By Ian Palmer
Three Centretown elementary schools could be among 15 in Ottawa-Carleton facing possible closure as a result of provincial funding changes.
McNabb Park School, on Percy Street, Centennial School, on Gloucester, and Elgin Street School fit the profile of schools that may be closed as the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board wrestles with reducing what the province considers excess classroom space.
Currently, provincial funding is based on a ratio of 100 square feet for each elementary student and 130 square feet for every secondary student.
School board figures indicate Centennial has about 190 students, McNabb Park 170 and Elgin Street 215.
Arthur Lewis, acting chair of McNabb Park School Council, says his school, as well as Elgin and Centennial, could be headed for closures.
However, he’s not overly worried because decisions have not yet been made.
Lewis says it would be difficult for the board to close the school because it’s attached to a community centre owned by the city.
“It makes no sense to close that building.”
Bill Filleter, co-chair of the Elgin Street Public School Council, agrees his school, along with McNabb, may be in danger of closure, but thinks Centennial may be saved.
Though he believes no formal list exists, Filleter says it’s not too difficult to determine those schools who face the likelihood of such a fate.
“Elgin is among those threatened. We’re a small school of about 300 members. The board minimum for small schools is about 400,” says Filleter. “You can start stroking some schools off. You can then go down the list and see what’s left over.”
In its 1998-99 budget, the board opted against shutdowns, and currently operates several schools for which it receives no funding.
Mike Carson, the board’s manager of physical planning, says no one should infer that certain schools have been overtly earmarked.
“It’s important people don’t get the impression that some schools are funded and some are not,” says Carson. “Obviously, there is excess space, but no lists for closure were ever produced.”
He says the board operates in terms of space, not individual school buildings.
Peter Frayne, the board’s communications director, says revived speculation snowballed after five board trustees asked the province to extend the Dec. 31, 1998 deadline.
Albert Chambers, one of the trustees who proposed the motion, wants the deadline pushed to late April because the government has not followed its own guidelines, he says.
“We’ve been operating on the assumption that the province would live up to its end of the deal,” says Chambers. “We don’t have a clear statement from the province on how many schools should be accommodated.
“The province asked the boards in Ontario to provide detailed drawings of schools. Every school in Centretown had to send in detailed diagrams about schools, the dimensions of each room and what each class was used for,” says Chambers.
So far the government has not contacted the boards about a possible adjustment to the formula.
These calculations suggest “there’s 1.7 million square feet of excess space,” says Frayne.
The onus is now on the boards to dispose of what amounts to 15-25 schools — depending on the elementary-secondary composition — to qualify for funding of from the Ministry of Education.
Chambers accuses the province of attempting to force the boards’ hand through ultimatum: close spaces in older established areas to qualify for money toward building new schools.
Arthur Lewis, acting-chair of McNabb Park School Council, calls Bob Griffiths, the school’s principal, hopes McNabb is spared, adding that trustees are required to look at the district as opposed to just Centretown.