Avoiding school closings -- or putting a moratorium on closures as former education minister Gerard Kennedy did in 2003 -- has been politically smart in the past. It's now time for the Toronto board as a whole to flex its muscles against overprotective types trying to do the best for their own neighbourhood, but hurting the entire school system as a result.The editorial goes on to say there has been only one vote to close a school in the TDSB since 2002, Timothy Eaton Tech. That vote has been subject to a petition and the Ministry of Education announced today, July 17, it has appointed David Cooke to conduct an administrative review of the decision.
And yes, that is very painful.
But this is a school board running at a deficit and raiding reserve funds to keep the lights on and books on students' desks and teachers in the classrooms.
For the Sun to come out with this position shouldn't surprise, given the paper's traditional viewpoints. However, before simply dismissing what the paper has to say, it's important to recognize that as far as I've been able to observe, the Sun is virtually alone in reporting on the pending reviews. Moira MacDonald broke the story, and I've been unable to unearth any significant reporting from other major Toronto media since her story broke. The closest I can find is a Louise Brown story from July 9 in The Star, where West Toronto Collegiate is used as an example and the pending reviews are referenced.
As written here previously, these reviews and how they're to be covered should be highly instructive to the rest of Ontario, where we've been dealing with these for a few years now.
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1 comments:
we have no shortage of education reporting in my region ER. As a matter of fact I feel that if it wasn't for the print media(mostly) and radio(a close second)the outcome in my particular community would not have been as successful.
That said, there were those who criticized the "glut" of media coverage and blamed the constant and updated reporting on the poor attendance at the ARC community meetings.
I think media plays a huge role re: not just information but in translating the sometimes eduspeak into language the community can understand.
I believe a poster hear a while back also talked of the Toronto Catholic accomm. reviews and how the Minister is dragging on those recommendations?
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