The EFCL was most disappointed to see the Edmonton Public School Board vote to close five schools and the elementary program at Spruce Avenue school on April 13. By a vote of 6-3, the trustees chose to close McCauley, Parkdale and Fulton Place Schools. Eastwood and Capilano schools were closed by a vote of 8-1.
A majority of the trustees focused their comments on the need to eliminate schools, believing that it would lead to larger numbers of students and better programs in the remaining public schools in the area. This point was repeatedly stressed by the school board administration during the eight-hour debate.
The administration made no mention of the impact the school closures would have on the neighborhood and trustees were not shown copies of a 100-page report the city’s community services department had prepared on the subject.
School board administrative staff also had very little information about the groups currently renting space in any of the schools in question. Questions about the number of students in a daycare or after-school program in any of the schools under review generally went unanswered, as the EPSB staff didn’t know.
Board Chairman Don Fleming, who voted in favor of all of the school closures, said it was time to consider grouping neighborhoods together and viewing clusters of neighborhoods as one community.
Two trustees, Dave Colburn and Sue Huff, consistently voted against the closures and raised a wide range of concerns about the affect it would have on students and the surrounding neighborhood. Trustee Colburn expressed his frustration that the board had never had a “meaningful dialogue seeking meaningful solutions” with city officials on the subject, which was one of the concerns that has been raised by the EFCL.
The EFCL was also pleased to see Trustee Huff bring forward a subsequent motion, calling for the board to do a better job of promoting neighborhood schools. The EFCL has been expressing a concern that neighborhood schools have been the forgotten cousin to specialized programs and was pleased to see this motion approved.
The EFCL is also in the process of contacting all leagues in the central, south-central and west-central zones of the city, where the school board is now attempting to determine the schools it wants to close.
The federation is urging league representatives to work with the school board, the City of Edmonton and provincial government to find tenants for vacant space in school buildings in their area.
The EFCL is also working with the city on ways to attract families to mature neighborhoods, where billions of dollars have been invested in family-oriented infrastructure (i.e schools, parks, libraries, recreation facilities, transit service, community league facilities, single-family homes on large lots).
The EFCL believes that the neighborhood loses a key building block when a school is closed. It can also set the neighborhood on a very negative course, as the loss of a school often prompts families to leave the neighborhood and discourages others from moving in. This results in a further drop in the school-aged population, which leads to more school closures and the process continues to repeat itself.
The EFCL would like to see an effort made to keep schools open and continues to make this point to officials in all levels of government.