By Rita Trichur
The Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board’s decision to close St. Patrick’s Adult Day School is a bad idea in any language, says the school’s English-as-a-Second-Language students and teachers.
And the students say without English-language skills, many of them will be forced on to Ontario’s welfare rolls.
“The provincial government is refusing us a chance to have a good future,”says student Alex Nikulov.
Nikulov, a native of Ukraine, arrived in Canada four months ago. He’s an engineer with 20 years of experience, but says without a knowledge of English, no one will hire him.
“Without a job you have to be on welfare,” he says. “It (the school) is not only good for us (immigrants), it is good for all of Canada.”
St. Patrick’s is one of six Catholic schools in Ottawa-Carleton slated for closure in June. The closures will affect about 600 day students and 200 night students at St. Patrick’s, and a total of 3,000 ESL students in the region.
Teacher Bob Young has been with the ESL program since it began in a church basement 10 years ago. He says closing the school is a huge step backwards for the program and blames the province’s education funding formula for the loss.
“The province says the schools aren’t full, but they are full every day,” he explains. “Because they are adult students it is not considered a legitimate use of school space.”
According to the new formula, adult education programs don’t qualify as daytime pupil places. The province has instructed the school board to eliminate so-called non-operational schools and surplus space before building new schools in the suburbs.
St. Patrick’s receives $2,250 per student in annual provincial grants. But Young says that’s less than half of what’s provided for elementary and secondary school students and isn’t enough to purchase a new building.
“There’s not much else out there. Come June we will be left with a splintered program, scattered all across the city,” Young says.
“Here we offer every level of English and computer training, all in one place. It’s one stop shopping, so to speak. Now the quality of education for the students will deteriorate.”
The school board says it’s committed to continuing ESL programs but hasn’t finalized plans for the fall.
“We hope to do that in the next couple of weeks,” says Michael Moher, superintendent of continuing education. “We are meeting with ministry officials. We are reviewing space in our existing facilities and working with our regional partners in Ottawa-Carleton.”
The school board is also waiting for the province to respond to a lease-back agreement that would allow the school board to lease back school properties from the provincial government. If approved, the agreement would allow some programs to continue with minimal disruption for students.
Maggie Daly, president of the ESL Teachers’ Union, CUPE local 3689, calls the cuts “devastating” but says students and teachers aren’t ready to give up.
“They (the school board) have looked into using church halls, community centres – but none are available,” she says.
One alternate plan is to place adult learners in empty elementary school classrooms. But Daly says this would be unacceptable for both students and parents.
“If you have young children aged five and six, you don’t want to have a bunch of adults you don’t know in the same school as your kids. And it’s not acceptable for our students either.”
Mita Basu, co-ordinator of English Language Tutoring of Ottawa-Carleton, says the closures mean other community-based English-language programs could become overcrowded.
“Funding-wise, we are really up to our limits right now,” says Basu. “We have about 70 on our waiting list.”
“It’s very frustrating for them (ESL students). They are in a new country. They are feeling very isolated especially when they can’t speak or they are not understood.”