The former chair of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board says she’s not worried that Centretown schools will be targeted for closure despite the Ontario government’s recent announcement that it plans to make budget cuts certain to involve closing underused schools across the province – including some in Ottawa.
Jennifer McKenzie, who was also the trustee for Somerset/Kitchissippi for eight years before she stepped aside in the Oct. 27 election to support her successor in that post, the newly sworn-in Erica Braunovan, says suggestions that Cambridge Street Public School or others in central Ottawa could be shuttered are misplaced.
“Over the last eight years as trustee, I’ve made sure that we put the programs in the schools that the community wants and our schools have gone from empty to most of them being now full or over-flowing,” McKenzie says. “So I’m not really all that concerned about it for this part of the city.”
The Cambridge Street school, located just north of Gladstone Avenue in Centretown, has been highlighted as one of the schools at risk for closure. The school is only 45 per cent full, according to the OCDSB’s latest enrolment statistics.
But Sharlene Hunter, the school board’s media relations officer, says there is more to consider than just enrolment. Building size, the number of programs offered, the distribution of enrolment and special needs students are all factors that weigh in decisions about school closures, she says.
“It should be noted that basic utilization rates are only a starting point for discussing a school’s instructional space requirements, and in most cases they don’t provide a complete picture of need,” says Hunter.
In other words, says Hunter, there is more to the story of Cambridge Street Public School than its low enrolment rate.
“The smaller school had a utilization rate of 45 per cent in March 2014, yet had only two to three surplus classrooms available,” she says. “The school has a PFLC (Parenting and Family Literacy Centre), a specialized special education class, and a high number of ESL learners. None of these uses are reflected directly in the school’s utilization rate.”
McKenzie also questions recent media references to the Cambridge Street school being at risk.
“They went through the enrolment reports and looked for schools that had a certain percentage of space,” says McKenzie. “And I’m not sure it’s a particularly accurate depiction of how efficiently our schools are used.”
McKenzie adds that if the board was analyzing how it uses its space, it would consider the community activities and the other programs in the school.
The conversation surrounding possible school closures began on Nov. 18, when Education Minister Liz Sandals stated that more than 600 schools in Ontario are sitting more than half empty. She says some of these schools will close in order to “help Liberals balance the books on schedule,” and tackle a $12.5-billion provincial deficit.
“Lets face it, we do have a deficit, so we’re going to have to look at every government program and make sure that we’re managing it efficiently,” Sandals told reporters at the time.
The next day in the legislature, provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath raised questions about the planned education cuts of about $500 million and Sandals elaborated on the half-empty schools.
“We actually think that what we want to do is fund the children who are in our school system, not fund empty seats,” Sandals said. “Do you know that we are currently spending about $1 billion on empty seats?”
McKenzie, who ran unsuccessfully for the NDP in Ottawa Centre in this year’s provincial election, says it’s important to remember that a school is a vital part of a community.
“A school is a key component to the sense of belonging that children have to a community, but also to many adults as well,” says McKenzie.
Regardless, Sandals says she’s adamant that many half-empty schools will have to close to balance the provincial budget.