Sudbury social media lights up over school board merger proposal
Our Facebook audience responded quickly to Doreen Dewar's push for a four-board merger
With Rainbow District School Board chair Doreen Dewar's recent announcement she would push the Ministry of Education for a four-board merger in Sudbury, CBC audience members have been vocal on our Facebook page to offer their ideas and comments.
During an interview on Morning North, Dewar said she was bringing her motion forward again, but even with savings that would be realized through a merger — and the potential to keep smaller community schools open — doubted there was any political will to make it happen.
"If we could put the students together, share facilities, maintain our distinct programs, we would have a presence," Dewar said, "we would maintain a school within our small communities."
"Do I have hope that it's going to happen? No, not really."
The debate isn't new. In 2007, a poll commissioned by the CBC found that Ontarians generally favoured the idea of a single-board system.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said merger talks were off the table, saying in a 2014 CBC interview that the Ontario Liberals "...are supporting the school system as it exists."
Declining enrolment across the city, coupled with a lack of provincial funding, is the root of the shortfall, said Rainbow Board director Norm Blaseg.
The Rainbow Board recently said it would consider closing twelve schools in the region, and have challenged community members to find creative ways of keeping money in the public board's coffers.
Even with the funding shortfall, the board has committed $7 million to re-purposing the former Wembley High School into a central board office.