This space is available for all trustees to freely post information and comments that facilitate public conversation about school renewal.
To participate, please send documents to RealRenewal for posting.
School board reponses
This letter from the school board contains their responses to some of RealRenewal's 49 questions, received by email on March 3.
Letter from school board (pdf)
Why a moratorium
Motion by Dr. J. F. Conway, 4 March 2008
RESOLVED that the Regina Public School Board respond positively to the wish expressed by Education Minister Ken Krawetz and Premier Brad Wall that school closure decisions be postponed pending changes to the school consultation section of the Education Act, and pending the establishment of the criteria for “schools of necessity” and “schools of opportunity,” and accordingly defer all school closure and program consolidation decisions pending this year from the 10 year plan to the 2008-2009 school year.
Argument
Both Premier Brad Wall and Minister of Education Ken Krawetz have made widely circulated and prominently reported appeals to all school boards in the province currently contemplating school closures to postpone such decisions. This appeal was based on the government’s intention to make legislative and funding changes which will potentially have a significant impact on school closure decisions.
Text of remarks opposing program consolidations and school closures
Regina Public Schools, 11 March 2008
Dr. J. F. Conway, Trustee, Subdivision 5
Mr Chairperson, fellow Trustees, members of the administrative, professional and teaching staff, students and parents, and supporters of Regina’s public schools. First, let me begin by requesting that all decisions on tonight’s proposed program consolidations and school closures be made by recorded vote.
I wish to express my strong opposition to tonight’s proposed closures and consolidations, and the vision and strategy that lies behind them as laid out in the 10-year renewal plan previously approved by a majority of this Board. The Regina public school system we will have at the end of this plan in 2018 is, for me, unacceptable and represents a tragically missed opportunity to be so much better.
2006 Board Election Results
Subdivision 1
MARCHUK, Russ 4,388
KELLN, Kirk 1,263
Subdivision 2
YOUNG, Dr. Barbara 3,565
SMYTH, Brian 1,811
Subdivision 3
WEST, Dale 2,079
PETRY, Robert 1,853
DECHAINE, Stella 1,384
Subdivision 4
PARISIAN, Rhonda 2,235
IVANOCHKO, Bob 1,319
DRYDALE, Logan 945
Subdivision 5
CONWAY, Dr. J.F. (John) (acclaimed)
Subdivision 6
SAYLOR, Barb (acclaimed)
Subdivision 7
SCHENHER, Garry 2,246
FRASER, Angela 2,206
WREN, Don 586
Trustees' election promises
This Leader Post report includes comments from all the school board candidates in the Oct. 2006 election.
Board Majority's Communication Policy?
Muzzle, Manage and Manipulate
by John Conway, Trustee, Subdivision 5
At the regular meeting of the Regina Public School Board on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 I presented a motion to ensure that all members of school communities facing possible closures or program consolidations would have the right to organize and have access to the schools for that purpose, the right to post information in the schools and the right to send information home with students to parents. I did this because a principal of a school had denied a group organizing against the renewal plan and the future closure of the school the right to send a leaflet home with students to parents. The position taken by the principal was that only the official School Community Council enjoyed such rights. The leaflet was finally sent home, late, only because the School Community Council gave its blessing.
Thanks to RealRenewal Web Site
by J. F. Conway, Trustee, Subdivision 5, Regina Public Schools
I would like to thank the Real Renewal Web Site for providing a “Trustees’ Corner” for postings from those elected Trustees who wish to do so.
A majority of the Board, by a vote of 6 to 1, refused to allow me to post materials on the Public School Board’s Renewal Web Site, thus preventing my voice from being easily accessed by the public. I believe that this decision violated my rights and privileges as an elected Trustee, and has tainted the renewal discussion process which was supposed to be open and transparent.
A Critical Assessment of the Leithwood (school size) report
by John Conway, Trustee, Subdivision 5
As part of the system renewal process, the Board contracted the services of a qualified consultant to provide a review of the research on “best practices” with regard to school size. This was considered prudent given the growing body of evidence accumulated over the past two decades indicating that small schools, at both the elementary and high school levels, are much more effective than large schools. An awareness of such evidence will assist the Board in making wise school closure decisions.
Critique of the Linnen Report
by John Conway, Trustee, Subdivision 5
HJ Linnen Associates’ Phase 2 Consultation Report on the renewal process underway in Regina Public Schools was released to the public in June 2007. An estimated 1000 people attended 57 information meetings where members of the senior administrative team laid out the options and issues. Neither Mr. Linnen nor the elected Trustees played a role in these meetings.
Rationale for opposing the 10-year plan
by John Conway, Trustee, Subdivision 5
Mr. Chairperson, fellow Trustees, members of the Administration, and supporters of Regina Public Schools, first let me begin by requesting that all decisions on the recommendations of the “Renewing Regina Public Schools: A 10-year Plan” document be made by recorded vote tonight.
Tonight I wish to go on record in opposition to the vision and strategy presented to us in this plan.
Public Trustee's Report - Feb. 2, 2007
by J. F. Conway, Trustee Subdivision 5
2 February 2007
Election Analysis: Public School Board Results
The Coalition for a Citizen-Friendly Regina (CCFR) endorsed candidates in four of the seven subdivisions for the October 2006 election. I was acclaimed, but would have preferred fighting an election. Those who hold public office, in principle, should do so because they have won election, rather than through acclamation. Of the other three CCFR candidates, two did very well. Robert Petry came within a whisker in Subdivision 3 (formerly held by retiring Board Chair Ernie Pappas), narrowly defeated by former Roughrider and retired teacher Dale West. The CCFR’s Bob Ivanochko came in a respectable second to incumbent Rhonda Parisian in Subdivision 4. Though the CCFR’s Don Wren came in well back in the pack in Subdivision 7, incumbent Garry Schenher squeaked out a 40 vote win over Angela Fraser.
Public Trustee's Report - Feb. 2, 2006
Into the vortex of indecision?
by John Conway, Trustee
Subdivision 5
Those among you expecting decisive leadership from the Board majority and the Senior Administration, which brought you the document, “Renewing Regina Public Schools,” are perhaps a bit disappointed. You recall that report, no doubt. It cited 11 schools for possible closure, 10 in September 2006 and 1 in September 2007. The Senior Administration recommended approval, and a majority of the Board passed the obliging resolution against my advice. The vision of the report was clear: an end to the small neighbourhood school and its replacement by larger super-elementary schools in converted high schools. All hell broke loose among the public, and the recommendations were subsequently rescinded by the Board, to the relief of most in the city.
Backgrounder - Remarks following school board elections
by John Conway, Trustee, Subdivision 5
August 2006
The October 25 election for the Public School Board is the most significant since the battles against the cuts and closures back in the 1990s. The new Board will re-visit the so-called “renewal” plan of the current senior Administration and Board majority which proposed the closure of 10 schools in September 2006 and an eleventh in September 2007. I opposed that plan throughout many months of closed, secret meetings, and then joined many parent groups and the general public in forcing the Board to rescind the plan when it was finally made public in late November 2005.
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