This past spring, when the public’s fury with the board’s conduct coalesced, your Minister of Education did not establish an arm’s-length inquiry into both sides of the problem. Instead she sent a technician to aid the board, saying repeatedly that she would vigorously support the board, and the board only.From the article:
This technician refused to speak with anyone who was not a member of the board, the administration or some like institutional organization. He refused to speak with the public or any citizen. Public concerns were systematically scorned.
Nine people signed a letter to McGuinty in mid-December saying an inquiry into the board's activities is necessary and that he had until Jan. 8 to take action.The article quotes Ferguson but neglects to mention he's appears to be the principal author of the letter requesting the inquiry.
The nine include Lesa McDougal, the founder of the Bluewater Citizens for Education, and John Fearnall, the founder of MendEd:Mending Education, local action groups, and Deborah Whipple of Aurora, the chairwoman of the Parents of Gifted Advocacy Network.
This leaves me wondering whether Ferguson read the report received by trustees in November. I wonder-- is that the very same "technician" referred to in the letter who was involved in this report? The report that spoke to families who've left the board's schools? That surveyed members of the public? That held public meetings where, as best as I can tell from this post, any member of the public was able to speak?
What are these people still seeking an inquiry into?
Further, in their nine demands -- to be responded to by Friday -- they ask for "redress where damage has been done," and that a "proper" complaints procedure be established for the future.
Yes, the BDSB trustees haven't (at least not as I can tell through the media) indicated how they will implement the recommendations of the November report. They should be held accountable to implementing -- or at least beginning the process -- those recommendations.
What good, other than ego, would an inquiry do? Particularly when we're 10 months away from an election? If Ferguson and his supporters truly don't want "trustees to waste further effort on a venture for which they are simply not ethically competent," well, put more of your money where your mouth is. Nominations for Bluewater District School Board trustee opened Monday.
If you can get the support to get elected, then you can implement all the changes you want, bring "redress" to the afflicted and move on.
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10 comments:
Agree! I'm pretty sure that nothing will make this crew happy because it's all about politics.
Even to the point of the comments left I see.
No punches being pulled about exactly what this is about and it's not educating children.
That RetDir sure gets around. A little surprised by the ugliness of her/his political pulls. Looking for a fight perhaps?
ER,
All I can say is from the outside looking in this is the worst possible kind of PR for this board.
No matter what the politics or who's doing what to who - it taints everything else if it distracts folks from doing their jobs.
If I were looking to move to this area and doing my homework I'm not sure I'd be happy about sending kids to this board, unless the media is picking up some good news stories too.
If all the papers do is pick up on the crap then maybe the media is somewhat responsible in feeding the frenzy?
CC
Anon 07-8:15 is correct that in this instance my dislike of the MP in the area is clear - although not in order to praise any other party, or to pick a fight. It is assumed locally by many that the MP's actions are motivated by personal animosity toward the current director based on a long history between the two, particularly with regards to the director's support for affirmative action and for positive school environments for gay students, and that he is hiding this animosity behind bluster about representing the people. I'm sure he would deny this, but if it is true I find it offensive that he is using his position to this end, regardless of one's opinion of the director, or the board.
PF has already indicated that he will not run for trustee as he can't afford to - there is a case to reexamine what trustees are paid, since if they spend the amount of time they need to on the job it is not a voluntary one, and should be recompensed fairly. $5000 a year was a slap in the face from the government of the day, and remains punitive.
And the bulk of my comment on the MendEd site, speaking to the heart of the matter, was "if there are only nine people who were willing to sign PF’s letter, the actions of the board over the past few months must have convinced people that they are acting in good faith to solve the problems they faced, and that the people who seem to be creating minor careers out of stirring the pot are no longer to be paid attention to. Too bad in some ways, since there seem to be some legitimate issues, but beating a drum too long and too loudly leads people to become deaf. Crying wolf perhaps?"
Many of the same thoughts as above had struck me as I was drafting this post— a post that has a higher-than-average level of errors. Ooops. That's what I get for trying to be coherent at 1:30 a.m.
RetDir— BDSB trustees would make more than $5K... using the new formula my guess is they're at least double that on an annual basis.
Nine people does not a majority of opinion make. I don't believe this will draw any response from the premier, period. Action has been taken, recommendations made. Instead of focusing on holding those responsible for change and implementation to account, some are writing letter and asking for another inquiry.
Hugo
If what's gone wrong within the Bluewater board amounts to bad blood between and elected MP and a school board director, then the community should oust them both.
Should be easy if the MP's seen as being at fault, vote him out of office.
As for the director, voters have to either ante up and run themselves if they don't like her or work through their trustee which seems to have proven to be a waste of time if what's reported is any indication.
Here's a question for you ER. If all this is, is based on a past-history, political dust-up why haven't the media picked it up as such and/or replaced all of the negative press with something more positive?
I was looking back to Dave Cooke's recommendations that resulted from his Taskforce on Effective Schools and there's a whole list of recommendations including four specifically that deal with the government creating an agency that would conduct independent reviews of boards on a regular basis to make sure that they were doing things like conducing director job reviews, and accounting for student achievement. There was even a recommendation suggesting that boards be accredited on three levels that would be catch things like what has developed at Bluewater early and act on it.
Another report that seems to have been left collecting dust.
What we're left with is more proof of how adults can mess things up "for the sake of the students".
CC
CC - that assumes the media are independent and unbiased. There would be some evidence in Bluewater that the editor of the SunTimes is neither, and is in fact fueling the controversy. He has done this in the past with the health unit, and the school board appears to be the cause du jour.
Having said that, Maria Canton the reporter has done her best to report accurately, but has been stymied by editorial policy. And she now seems to have disappeared from the education beat - perhaps as a result of a vindictive editor?
If that's the case RetDir one would expect that would tire of the drone and undercurrent of what that paper is offering. Balancing off a biased media or news room is a bitch.
Would a paper not cater to the community though? If the communities eating this stuff up the paper might just be giving it what it wants?
CC:
I don't know enough about the Sun Times newsroom or the personalities involved to comment. The Sun Times is likely the largest newsroom within the BDSB and this is, however that might make anyone feel, rather too local an issue for media outside the district to pay attention.
RetDir:
I know of the editor in Owen Sound, but I've never met him. A friend of mine locally worked there a summer. What I do know is he has quite a bit of national / chain duties, meaning his mind isn't 100% focused on his own newsroom 100% of the time.
Different newsrooms are handled very differently depending on the manager (not that different from other workplaces, really). I've always considered myself fortunate: for the majority of the time that I've been in my current newsroom I've had a tremendous amount of freedom to make my own choices and report on what I want to write about. I am well aware that if I worked in other newsrooms I would be taking marching orders on what stories to write-- and in some, not necessarily being overtly told word-for-word what the article will say but told what perspective it should have.
One of the quickest lessons when I started working full-time in a newsroom is that as grandiose as it might be to think journalists write for their audience at large, we don't. We write for our editors-- because if they don't like it, it never sees an audience beyond their gate.
The untapped story -- that I've not seen yet from the Sun Times -- is what happens next with the report. When progress updates are due to the public, how trustees are planning to implement it, etc. That's the bigger story that goes beyond any bad blood between personalities, of which Ferguson is definitely one who appears to have an axe to grind and has the tenacity to lean on that grinding stone until he makes his point.
Hugo
ER,
I agree with your quest for the "bigger story" from the Sun Times. I would have thought that a fabulous way to kick-off a 2010 edition or two.
The paper I write for gives me lots of space. I'm a freelancer - we're a dying breed - but the public seems to like what I write about. Used to be about 70/40 in favour of education but lately it's flipped 70/40 in favour of municipal politics and human interest stuff because that's what's generating the most buzz and interest. Education's become a smaller part of that. I'm feeling that my reading audience is tired of confrontational education issues, and would rather read about the success stories. My town's had enough doom and gloom what with a major employer leaving and a school closure. Sure, we've got a nice new addition to the one public school left, but unless the town rebrands itself and board & town get together on marketing this area for young families we'll be hard-pressed to hold on to the schools we have remaining. The crunch and economic ripple to the town is not expected to be felt until the fall of this year and into next.
That the paper can keep me writing wasn't expected but it is what it is.
ER - certainly the Sun Times is the major paper up in The Bruce but there are many weeklies like my own paper which one would think would also carry letters, and articles about their situations?
Anon 8 Jan. 08:27
I would certainly hope the other papers have been carrying any letters they receive, or at least forwarding them on. Some editors choose not to run letters that don't pertain to something that ran in the same newspaper.
That said, since I would think virtually every newspaper in the Bluewater district is owned by my very employer, they may have also grabbed the Sun Times' stories and run them. This sort of copysharing happens routinely.
Hugo
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