School Wars: Battleship—A new numbers games coming to a school near you

This year school district 68 and the Ministry of Education have chosen to come up with a facilities renewal plan that pits one secondary school against another. Parent advisory committees have been pitted against one another from both Woodlands and NDSS fighting for their schools and their school neighborhood communities. In the end, the only winners are the accountants as the only things left afloat are alleged numbers of hoped for even enrolment (1100-1200) and more operating dollars. And even then, the numbers game fails, when you have secondary schools with enrolments of 500 (Cedar) and 1400 (Dover), and when additional taxpayer dollars are required to make the necessary road and public transportation changes to the proposed secondary school site, the receiving schools expansion costs, and interim construction transition costs (unaccounted for) and still fall short of what we currently have. Are we robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Student learning environment—sunk
Student access to physical fitness amenities—sunk
School neighborhoods—sunk
Congenial collaboration between schools—sunk
Capital upgrade promises—sunk
School transportation access—sunk
School program integration—sunk
French immersion access—sunk
Gabriola Island and Protection Island school access—sunk
2007-08 year focusing district staff and parent resources fighting over numbers—sunk
Public Education—sunk