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ShareEDITORIAL: Debacle in school district
Published: September 09, 2008 3:00 PMUpdated: September 11, 2008 10:27 AM
We can debate the reasons, but there’s no question the start of the 2008-09 school year in the Comox Valley is a mess.
In the process of massive change that includes declining enrolment, school closures, catchment boundary shifts and grade reconfiguration, some problems are obvious.
Some schools have more students trying to get in than they can accommodate. Georges P. Vanier Secondary School is an obvious example.
Portables have appeared at several schools, never the best outcome for students, teachers and parents.
Worst of all, the condition of some of the portables has alarmed and disgusted those same people.
Besides their depressing, rundown appearance, some trailers are infested with mould, a health concern that undermines confidence in the school board and School District 71 staff at a time when that precious commodity is already at a low ebb.
Superintendent Jordan Tinney has inspected portables, and some are being destroyed, although you have to wonder whether mouldy trailers might have been pressed into service were it not for an outcry by parents and staff.
Portable replacements will cost money and not be immediately available, worsening an already awkward overcrowding situation.
Critics say trustees and board staff cannot use a delay caused by a legal challenge as an excuse. In fact, they partially can, because they could not proceed for weeks with their plans until a judge ruled.
However, the magnitude of problems is such that there would have been trouble implementing the sweeping changes even without waiting for a legal ruling.
Challengers to current trustees are springing up in what will be a raucous school board election campaign. It’s not easy being a trustee in a time of evaporating enrolment, and we wish the new board in advance all the best in sorting out this debacle.
editor@comoxvalleyrecord.com
