By Mary Gordon
Special education cuts, the near cancellation of school buses and school closures loom large on the horizon if the Ottawa-Carleton District School approves its proposed budget — one that slices $33.7 million to satisfy the provincial government’s funding formula, and one which director of education Jim Grieve calls “excruciating.””
“It is with very great sadness that I present a budget that cuts as deeply as this one must,” he told trustees, board representatives and the public at a meeting at board headquarters.
“This is a painful, awful process. In my 30 years of education I have never had to undergo work as painful as this one.”
The $512.4-million budget would reduce staff by about 420. Their pink slips could come within the next three weeks, said board chairman Jim Libbey.
Last month, five public meetings drew hundreds of concerned parents and teachers, many of whom protested the prospect of cuts.
Now the board is gearing up for its Feb. 25 deadline when the budget is slated for approval. Over the next two weeks, the board will seek more public in
put — first at a televised “town hall” meeting, then from various delegations that wish to contest the proposed changes.
Those changes include closing seven elementary schools and two secondary schools — which have yet to be determined — to save $4.6 million.
Centretown school trustee Joan Spice said she would not be surprised to see the names of schools that were slated for closure in 2000. Those on the list from Centretown included Elgin Street, Centennial and Cambridge Street schools.
Spice says closing schools is ludicrous, especially downtown.
“What we’re being asked to do is absolutely unethical,” she said. “It’s absolutely wrong to close schools that are close to full, that are serving the community.”
Transportation within Ottawa’s urban centre may be eliminated, with the exception of special education students, to save $6.45 million.
Margie Malamud, an educational assistant at Barrhaven Public School, said she could not imagine how a seven-year-old, much less a kindergarten student, could safely ride OC Transpo buses to school. Only school buses are equipped with red lights that help stop traffic for children crossing the street.
But Malamud’s biggest fear is the proposed $11.6-million cut to special education. Her son Matthew, who is learning disabled, benefits from being in a smaller class with children with similar disabilities.
Without this kind of class, these students will be thrown into standard classrooms where their progress and self-esteem will wither, she said.
“I don’t know if they’d be able to get through high school without the special education,” she said, adding that she plans to band together with other parents to try to fight the cuts.
“We’ll try to put as much pressure on as we can. And pray.”
Dave Wildman, a member of the elementary school teacher’s federation, advised the board to tell parents and teachers that their expectations of public education will have to be lowered.
“We need to change our expectations,” he said. “Needs will not be met.”
Other proposed reductions include: Savings:
– cutting occasional teaching budget $2.6 million
– not replacing obsolete computers $2 million
– closing media centre $150,000
– closing outdoor education centres $350,000
-discontinue summer programs, such as the autism summer program $380,000