McGuinty gov’t made school board trustee powerless

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Sandy

First, let me explain that further to my announcement that I would be running for the position of school board trustee for the District School Board of Niagara in the Ontario October 25th, 2010 municipal election, I have had to withdraw for family reasons.

Second, I want all Ontarians to know, but particularly professional journalists and the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, that the changes the McGuinty government made to the Education Act through the “Student Achievement and School Board Governance Act, 2009,” has made the role of elected trustee completely and utterly meaningless. Yet, had I not decided to run as a trustee, however briefly, I would not have known.

Read the “Making a Difference for Kids: Running for Election as a School Board Trustee.” It is not a long document but there are truths hidden in plain sight within its pages. Specifically, while there are a lot of motherhood statements about how important trustees are to school boards in terms of accountability and mediating among conflicting interests and values, there is even more about how elected trustees are simply one member of a “team” and that once the “team” makes a decision, individual trustees should be seen and not heard.

I mean, everyone knows a school board is a “team.” But, what we haven’t really understood is how the legislation is now essentially about conformity and acquiescence — the very antithesis of democracy. For example (my highlighting):

“School trustees are the members of the District School Board. They are locally-elected representatives of the public, and they are the community’s advocate for public education.” (Page 4)

“Only the team (the Board), not an individual trustee, has the authority to make decisions or take action. A school board must place all students first when making any decision.” (Page 4)

“Trustees are required to uphold the implementation of any board resolution after it is passed by the board. In exercising their role, they are required to comply with the board’s code of conduct.” (Page 4 — What code of conduct?)

“Under the Education Act trustee power lies solely in membership on the corporate school board. As members of the corporate board, trustees are legally accountable to the public and the Minister of Education for collaborative decisions of the board…This means that once the Board has voted, it is a trustee’s responsibility to act in a manner that promotes and upholds the board’s decision and to communicate the board’s decision back to the constituency.” (Page 7)

“Acceptance to serve on a school board assumes an awareness of the legislated expectations and responsibilities conferred through legislation, provincial policy, contractual agreements or any other mechanism. Trustees must act within these parameters, and be aware of the consequences of decisions that don’t respect these commitments. “(Page 7 What consequences?) 

So, a rhetorical question might be: What good is electing a trustee based on what the candidate communicated during his or her campaign?  I mean, if a board wants to close a school, just how much can a trustee say or do? It would appear, not much if the board as a whole has already voted to close it.

In effect, then, the McGuinty Liberal government has made the role of school board trustee absolutely powerless — nothing more than window dressing. And, is that erosion an ”attack on democracy?” You bet it is and Ontarians need to deal with it in the Ontario provincial election in October 2011 — by booting the McGuinty crew out!

Posted in Ont Govt Educ, School Boards, Trustees | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Sandy Crux a candidate for Niagara school board trustee

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Sandy

Update: As visitors to theretirededucator.com will note, I have had to withdraw from the election campaign for unexpected family reasons. Must have been the shortest campaign ever!

[...]

Original article started here: I will be running as a trustee for the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) in the Monday, October 25th, 2010, Ontario municipal elections. In fact, I handed in my Nomination Papers today and paid my fee. Tomorrow I open a campaign bank account and try to set up an election team of family and close friends.

Do I have a chance to win? Well, one just never knows, particularly when incumbents are re-elected more often than not — even when people are unhappy with their performance. Whatever the case, I have a very small budget and hope to use this blog and the social networking sites to do most of my electioneering, although I may buy a few signs for strategic locations and a few newspaper ads. However, whether I win or lose, it will be an interesting experience to learn what it is like to try to be elected.

My campaign motto will be “Putting Kids First.” And, believe you me, that is not just a slogan. I mean it. For instance:

  • Are the allegations true that the DSBN re-allocated funds that the Ontario government gave them to maintain Niagara District Secondary School (NDSS)? If true, the DSBN certainly didn’t put NOTL area kids first.
  • Did the DSBN put kids first when the NOTL Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) recommended leaving the high school open since it was the only one in the entire Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) – which includes the Old Town, Virgil, Queenston, St. David’s and Glendale?
  • Did the DSBN actually have authorization to close NDSS? Pelham trustee Gary Atamanyk doesn’t think so. As a result, if I am elected I will contribute to revisiting that school closure. Not for political reasons, but because it didn’t put the kids first. Moreover, it pitted Eden High School against NDSS, and parent against parent, which was most unfortunate because contrary to what many have been told, Eden clearly had nothing to do with the NDSS closure. Meaning, that perhaps time spent trying to get Eden students to register at NDSS could have been used in other ways.   

Oh, yes, I have heard all the low demographic statistics for NOTL. But, a right-sized high school could just easily have been built to educate 250 young people with the possibility of growing. I mean, demographics change. Who is to say that, with all the young families moving into the Village of Virgil, that in a few years, NOTL might actually end up needing a high school?

But, of all those issues, the one I have the most trouble with is those allegations by Atamanyk (see May 11th in the link) that funds meant to maintain the NDSS building and classrooms might have been allocated elsewhere. If proven to be true, what that would mean is that budgetary decisions were made that ensured NDSS would have to close – essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy. I mean, if a school can no longer offer credit and special programs, because they no longer have the facilities or technology, of course young people will go to other high schools.

Which, while off-topic, reminds of the closure of the Fort Erie hospital. The Niagara Health System removed all the machines and technology from the Emergency Room and then had the gall to say that it couldn’t remain a hospital because it didn’t have emergency room equipment! Well, ditto NDSS!

Then, of course, there is my pet peeve about social promotion and no-fail school board policies, not the policies themselves, which occasionally are appropriate, but the fact that they are now the norm. As a university instructor, I was faced with students who graduated from that kind of system and I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Ontario’s school administrators are not doing children any favours because employers will not be so understanding.  Thankfully, however, the McGuinty government just announced that secondary school teachers will once again be “allowed” to give zeros or low marks to students who don’t hand in their work, or don’t hand it in on time.

So, yes, I am now officially a candidate as a trustee for the DSBN and, for all those who visit this blog and can vote in the St. Catharines/Niagara-on-the-Lake part of Niagara, I hope I have your support. However, if elected, I would also represent the rest of the Niagara Region as one of a total of eleven English public school trustees.  Meaning, I have lots of work ahead of me to learn about the controversial school issues affecting all of Niagara’s communities.

Posted in Ontario Municipal Election, School Boards | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Ontario secondary students can now get “zeros!”

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Sandy

What grades are supposed to reflect…

Traditionally, when most parents and educators thought about grades, whether at the high school or university level, they assumed they were a realistic measurement of a student’s work.  Sure, most knew that teachers included a small percentage for effort and participation in every grade, but that a total grade could be counted on as a clear indication of how well a student could duplicate a skill or had covered a certain body of material. 

Ontario government’s “success” strategies…

Well, not so in Ontario since the Dalton McGuinty government came to power in the fall of 2003. In fact, in the government’s quest for “inclusion” and “equality,” they have watered down what students have to do to the point that academic standards are now meaningless.

Continue reading →

Posted in Educational Issues, No-fail Policy, Ont Govt Educ, Student Issues | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Do StatsCan numbers mean we are a country of illiterates?

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Sandy

I would swear that each and every time there is a major literacy study, the percentages get higher. Now, either the teachers in our publicly funded schools are totally inadequate (which some would debate is the case) or it is how illiteracy is defined that is responsible for the ever increasing statistics. And, while I think that decades long social promotion and no-fail policies are likely not helping the literacy rates, the latest StatsCan report is, without a doubt, misleading. 

Specifically, to read this CBC story titled “Canada’s Shame,” is to think Canada is a country of illiterates. Yet, that is simply not true. It is not true because it all depends on how the numbers are collected and analyzed, what assumptions one makes about what it takes to become literate, as well as how one defines illiteracy or semi-literacy. And, in my opinion, StatsCan misses the mark on all three with their seven-country international survey.

Continue reading →

Posted in Dyslexia Strategies, Literacy, No-fail Policy, StatsCan | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Mike Holmes making it right for First Nations

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Sandy

Good on Mike Holmes! Rather than simply build sustainable homes in First Nations communities, he is going to show them “how” to do it so that they will learn the knowledge and skills-sets they need to build their own sustainable homes.

Whether it was the first HGTV Holmes on Homes program, Holmes in New Orleans, or the more recent “Holmes Inspection,” I am a fan of Canada’s famous contractor and now celebrity. I like him because he is a no-nonsense kind of guy who just gets the job done. He just looks out at the camera and speaks with conviction (and sometimes moral outrage) in a way that makes it look like he is talking directly to each one of us.

The trademarked phrase “Make It Right” will alway be associated with Holmes now, although it could just as easily be “helping people to help themselves.” Now, as before, he is using his celebrity to change lives, this time in a First Nations community in Ontario — apparently following on what he has been doing in Alberta.

Here is what Macleans writes on this latest venture, which will no doubt make it onto TV at some point. Holmes says:

“’If it was 50 homes being built, our target date [for completion] would be one year.’ The funding for the pilot, as well as future projects, will come entirely from the First Nations communities. ‘Certain bands and certain areas have been putting money aside for restructuring,’ he says. The ultimate goal: to provide those in First Nations communities with the tools to rebuild. ‘I don’t mean a hammer, a level and a square,’ he says. ‘I mean an education system so they can do it themselves.’”

Mike Holmes. Continuing to make it right. We need more practical hands-on educators like that!

Posted in Aboriginal Topics, Mike Holmes | Tagged , | 8 Comments