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A committee is calling on the Nova Scotia government to stopreviewing schools for closure while government officials considerrecommendations to make rural schools the centre of theircommunities and a key part of economic development. "We want them to push the reset button and take a completelydifferent approach to the school review closure process (where you)look to find solutions supported by the community," said PaulBennett, chairman of the Small Schools Delegation, a group ofparents and activists from across Nova Scotia. About 40 schools are undergoing closure reviews. "We don"t see the point of putting up to 40 schoolsthrough the wringer time and time again," Bennett said. Instead, the committee is asking the government to take a year todevelop an integrated approach to rural revitalization thatincludes local schools. "Stop looking at education as separate from health, asseparate from economic development, as separate from tourism.They"re all linked in a rural landscape. All of those thingsmust work together," said Kate Oland, who also worked on therecommendations. Representatives from the delegation met with Education MinisterRamona Jennex earlier this week to discuss the importance ofkeeping rural schools open. Jennex said she hasn"t had a chance to read the group"sreport yet, but the department has no plan to put a moratorium onschool reviews or closures. However, she did say the province"s new education strategyincludes a commitment to look at a different way of reviewingschools. "We"re asking school boards to look at it (with) aregional approach to the issues of how schools are used, and howthe school works with the community, the community with the school,in a regional way long before a school would ever reach the review stage." Oland, who has faced two such reviews for the elementary school inMiddle River in Cape Breton, said an overall approach is needed tomake sure government policies aren"t working against oneanother. "You can"t as an example say, ‘As a government,we"re working really hard to attract more doctors to ruralareas," and then allow a situation to continue where basicinfrastructure that professionals like doctors would want access towould vanish." People living in rural areas always face the danger "offinding that your local school gets closed down and your childrensit on a bus for an hour or two hours a day to obtain a basiceducation in some other community in a large school," Olandsaid. "If you close a school on the North Shore of Cape Breton orMargaree, and the result is that a child is going to spend twohours on a bus, the chances of attracting young families to live inthat area vanish." And she said the idea that there are cost savings to be had is nottrue. "That"s because you"re busing children longer andlonger distances in an age where gasoline prices are rising.You"re building larger and larger facilities that are morecomplex and costly to run and it"s a false economy. "When you talk of maybe saving $40,000 by closing a smallrural school, you"re looking at $40,000 out of the educationbudget. What you"re not looking at is what the loss of that school means economically to that ruralcommunity." With David Jackson, provincial reporter ( kshiers@herald.ca ). The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Veterinary Surgical Instrument Manufacturer , Skin Resurfacing Machine Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Co2 Laser Machines today!
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