Safe schools?

The start of the new school year has brought with it a series of incidents in and around schools that prompt one to ask why these incidents are happening. What might be leading to this spike in violence in and near schools?
With the start of classes last week, several students were injured in a stabbing at Sir George Ross Secondary School in London. A man is stabbed outside a school in Toronto. This week, two students stabbed behind Bloor Collegiate Institute. Again in London, a school lockdown is initiated at Westminster Secondary School after reports of someone wandering the property with a handgun are received. Even today, reports are received of a man wandering through a Brampton elementary school with a shotgun.
The incidents prompt responses from the constabulary that schools are safe.

"Our schools are safe," (London Police) Chief Murray Faulkner said yesterday.
"But we have to keep in mind that schools are a reflection of a our society and we are seeing more and younger people involved in violence than ever before," Faulkner said. "It's not like the old days when two people have a disagreement and fight and maybe even become friends afterwards. Now there's a group mentality that kicks in where all the friends get involved. That then heightens the violence and the chance for more severe injuries."

The LPS is one of many that has school-based community resource officers, whose appearance in and of itself has drawn coverage and concern over the safety of schools, and in the linked example, whether their presence is the most appropriate option.
Are these incidents coincidental? Or are the symptomatic of a changing demographic? Or are school-based incidents simply being reported more frequently in the media than in the past?

Quick, create 100 more high school students!

News from the Standard posted Friday showing Niagara District Secondary School is still 100 pupils short of a 350-pupil goal set by trustees in the spring of 2008. If the goal isn't met by the Oct. 31 Ministry of Education count date, the original motion called for NDSS to close at the end of this school year.

The goal is business as usual.
“Obviously, we’re working towards that end,” Cockburn said. “We want the kids to have an extremely good year and the staff likewise. Everybody’s energized.”
Meanwhile, supporters are trying to come up with ways to give the school a reprieve.
Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs said he’s trying to meet with the director of the school board and chair of the board to introduce the town’s new CAO and find out what they have to say about NDSS.
He said he wants an extension to the Oct. 31 dealine.

The decision by District School Board of Niagara was a unique one when it came down just over 18 months ago. The community presented all of its rationale for why NDSS is a superior learning environment and could be even better with more students if the community and the school had a chance to do some real recruiting and boost enrolment. In the midst of covering my own review of a 250-pupil high school in a single-school rural community (far more rural and not at all as touristy as NOTL) where advocates had devised a boundary solution that would temporarily alleviate low enrolment, I advocated for similar flexibility in a column published in the early summer of 2008. No one listened to it on the local board, but 16 months later, I'm not that offended given the outcomes in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
NDSS supporters were given that chance-- but the school's enrolment has been hovering around the 250 mark for the 2008-09 and, but by the looks of it, 2009-10 school years. Below the target and the number some in the community said quite confidently they'd reach.
Burroughs told the Standard in 2008 the community would have no problem raising $100,000 a year to give entry scholarships to Grade 9 students-- I don't know if this actually happened, someone please enlighten me. Service clubs pledged their support. An IB program is coming to the school (it may be too late, as the school might close before the first IB credit starts) and even football was seen as a saviour. Friday's article speaks of a team itself too short on players to even compete.
From the same 2008 article, note the following prescient comment:

St. Catharines trustee Dalton Clark wasn't happy with the outcome. Demanding a certain level of enrolment puts the onus on the community, when it is the board's job to make tough decisions, he said. This decision means trustees "don't have to be the bad guys tonight.
"We can all walk away tonight with the crowd cheering us, but what are we putting on that community?"

So, here the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake now lies, with NDSS' enrolment being pretty darn near where its projections said it would be. The petition did nothing, the Community Schools Alliance and its 'smart' moratorium, even with two NOTL civic politicians on the executive committee, hasn't changed NDSS' fate. Not even screwing the school board out of a preferred site for a new Virgil school -- OMB hearing pending -- has changed anything about this outcome whose date is circled on the calendar. There still aren't enough students to meet the 350 target and erase 'last day of classes, ever' off the NDSS June 2010 calendar.
The community has failed in its efforts.
Could they do it with more time? I don't have an answer to that question.
It's one trustees will face this fall, likely, and it will be interesting to see how many remember Clark's words from 2008. Also interesting whether the result -- an extension, if granted -- would produce any different result, or just extend into some unknown future time the same arguments that are happening today.
Maybe someone will be able to turn up that recipe to instantly bake up some 14- to 18-year-olds. A dash of lethargy, a pinch of vanity, a smidgen of youthful exuberance... I know I had that formula around here somewhere. Where did I put it?

Good for some thought-provoking chuckles

This 'Canada Free Press' piece authored by a Manitoban social studies teacher caught the eye on a news alert earlier this week. I think the attempt here is to discredit the work of the government here based on the recent release of EQAO results.
The author criticizes the results, without any explanation as to what the EQAO provincial standard is -- see previous post here for more on that problem. Then, goes on to say:

Even more disappointing was the inadequate response from Kathleen Wynne, Ontario’s education minister. In an interview with the Canadian Press, Wynne acknowledged reason for concern. However, she went on to note the Ontario government has measures in place to address the situation. That includes reduced class sizes, more money for math and literacy coaches, and expanded availability of full-day kindergarten. Unfortunately, none of these measures are likely to result in better test scores for students.

He then picks apart each item.
There is indeed research that speaks to smaller class sizes and fuels the debate as to whether or not this is an effective way of improving how much students are able to learn. There were a few quiet proponents of this research when the Primary Class Size initiative was being implemented in the last six years, but most were school board officials who were struggling with the caps on its implementation. I've not seen a parent or student quoted in any media complaining about the class-size reduction.
His critique of coaches is these are redundant in schools that function well. However, not every school does and a coach approach is a way to ensure that officially, a teacher is designated to take on that role. It's also provided additional professional development to these teachers that many may not have had previously or through experience. In schools where that wasn't happening, the coaches make a huge difference.
Lastly, he points to those countries where full-day early childhood learning hasn't produced measurable improvements in student achievement. OK, fine, but it neglects the research conducted by Dr. Fraser Mustard and others since showing early learning does indeed have a significant impact on the development of our youngest citizens, along with its impact on society.
I think politics has again interfered with what could have been a much more rational examination of Wynne's statement and the government's policies.

Circular loving

A link to my recently published column touching on several summertime posts and comments here on this blog. The column was written prior to the start of my nine-day hiatus Aug. 31 and focuses more on the early posts and discussions on the Community Schools Alliance.

Bill 177 / provincial interest consultations

This bubbled up again while on hiatus and earlier this week, a short work week where we were short-staffed, so the ability to give this space some lovin' was compromised. Nonetheless, the media coverage of Bill 177 and the associated public interest regulation consultation which closed Aug. 31 has drawn commentary across the province.
Moira MacDonald wrote about the bill and the regulation consultation at the beginning of the month. The Ottawa Citizen came in a few days later, nicely timed with the start of Ottawa boards' second week of classes, with an article outlining Ottawa-Carleton District School Board chair Lynn Scott's concerns.
From the Citizen piece:

The new regulations will dovetail with Bill 177, introduced quietly last May and expected to get second reading this month.
Observers fear the changes would limit flexibility in the school system and threaten local democracy.
"The whole thing is troubling to many of us," said Lynn Scott, chairwoman of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and a 15-year veteran trustee.
"There are so many aspects of student success that are beyond a board's control. If funding is not sufficient to do certain things, whose fault is that?" she said.

From MacDonald:

Officially, Bill 177 is supposed to clear up the job descriptions for trustees, school boards and set student achievement as school boards' focus. But what the bill really means won't be known until the Liberals release its related regulations -- after the bill passes.
That big unknown is what's making the education sector squeamish.
Thanks to the discussion paper, they already know it will mean the government stepping in and taking over school boards that show "persistent problems relating to student achievement, effective stewardship, and good governance."
Real consequences for poor student achievement? You can see why trustees would be outraged.
School board feedback on the paper was due back to the province yesterday -- one reason boards are mad. They felt the province pulled a fast one by giving them only two months to consult on something with potentially dire consequences for themselves.

Both seem to forget one important facet of the regulation situation. Back in the spring of 2006, then-minister Gerard Kennedy laid the foundation for Bill 177 in Bill 78. It was seen through to Royal Assent by Sandra Pupatello, but this bill was the Liberals' first omnibus tweaking of the Education Act. Attention at the time was easily focused on the amendments Bill 78 made regarding trustee honoraria and student-trustee roles. It also included the New Teacher Induction Program, replacing the much-hated teacher recertification intro'd by the previous Tory government. However, it included a number of clauses allowing the government to set regulations on student achievement.
The Liberals just haven't set those regulations yet. Now, with Bill 177 moving through the Legislature, they've issued the provincial interest regulations. Some of these however, already have the legal authority to be implemented by cabinet thanks to Bill 78. This current bill takes the next step permitted by Bill 78 -- we can set standards for boards regarding student achievement, now we're telling you what the consequences might be for not meeting them.
The summertime consultation... yes, trustee associations have a point in their feedback. The Ontario Public School Trustees Association release and submission (which correctly ID these regs as pertaining to both bills) both speak to what could be conspicuous timing on the province's part. The Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association hasn't posted its submission yet, if it indeed prepared one.
As a concluding comment, I'm not a big fan of legislation through regulation. Regs are easier to put into place as they are implemented by the 'Lieutenant-governor in council,' legislative jargon for the provincial cabinet. As such, they're not subject to the more public airing and debate that naturally happens when legislation is created through bills. So the legislature debates bills giving the government the power to then create and set the actual rules at the cabinet table.
Works great when cabinet's priorities are aligned with broad public opinion. Doesn't work so well when the cabinet's wishes run contrary to what people want or what actually works best.

Bluewater update #9

It's been a while since there was one of these, but some interesting information has come out in the past few days. First, Owen Sound reported a few days ago the Bluewater District School Board would take no further action against two staff members -- Alana Murray and Jean Stephenson -- despite a ruling from the Ontario College of Teachers' disciplinary committee.

Copies of the college's decisions previously obtained by The Sun Times said superintendent Alana Murray was to be admonished in writing by the college for "failing to acknowledge or attribute where the information was obtained to support an article associated with her that was published in the Nov. 2008 issue of Make it Your Business," a local chamber of commerce publication.
Superintendent Jean Stephenson, credited as co-author of the article, was to receive a caution in writing from the college "to exercise good judgment in all circumstances and is reminded that teachers are significant role models in our society."
The college said it was up to the board to decide if either woman should have stepped down.

This was followed up in the paper with a piece with the reaction of the original complainant, Peter Ferguson, who, no surprise, is disgusted the board is not disciplining its superintendents in any meaningful way.

According to board chairwoman Jennifer Yenssen, the trustees decided not to pursue any further action based on legal advice and the fact that the college didn’t recommend the matters go before a disciplinary committee.
“The college could have taken further action if they deemed it necessary, but they didn’t,” said Yenssen.
“Basically we interpret what happened to them as a warning. We now want to move forward realizing that plagiarism is a very serious issue.”
Yenssen added the trustees consider the college ruling to be a “dismissal” because it didn’t go before a disciplinary committee, despite the fact that both Murray and Stephenson were admonished and cautioned, respectively.
The trustees will now begin the process of developing a board-wide plagiarism policy that will also apply to Bluewater staff members. Currently, each school has a individual plagiarism policy that applies to students.

This has, again no surprise, drawn suitable reaction from the online community over at MendEd. It also provides another snapshot of the reasons why this board is in a quagmire -- having seen one trustee chair resign, a pair of fix-its appointed by the Ministry of Education, two mediated public sessions, the hiring of a communications officer and a report pending on Sept. 22. From how the board handled rotary instruction in the intermediate grades to this latest peek at staff members' inappropriate behaviour, the public's view into this board keeps getting better.
Especially since, apparently, the director of education and trustees at the BDSB believe it's OK to have their senior administrators -- supervisors and mentors to principals and those who set the tone for professional practice and instruction in all the board's schools -- plagiarize the work of others. In Bruce and Grey counties' public schools, employees are allowed to lie and pass off another's property as their own, and receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a wagging finger saying "you should have known better, don't do it again."

Back to school

Ramping up from a refreshing nine-day hiatus, where I withdrew from posting here but was keeping an eye on various news alerts, etc.
For many across the province, this is the second week of classes. For the rest, today is the first day. First-day coverage is always an interesting read, though I delighted in reading the headlines noting absenteeism from those schools with a pre-Labour Day weekend start was relatively low. Simply another change that people dealt with.
Noted with interest today a series the London Free Press has started on the cost of school, speaking to all the little extras that families chip in for throughout the regular school year. I'm envious of the idea, which I won't replicate given our mutual coverage area, however-- I will note there has been some previous local reporting on school spending in Owen Sound this summer, here and here.
The first Free Press article is here and reporter Kelly Pedro is looking for a family she can follow throughout the school year, chronicling its school spending. Obviously, a family within the Freeps' coverage area (preferably London), which includes Oxford, Elgin, Middlesex, Perth, Huron and even a bit of Bruce counties.