Parry Sounders are concerned the Near North District School Board’s new K to 12 Super school will not be big enough and the Mayor agrees.
Over the past five days, two letters sent by concerned parents both cited outdated data the board is using to estimate enrollment numbers.
PARRY SOUND CONCERNED NEW SCHOOL IS TOO SMALL (1)
Mayor Jamie McGarvey said one of the things the town is seeing is an influx of population moving here and he personally believes that we’re not in a declining enrollment situation.
He says, “I really hope that they take a deep breath and and and take a re-look at everything because I’ve had conversations with a number of parents, teachers, that sort of thing and they’re concerned about the layout of the classrooms and separation the classrooms, the size of the classrooms and number of the classrooms, backing the music next to the gymnasium where you’re going to have shouting and yelling and that sort of thing,”
McGarvey said there are a number of things that were pointed out that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and again it boils down to “Are we getting something that is just going to be adequate for our community or are we getting something that’s going to be as good as the students get in North Bay,”
“One of the questions that I asked was, and I never got an answer on it, whether the pods could actually be attached to the school?” he said.
Because these pods are going to be separate with students having to go to the washroom inside and it should be attached to the school so it makes access and egress a lot better and I never got an answer back on that, McGarvey said.
The other question the Mayor directed to the board and never got an answer on was about adequate ventilation; given everything that happened with COVID-19.
“There’s a lot of questions that people have with regard to this new build, I think it’s fantastic that we get a new build but we want to make sure that is going to be good for the community and good for our students,”
“And as mentioned while asking the questions during the council, Vice-chair Cochrane and I had a conversation about skilled trades and how he supports skilled traits so I want to make sure that we’ve got skilled trades in this new build because other schools have these skilled trade classrooms we want to make sure again that they’re going to be suitable for our students and make sure this moves us into the future in a much better way,”
In one of the letters sent last week, the following question was raised;
“Why is this project moving forward after a decade of deliberation, during Covid, with an insufficient budget, a location that ignores ARC recommendations, and with total lack of transparent and meaningful community engagement, while there is a provincial moratorium on school closures?”
Asked that same question, the Mayor said he thinks that’s a pretty good question but he doesn’t have an answer for that because the school board is making this decision and that’s their call
“I think that’s why people now or standing up and saying you’ve waited this long, you might be 10 years out of date on your information so I know there are people asking for a new ARC process to happen and that sort of thing so that things can be updated and more information on really how this build is going to happen,” he said.
“To be honest, I can go back in history and I can tell you it’s been the same thing with school board after school board. They don’t talk to you for a very long time and then they throw a bunch of stuff at you and it’s “hurry up then”. So nothing in that surprised me and has changed at all and quite frankly they need to make some changes and they need to be better at communicating with the community and they need to be listening as well,[…] I really believe there needs to be a reconsideration of number things,”
UPDATE-June 15th at 1:45 PM
In an email response sent Tuesday, June 15th at 1:45 PM, a spokesperson for the board provided the following response;
“The Near North District School Board (NNDSB) held an Accommodation Review Process, which included opportunities for stakeholder input. Information was shared with the Parry Sound community on June 1 and June 8. Community members were offered an opportunity to provide feedback after those sessions. Once the survey closes, the Parry Sound build committee will compile all the data and provide a response to stakeholders.
NNDSB appreciates the Parry Sound community’s interest in the JK-12 build. The public can rest assured that we continue to plan within the parameters established by the Ministry of Education, as every board is expected to do when building a new school.”