Check out the protest these parents are making. They are walking for days between their hometown, and their children’s school, due to one of dozens of the senseless school closures in Saskatchewan this Spring. Kids attempting to grow up on farms/ranches south of where I grew up in Wood Mountain, now have Rockglen school which is ~45 minutes (one way) drive over gravel or broken pavement, ~30 minutes Glentworth over rough pavement, or ~1 hour Assiniboia/Lafleche over rough pavement. Glentworth, Rockglen, Lafleche, are all in the sights for closure in quickly coming years, putting kids on the bus for over 2.5 hours every day! The one room (home) school is going to be brought back to Saskatchewan by parents who want to avoid turning their kids into road warrior zombies.
- I attended Limerick School after they closed Wood Mountain School in 1994. It was a ~55km bus ride one way, every school day.
Should kids as young as five be forced onto a school bus 2 hours every (other) day, because incompetent school officials can’t figure out how to educate children as efficiently as their great grandparents did under the same geographical challenges, and with now better distance education programs to offer? Clearly the answer is no they shouldn’t, and there’s something wrong with the inflated estimates of money “saved” by shipping kids to so called “central” schools. Education clearly isn’t the priority of these school boards. And anyone who says that the current government in the province is committed to rural economic development, needs to be committed.
PSSD is guilty of reversing rural economic development as well.
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Stephen Glauser | 25-May-07 at 5:54 am | Permalink
While I sympathize with the children that are subjected to these long, arduous bus rides day in and day out for years, I don’t think I would categorize these school closures as “senseless.”
Some of these school had enrollment of 35 - 40 children. Keeping a school open to educate that many kids, while there is a larger school 15km away just does not seem feasible to me. It seems like a large waste of taxpayer money, faculty time and a whole host of other things.
Again, I feel for the kids, but keeping a school open for 50 kids is just stupid.
Decades ago, when one-room schools were the norm, they had 30 - 50 kids for the entire school like these schools do now. However, they were all tought by the same teacher in the same classroom. Saves on costs just a little bit.
Saskboy1 | 25-May-07 at 7:04 am | Permalink
While it may “seem” like a waste, you really don’t understand the economics or human factors involved. Take a look at the other posting I did which I linked to, and tell me if it still makes sense to close these schools.
If the one-teacher school is the model that is the only one affordable, then go with that (or more likely two or three teachers). Most QUALIFIED teachers can be had for next to NOTHING using distance ed, while saving millions on busing every year province wide.
stageleft | 25-May-07 at 10:49 am | Permalink
It’s not a rural thing Saskboy, it’s a national thing - the number of schools here in Ottawa that have been closed over the last few years so that even more kids can be crammed together in undersized rooms continues to grow.
In about 2 generations our governments will be shaking their heads and wondering what went wrong with the education system that failed our kids so miserably.
Dodos | 25-May-07 at 11:21 am | Permalink
My partner had her school shut down the year she graduated, resulting in her younger brother having to be bussed elsewhere - the school is literally ten minutes down the road. While I agree that there are alternative solutions, with a declining population in rural areas, at what point does it make sense to close schools? 30 kids? 15?
And I agree with SL here - our education system is in serious trouble. Not only are classroom sizes too big, but to be honest, given what teachers make we aren’t getting the brightest and best to teach our children. I teach the teachers and cringe when people say “education is the key.” Sure, I’m generalizing, there are lots of good teachers, but I think the bad outweighs the good.
Truth | 25-May-07 at 11:40 am | Permalink
We also have crippling unions who dont allow teachers to compensated upon performance but often based merely upon tenure.
Dont discount the fact that the unions likely wont allow one rooms schools anymore either, its ‘unfair’ labor put upon the instructor.
The lack of union flexibility is a major contributor to the economic situation of rural schooling.
Saskboy | 25-May-07 at 9:14 pm | Permalink
SL I know it’s more than just rural, Moose Jaw was affected even in this round of closures. Kids are not sardines, no matter where they live. The closures are further removing children from their parents’ lives, and that’s where our education problems are stemming from. Teachers are not accountable to the parents of the kids.
Derek | 18-Nov-07 at 7:18 pm | Permalink
Just curious who Saskboy is.
I grew up in the area, maybe I know of you?
Saskboy | 18-Nov-07 at 9:27 pm | Permalink
Perhaps. Did you see my photo?