Plenty to learn

School closure process to unfold quickly

The December 22 deadline to apply to become a member of the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) looms. And still, many parents, community members, even school staff, are a little murky on the details.

The committees, which the board is developing to help figure out a plan for schools affected by a ministry push to close schools with low enrollment, will be decided on January 9.

Although the six groups—one each for CML Snider, Pinecrest, Sophiasburgh, Kente, Queen Elizabeth and PECI—will each have nine members, they will be brought together into a super ARC of 54 people. They will meet for the first time in January, with a full plan to be prepared for June 19, 2017. Those not involved in the ARC will have their first chance for input on Wednesday, February 1, at PECI.

Two members representing each school must be community members. These two are not directly affected by the school closures as parents, staff or students, but rather stakeholders within the communities.

On Thursday, the Prince Edward Heritage Advisory Committee (PEHAC) held its monthly meeting. On the agenda was CML Snider school. In the board’s plan, the school, not currently a designated heritage building, would be closed, with a new building built on the property or somewhere else in the village to accommodate CML and Kente students.

This could mean the building would be torn down.

But when another matter went long, PEHAC made the decision to defer discussion about the school to its January meeting.

When asked later, members were unaware of the narrow timeline for decisions on the schools.

On Friday, County mayor Robert Quaiff, along with CAO James Hepburn and economic and community head Neil Carbone visited the board office in Belleville to discuss the role the municipality has to play in the process.

The trio met with four board members who encouraged them to invite members of council to apply to sit on the ARCs. The ministry’s process states that municipal councillors or other municipal and community stakeholders should be invited to participate. However, it’s within the board’s discretion to decide which 12 community members will sit on the six ARC groups.

“Basically, they’re looking for a council or municipal rep. For example, if Jim Dunlop has an interest in Wellington, then he would apply saying he has an interest in the Wellington ARC,” says Quaiff. “But it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that they would be selected. There is a criteria of how they get selected.”

Quaiff says the municipality’s position is that none of the schools be closed.

“I asked, with closing schools in certain wards, have you got any experience as to what it did with concerns about real estate? Do people still move into those wards?” Quaiff wonders. “I certainly don’t think a young family would consider moving to Sophiasburgh if it didn’t have a school there.”

Quaiff says that the County wouldn’t give a position on protecting CML until they hear from PEHAC.

The board’s communications head, Kerry Donnell, says the board is doing its best to keep the community aware and up-to-date about the ARC process. The board advertised its search for applications in newspapers, on its website and on social media.

She understands the community has lots of questions.

“The answer—and likely more questions—will come through the accommodation review process, that’s why it is a public input process,” says Donnell.