically…and obesity rates in children and adolescents have more than tripled, with a third of children now overweight or obese.

"When schools are located near where children live, kids can walk and bicycle to school, as well as use school playgrounds and facilities for physical activity outside of school hours.

"Physical activity has been shown to improve students’ academic performance and test scores.

"Moreover, parental involvement is easier for families when schools and homes are close together, which also improves academic achievement and student behavior.

"Community-centered schools provide other benefits too: less driving to school means less air pollution, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced traffic.

"In addition, community centered schools can serve as neighborhood centers, increasing community support for schools at a time when a smaller percentage of American households have school-aged children”

How profound!

If only we had known this!?

Now does anyone here in the Soo remotely think St. Basil’s High School is accessible to any elementary school child by walking, jogging, or biking?

Go and check this out for yourself.

I dare you to walk across St. George’s Avenue in the morning or afternoon.

And while you are at it, please ask yourself where will the high school children downtown go to school when St. Basils and St. Mary’s are closed and moved yet further north closer to Superior Heights?

You think our school boards are aware or educated on these studies?

Our provincial government and Ministry of Education have always advertised their propaganda in the media that they’re ‘Building Better Schools’!

Darn right they are!

It’s just too bad they’re not building better children, a better community, or a better future for our province!

Do you really think our current educational system really and truly cares about the health and welfare of our children, our parents, or our future, or do they care more about following obsolete provincial policies, following draconian Torontonian practices, and temporarily balance their financial books by selling off prime real estate and capital assets currently owned by we the taxpayer?

Until the consolidation of these four elementary schools into St. Basils happens in 2015/16, I will continue preaching and educating to you this truth until a light turns on.

After that, I’ll let history speak for itself.

Unless more parents start speaking up for their children and question what is happening as many others are doing across the province, it will be too late to speak up when its actually done.

I don’t believe Mark Twain when he said: "God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board."

I like to think our provincial government, Ministry of Education, and School Boards are much more smarter than that!

Robert Bressan

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