Save Our School say Land O’Lakes Public School supporters

Parents, community members, and local politicians filled the Sharbot Lake High School cafeteria to send a unified message to the entire Board of Trustees of the Limestone District School Board.

The message: Save Land O’Lakes Public School.

A public meeting was held on Tuesday night, March 2, as part of a Program and Accommodation Review Process for the Sharbot Lake Family of Schools, which is set to culminate in a decision on June 9 by the Board of Trustees. That decision will determine the future of all the schools in the family.

The Ontario Ministry of Education had committed almost $13 million to build a new school for a projected enrolment of 700 students in the region, and there are two competing plans about how that money should be spent.

A publicly constituted Program and Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) met for 9 months before coming up with a proposal to close the existing public schools in Parham and Sharbot Lake and Sharbot Lake High School and build a new school “in Sharbot Lake or another suitable location”. Under the PARC plan, Land O’Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove and Clarendon Central School in Plevna would remain in place.

Senior school board staff released their own report in January. It differs from the PARC report on two points. First it calls for Land O’Lakes Public School to close, and second it stipulates that the new comprehensive school be built in Sharbot Lake at the site of the current Sharbot Lake High School.

The trustees will make the final decision.

The meeting in Sharbot Lake began with a short recap of the process that has been followed thus far, followed by presentations from four people who had registered in advance for a 10-minute time slot.

The four were David Dashke, a parent with two children in the school, Jamie Riddell, a parent with three children in the school and co-chair of the school council, Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski, and Christine Teal who has two children that attend Hinchinbrooke Public School in Parham

Mr. Dashke said he moved to the area six years ago, and has been pleased with the location and quality of education at LOLPS, which is located just minutes from his house. He questioned some of the enrolment projections that were used in the planning, noting that LOLPS has enjoyed steady enrolment in the 150 student range for several years while Sharbot Lake Public School has seen a decrease of 30 students over 5 years, to a current total of 94.

“Yet the projections call for a decrease at Land O’Lakes over the next five years and no further decrease in Sharbot Lake,” he said. “By all accounts Land O’Lakes is the jewel of all the local schools. It is the newest and it is universally accessible.

Dashke said that if Land O’Lakes closes he will likely bypass Sharbot Lake and drive his children to South Frontenac where specialty programming is available.

Jamie Riddell talked about the increased time children would be spending on the bus, and the increased cost if Land O’Lakes closes and students are sent to Sharbot Lake. He also said “there is a special relationship between the local fire department and the school and the township has stepped forward to improve recreational facilities as well.”

Mayor Janet Gutowski referred to the letter her council sent to the Board last week in favour of the PARC proposal. She also said that she found the staff report had “been written with an urban bias” and that her research had shown up several flaws in its reasoning. “There were only two sentences in the report about the value of schools to a community in the report, which seems to take a ‘bigger is better’ approach that does not fit the rural reality,” she said.

Christine Teal was concerned not only that her own school in Parham was slated to close, but also that its site has not been considered seriously as the location for a new school.

After the registered presenters, members of the 100 plus standing room-only audience were invited to make shorter remarks. Several parents who are new to the area talked about the positive reception their children have received at Land O’Lakes Public School, and pointed out that they had moved to the area with the small rural school experience for their children in mind. As well, community members spoke out in favour of keeping LOLPS in place.

Terry Kennedy, a retiree on Kenenbec Lake, said to the trustees, “You have a situation that is viable in Mountain Grove and you have a proposal to create an artificially viable situation in Sharbot Lake. You had a process in place with the PARC and community members brought a lot of goodwill to that process. It seems to me that you should honour that process when you make your final decision,”

The next step in the PARC process will be the release of a revised senior staff report in April that will take the input from Tuesday night’s meeting into account.

The trustees will then consider all the options in April and May, before making their final decision.