Another question posed to Haley dealt with speculation that is circulating among many people as to the board’s reason for its decision. The decision to reconfigure the schools solves the problem of where to house the early French immersion program since it will be offered at Maple Grove. The board had been faced with the decision of whether to house it at Maple Grove or Yarmouth Junior High.
Some people have charged that the board was lobbied by a small group of parents who did not want to send their children to the town junior high school for early French immersion.
As she was being asked the question, Haley shook her head and said no, that was not true, nor was it a reason for the board’s decision.
“I know that’s out there,” she said, adding there’s been a lot of fear mongering and lies spread about the board’s decision and the motivation behind it.
“I just wish that people could set this kind of thing aside, I mean the behavior here tonight, I wonder what the reaction would have been had the board members laughed and booed when (the public) made presentations,” she said, referring to the reaction some people had towards the school board.
Surette’s motion to rescind the original board motion will be made at the board’s June 1 monthly meeting. At the May 4 meeting, and before Surette gave her notice of motion, a motion was approved to hold the June meeting in Digby, as opposed to the board’s office in Yarmouth. Last November the school board had approved a motion to hold a spring and fall meeting in Digby and Shelburne counties to give people from those counties more access to board meetings.
Some people thought it was suspicious that board would choose now to hold a meeting outside of Yarmouth, but Haley said the timing to move the meeting was coincidental. She said the motion from last November had been overlooked.
The school board says its decision to reconfigure the grade levels at the schools will benefit students academically. Students in Grades 7 and 8 will have the same access to programs, putting them on equal footing when they move onto high school. It will also ensure that students have as wide a choice of programming options as possible.
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Similarly, the board says, the grade 9 students attending Yarmouth Junior High School will have the same opportunities in preparation for high school.
Aside from the construction of a new high school, another consideration for the school board is declining enrolment. School board staff says with the projected declining enrolment in the upcoming years – in four or five years time – Maple Grove would have experienced a significant enrolment decline. While the board had been exploring putting Grade 7 and 8 students from Yarmouth Junior High in a P-8 school after the new high school is built, with declining enrolment the board says putting all Grade 7 and 8 students together will create critical mass that will help in the delivery of programs.
Were instead the status quo to remain at Maple Grove and the enrolment drop from the present 472 students to 354 students in four years time, that would result in cuts.
“A drop of that magnitude (which is possible) would result in a cut to the teaching staff at MGEC of approximately 6.5 teachers,” Bill Curry, the board’s director of programs and students services told The Vanguard. “A cut of that magnitude would make certain programs not viable. For example, many of our junior high schools do not offer music, family studies, technology education and art to every student as MGEC is able to do.”
Curry said the declining enrolment issue, while not an immediate concern, is not something the board could ignore. With a new high school on the horizon for students in Grades 9-12, he said this factor, plus the desire to have common programs and equality of education in place, led to the board’s decision.
