Confirm schools as viable
Cowichan Valley Citizen
April 4, 2008
Opinion By: Duncan Brown, Chair of the Community Alliance for Public Education

As we approach the day of decision on four of our district schools, this is a good time to contemplate whether closure of these schools would be a reasonable response to the fiscal crisis that has been created by this provincial government….

The Ministry of Education has presented their version of enhanced education funding increases to prove to a restless populace that despite the observable decline of conditions in our classrooms that they are doing right by our system and funding it generously.

But they are not….

So -- we are now being directed to close and sell our schools to make up the shortfall….

The educational rationales coexist with references to crowding, disruption and loss of opportunities and programs at the schools slated to receive the populations of those schools that are to be closed. And that is before we even start discussing the daycare spaces we will lose….