Mike Ash Response to Lisa Bieman's Letter

This was in my JUNK box for some time, I think my e mail program appropriately filed it. This is the original, unadulterated e mail, so spelling and grammatical errors are not mine. In some ways, this is akin to an auto responder.


Lisa

I am sorry that you feel that the ARC process has been misrepresented. That was certainly not our intent.First, I must emphasize that no decision has been made regarding the schools reviewed in the North East Central Huron ARC. That decision will not be made until June 23. Your views, along with the views of others may still be heard by the Trustees attheir regular board meetings. On May 12 the Board will be meeting at Wingham P.S. specifically to provide an opportunity for delegations to be heard.The ARC process was designed to provide input from the public. That took place over the course of six meetings between November and March. The next phase of accommodation review was the input from staff. The staff report was provided at the last Boardmeeting. Staff are must ensure Trustees are as informed as possible regarding decisions related to accommodation review. To that end we must ensure that our recommendations take into account the education of the students, the Board's fiscal reality andour experiences in the past related to Ministry funding and accommodation reviews. We, as a staff, believe that we have demonstrated the effectiveness and efficiency of the education opportunity provided to Grade 7 and 8 students in a secondary setting. We also know that, as of this date, the Ministry has not announced any funding for construction of a new school. We applied for funding in the fall of 2008 and our application, along with applications from across the province, are still under review. We also know, based on our experience in Goderich and St. Marys, that the Ministry requires us to use available excess spaces in dealing with our school consolidations. We would not be doing our job as staff if we did not present Trustees with a numberof options and the costs associated with those options. While the staff do agree with building a new school in the north Huron area, our experience leads us to disagree with the members of the ARC with respect to what the Board can afford and what theMinistry will fund.I encourage you make your views known to the Trustees as they continue the dialogue between now and June 23.Mike Ash