The notorious words of a ‘now famous celebrity figure…starting off as a political figure’ did come back to haunt her but now can be used to describe the situation many children face in Halton.
I believe the quote went something like this:
“I know about foreign policy. Yes, I can see Russia from my front window”.
What a classic moment in the world of insane politics and policy and yes we can thank non other than Sarah Palin for the moment. It represented the insanity when special interest, incompetence and insanity ruled the day.
Oh, yes it still continues now with the formation of the Tea Party.
Who needs to have logic, intellect and morals when ruling a country, delivering services, spending money and of course affecting every other country on the planet because you are a super power.
The only admirable quality I believe she and her cronies have is the ability to mobilize people who want to be heard. For that, I give them high marks.
So, how does this tie into our community education?
“I can see my local school from my front window….but unfortunately I am not allowed to go there. Accommodating me in the school takes a back seat (no pun intended) to offering programming to some of the select few”.
Do we have our own version of the Tea Party influencing our board and/or voting on accommodation decisions?
Has accommodation taken a back seat to programming in Halton?
Watching young children this morning walk to a local school where the school is located in the middle of the community struck me as the very purpose of schools and where they are located, who goes to them, etc.
As noted in many reports, including the now famous Cooke Report, Canadian education states the benefits and purpose not only having a local school in the core of its community so it can supports those around it but ensuring communities feel represented.
I guess as we centralize programming, ship all the local kids out to wherever they can fit, give away local schools to the select few based on our personal preferences, that vision of what schools are supposed to be may have got lost in the translation.
Changing the vary fabric of what a community and all the amenities in it (including schools), many now believe has devastated the very core of how children learn and feel connected to their community.
All in the name of the three S’s (Specializing, Streaming and Segregating). Is that the model of choice for the Halton District School Board? Many in our community believe it is.
So if this latest high school accommodation process is hijacked with some new version of what ‘should be’ (just like many believe the last elementary accommodation process was) using maybe the same methods used in the past that result in your child not being allowed at their ‘local school’ that he/she can ‘see out his/her front window’ ….remember …..gottcha…..
Let us know what you think.
Just like Sarah Palin – what you see is not always what you get. How can anyone not realize how ‘managed’ and ‘constructed’ she and her messages are? Is that what people think about our HDSB? That it is not the voice of the people being heard through the Trustees? That the decisions are managed and constructed from behind a closed door? I have spoken to a number of families recently who can see a school – or two even – but their children are not able to attend them. Bussed out. This is a biggie in our community. Thankfully we are one family who can still see – and walk to – the school we attend.
Hazel, I think that your comment is better than the article written here. The only parallel between Sarah Palin and the school system – all of it is that you’re right, it’s managed, crafted and messages rehearsed well before the public knows much of anything at all. That’s what happens when trustees slowly become arms of the bureaucracy and fail to take back their neighbourhood schools.