Feature Article August 8, 2001
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Commentaryby David BrisonThe Limestone Board does it again.Last week we reported that the board of education had decided to move two adult education programs from their location at the North Frontenac Literacy Program (NFLP) without adequate consultation with their long-term partners. Further, they closed the literacy to credit program without approval of the funder of that program The Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities. In fact the Ministry said in a prepared and official statement, that they had not approved the change in advance and were surprised by the decision.
The administration also decided to move the credit program to the Ontario Works office at North Frontenac Community Services without looking into the logistics of that move in advance. The decision to radically change adult education programs without consultation with people in the north feels the same as the fiasco the Board created last September with the Grade 7 and 8 classes at Sharbot Lake Intermediate School. With no advance notice, the Board decided to combine Grade 7 & 8 students in one 36-pupil room for 50% of their instruction. This decision created havoc for parents, teachers, and pupils. There were a large number of special needs students in the classes. Everyone on the scene in Sharbot Lake knew that the children in those classes needed more instructional time, not less, and the Board should also have known that, because they had all the data. They simply made a bad decision. Three weeks later they admitted they had made a mistake and reversed the decision, but not before real damage had been done. The students, many of whom needed a stable situation, were destabilized for a least a month, if not more. The brunt of the teaching load fell on Cynda McAdoo, and it was a real hardship. The problem is that the administration of the board doesnt know what is going on up here and they arent inclined to listen to people who do. (They tipped their hand in that regard when they named the board the Limestone Board, in spite of the fact that that geological designation applies only to a small portion of their area a portion centred, of course, in Kingston.) The administration, under the direction of Barry O Connor, has stirred things up again and it is going to take a lot of work to settle it down. They may succeed, but damage has already been done and a lot of people have spent a lot of time trying to set matters straight. Students are already confused. Does this have to continue? What is going to come next? The Boards Executive Facilitator Jack Fox, who understands the educational issues in northern areas, was a constructive force during the Grade 7 and 8 crisis. Perhaps he should become Facilitator of Northern Education. A handy definition of north could be north of the 401. Education is in the midst of tough times. We need to work with, not in opposition to, our administrators in Kingston.