Comments on: Holy crap! Has Regina lost all of its children?

By: Chris McDougall

Chris McDougall — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:21:51 +0000

I don’t really have a strong opinion on the school closures, but I’d like to use this opportunity to share a few hear-say pieces of info.
1. A friend of mine advised that a kindergarten teacher at Thompson School in Regina’s core area gets an extra annual budget of $150 for school supplies and outings (ouch… $150 for a whole year?).
2. Another friend of mine who is involved with the United Way told me that the United Way estimates about 1,000 kids in Regina’s inner city are not attending school and Regina’s system does not officially recognize this because these kids, for various reasons, are moving almost every month. Thus, there is no school specifically noticing they’re not in class and there is no official statistic that recognizes this issue.

Both of my above points are hear-say, so please take them with a grain of salt (although I find the 2nd one to be very believable; most people who have done any long-term volunteer work in Regina’s inner city would agree). My reason for stating the above 2 points is not to debate the school closure issue, but to encourage readers who have some extra time in their week to get involved in some inner city programs targeted at helping kids. Hey, if you’ve been thinkin’ about it, or if what’s going on in “the hood” has been bothering you enough to consider trying to offer some help, opportunity’s a-waitin’. These kids need people to stand in the gap for them. Maybe that’s you…

Cheers,

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:57:02 +0000

As horrible as this is (and absolutely ridiculous- TWELVE schools?!), maybe this is what is needed for Saskatchewan residents to start working together to ensure that the future of their children is being taken care of. There has always been a huge split between rural and urban, in my experience, and maybe this will give them some common ground. Maybe people (both rural and urban) will be able to see that it’s not just affecting their own children, but children across the province. Maybe instead of recruiting people from other provinces, the government should try keeping the people that they have…but wait a minute! They couldn’t do that! It would be effective, efficient, and display a brand of common sense that just isn’t acceptable once you’re in office…

By: Saskboy1

Saskboy1 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:55:32 +0000

“Listening to the reports on CBC radio this morning you could have sworn that it was about rural school closings by the reaction of some parents.”

Do you know why? It’s because the closure of schools, rural or urban, means the death of a community center. A new community may be born out of the change, or no no community will form, and you’ll be left with a group of commuters, not a group community.

By: Saskboy1

Saskboy1 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:52:26 +0000

Interesting question Catelli.

==
Sean S “by being able to offer a more diverse range of classes, increased special ed support, ESL programs, ”

I have to disagree because that’s not correct, Sean. There was special education support in my K, Grade 1 and 2 classroom in 1984-86 and there were about 18 children in the room. ESL programs and diverse classes have been offered over satellite to small schools (including large city ones who can’t attract the right teachers) since at least 1997. I took a satellite calculus class, and the quality was there, I got a 79 in that class, and at the UofR ended up with a 94 in the same subject the next semester.

“not to mention the social schooling of having to deal with a larger group of students.”

Which is an argument both for, and against larger schools. Have you got any other concrete reasons?

By: Catelli

Catelli — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:23:57 +0000

Acknowledging I’m far removed from this issue:

I wonder how much neighborhood demographics plays into this? We have the problem in our community where schools are in neighborhoods where families don’t live anymore. They did 20-30 years ago, but the kids moved away and the neighborhood is mostly retired seniors. Where the families are now in a different area fo the city.

Its funny, until I had kids I didn’t notice this clustering effect, but all over Cambridge you’ll find neighborhoods with almost no children and neighborhoods like mine where everyone has kids. Based on observation, it seems to follow development, newer subdivisions attract younger families whereas established neighborhoods attract more mature childless couples looking for peace and quiet. Unfortunately the schools don’t move and follow the patterns of the shifting communities.

As I qualified earlier, I don’t know how much this affects Regina, but until I witnessed it, this shifting demographic issue never even occurred to me.

By: Sean S.

Sean S. — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:41:43 +0000

I would suggest that closing smaller schools and moving those students to larger schools increases the quality of education. This is done by being able to offer a more diverse range of classes, increased special ed support, ESL programs, etc… not to mention the social schooling of having to deal with a larger group of students.

I will echo your question of where are the operational savings going to with the planned closures? However, is that 1% increase over the lifetime of the plans implementation? If the plan is to take 5-10 years to complete than a 1% raise over that timeframe is small.

Listening to the reports on CBC radio this morning you could have sworn that it was about rural school closings by the reaction of some parents. Having grown up in large S. Ontario schools I don’t really see larger schools being detrimental to the students.