By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
Parents and students who attended a school board meeting Tuesday night, May 4, looking for answers and satisfaction got neither. But they did find a crack in what had been the board’s unanimous motion a couple of weeks earlier to reconfigure the grade levels at Maple Grove and Yarmouth Junior High.
Board member Winnie Surette presented the board with a notice of motion. At the school board’s June 1 meeting she intends to make a motion asking the board to rescind its motion to reconfigure the schools effective this September. Her motion will also say that the board needs to allow for proper consultation and notification before another motion on the issue comes to the board table.
The more than 100 people who had crammed into the board’s meeting room, and those who had to stand outside in the hall, applauded Surette’s notice of motion.
Asked after the meeting what had changed since the time she had voted in favour of the initial motion at an April 20 special board meeting, Surette said many people are really upset with the board’s motion. But more significantly, Surette said when she had initially voted for the motion she was told the public was supportive of this idea.
“I asked some people the question, and they said yes, everybody was in agreement,” she said. “I thought if that’s the way it is, and people want this, I have to support them, that’s what I’m here for. But that’s not what happened.”
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She said it was wrong to have been told that everyone was in agreement.
Surette said in the past two days alone she had 58 letters emailed to her opposing the board’s motion. Asked if she thought the school board had made a mistake by making it decision without consulting more with the public first, Surette said yes.
Although a motion will be made at the next regular monthly meeting to rescind the original motion, over the next few weeks school board staff will continue to move ahead with the planning for the change that is scheduled to come into effect in September.
School board chair Faye Haley said the board cannot afford to lose a month of planning if at the next meeting the original motion stands. She said if the board decides not to rescind the motion, than they would have not lost “critical time” by not continuing to prepare for the change.
Parents and students quietly protested outside the school board office prior to the school board’s meeting. For over an hour they waved signs as passing motorists honked their horns. Many people came dressed in pink – a colour that has become a symbol in the fight against bullying. They said the school board is bullying people into a decision that people don’t want.
Once the meeting got underway the Maple Grove school advisory council and the Maple Grove home and school association made presentations to the board.
Parent Debbie Saulnier of the home and school association presented a list of 11 issues that have been identified by parents as concerns. The list included busing, the transitioning of students (particularly special needs students), the impact on extra curricular activities, the lack of a lunch program and noon-hour supervision at Yarmouth Junior High, the impact on academic programs that have been set up to function on a three-year cycle, the number of schools many students will have to attend in the span of a few years, and the impact on students building relationships with teachers.
Kerry Muise, chair of the school advisory council, said in the past the school board has displayed leadership and judgment in making difficult decisions. But this time she said proper procedure was not followed.
“No notice of this motion was given to the two schools, no chance for public input was given and no input was sought by the school board members from the SACs, home and school association, staff, parents or students of either school.
“Please reconsider your approach and postpone the decision so that the communities you serve feel as if their opinions have at least been considered and heard,” said Muise. “I ask you to rescind your motion until proper consultation and notice has been given. More answers need to be made available on the issues that involve changes to two school communities.”
While Muise gave her presentation she was joined at the table by Rachel McGray, a parent of a Yarmouth Junior High student.
