A heated meeting in Harrow as the Greater Essex County District School Board works through its review of empty spaces at five schools in three communities.
"Education is supposed to work for us; this is our community and these are our communities," says Essex Councillor Sherry Bondy, speaking against a potential closure of Harrow District High School. "The problem stems from the [provincial government] and that's where we need to apply pressure and that's where we need to say, 'your funding model isn't working.'"
Superintendent of Accommodations Todd Awender says the review is part of addressing 6,000 empty spaces and a $2-million deficit at the board.
"We have aging infrastructure throughout the board and we also have to look at our program needs as well as being able to provide opportunities for our students," says Awender.
Peggy Thompson from Harrow got up to the microphone in front of a packed gymnasium in the Harrow high school and pressed board administration to look for savings before settling on closing the doors.
"You have directors, superintendents, secretaries, administrative assistants, non-union support staff," says Thompson. "They have a budget. They should make the cuts before they come to me."
Western Secondary School parent Susan Cote attended the meeting and asked if the board was planning a similar school merger to the one that created Westview Freedom Academy in Windsor.
"It'd be helpful to know if that was a success or a failure, before you do the same thing with Western and other local schools," says Cote.
The Program and Accommodation Review Committee is assessing schools in Amherstburg, Harrow and Kingsville. Two more public input sessions are planned: the first at Western Secondary School on April 13 and the other in Kingsville at Migration Hall on May 12, both beginning at 6:30pm.
