Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Greg Durocher, president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. Greg and I spoke about bullying, financial literacy and, of course, small schools.
Click the image below to view the video.
Colin Carmichael and Greg Durocher
I had the opportunity to attend an all-candidates meeting in North Dumfries tonight. What struck me most about the evening was the obvious pride that these residents have for their township and the communities within it. I was quickly reminded of own small-town upbringing and the challenges facing small communities.
One women I spoke to expressed her extreme disappointment that there is no longer a trustee specifically from North Dumfries. She was even more disappointed when I informed here that there wasn’t even a candidate from North Dumfries. Her response was “Well, what’s the point in voting, then?”
I’d like to think that as a small-town boy myself I can adequately serve the residents of Ayr, Clyde, Branchton, Brown, Roseville and all of the other little hamlets that dot the township. I found myself, however, in total agreement that North Dumfries has been left out in the cold with respect to representation at the Board.
If elected, I would encourage the Waterloo Region District School Board and the Province of Ontario to create an additional trustee position to represent North Dumfries.
I had the opportunity to speak to several other residents of North Dumfries and several issues were raised. As I chatted, it became apparent to me that it is simply unacceptable (and necessary) to transport so many children out of their community and into Cambridge for school. With only two elementary schools – both located in Ayr – the township risks losing part of its cohesiveness as no child attends high school in their own municipality!
A Small Schools initiative would allow for more schools – including a high school – in North Dumfries. An elementary school serving Clyde and Branchton, for example, would still require most to be bussed but they would at least retain their North Dumfries identity.
On October 25th you have the opportunity to have a say in the future of your school board. I ask for your support. To make sure you are on the voter’s list and to find out where to vote, please visit this page: http://cambridgepublicschools.ca/on-the-list/
The current Waterloo Region District School Board trustees are, apparently, afraid of public scrutiny. They prefer to make decisions behind closed doors and do not seem interested in any public input.
How else can you explain the actions of the Board’s Agenda committee last night? I was disgusted to read in the Record this morning that the public and the media were barred from the meeting where the “transportation issue” was discussed.
Public school board trustees kept the public out of a meeting Monday in which they agreed to hear a motion to restore school busing to hundreds of students.
Trustees on the agenda development committee of the Waterloo Region District School Board decided the proposal from Cambridge trustee Cindy Watson would get a hearing Nov. 8.
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But they had that closed-door discussion in apparent contradiction of the Education Act, denying The Record the right to be in the committee room while they discussed the matter.
When asked the reason for closing the meeting to the public, education director Linda Fabi said this particular committee has traditionally not been open to the public.
You can read the full Record article here: http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/786354
I am firm believer in absolute transparency for public institutions. Not only should all Board meetings be open to the public (with the noted exceptions) but there is no reason that Board meetings couldn’t be broadcast live via the Board website. The technology exists and it would cost virtually nothing to implement. This small measure of transparency would allow parents and teachers – the two greatest stakeholder groups – to better understand and evaluate the actions of their own Board.
I commit, therefore, to push for live webcasting of all meetings of the Waterloo Region District School Board and its committees.
Update: The chair of the Board, Mike Ramsay, apologized to the Record for barring a reporter from what should have been an open meeting. I believe that this incident is an indication of a culture of secrecy at the Board – it should not require a public embarrassment to convince the trustees to open the door to their decision-making.
On October 25th you have the opportunity to have a say in the future of your school board. I ask for your support. To make sure you are on the voter’s list and to find out where to vote, please visit this page: http://cambridgepublicschools.ca/on-the-list/
Many Cambridge residents will not be surprised that “Green Schools” is a major plank of my election platform. Indeed, green schools was a major plank in my election platform in 2007 when I was the Green Party candidate for Cambridge in the provincial election that year.
I believe now, as I did in 2007, that every school in the Region should be home to at least one renewable energy source. Wind, solar, and geo-thermal energy projects are viable at almost any school location due to the large (and usually flat) roofs and large properties.
While the Board may save some money in the long-term with these projects, there are even greater benefits.
- Learning Opportunities: the students could be involved in the energy projects – monitoring how much energy is saved, for example.
- Leading by Example: we cannot justify teaching our children about living sustainably if we are not willing to do so ourselves.
- Community Partnerships: we are lucky to have renewable energy businesses right here in the Region that could be engaged in the schools’ renewable energy programs.
- Reducing Local Energy Demand: by generating some of their own electricity, schools will help keep the power consumption levels lower – especially during the peak summer months when schools use even less energy.
There are, of course, smaller-scale efforts that can be made to make our schools greener than they already are. The Board should be drawing on the creativity of its students (and staff) to find green solutions in their schools. One way to do that would be to encourage participation in grant programs like the WWF Canada’s Green CommUnity School Grants program. Beyond encouragement, the Board should be offering matching funds to any successful applicant.
On October 25th you have the opportunity to have a say in the future of your school board. I ask for your support. To make sure you are on the voter’s list and to find out where to vote, please visit this page: http://cambridgepublicschools.ca/on-the-list/
Update: I’ve just been reminded of the great EcoSchools program at WRDSB. Congrats to all the students and staff involved at those schools!
I grew up in a small town so I know what safe feels like. It was comforting for me to know that most people I ran into on any given day probably knew my name and likely knew my parents. People are generally safer in small towns because of the relationships that develop over the years. Patterns emerge and anything out of the ordinary is immediately noticed.
Schools are not much different; smaller schools are inherently safer than larger ones for the very same reasons that smaller towns are safer than larger cities.
Small schools are well-known across North America to foster stronger and safer communities of learning. The Chicago Public Schools system, for example, says the following:
Small schools offer students a personalized learning environment, where they are known well by a group of teachers. Students in large schools sometimes fall through the cracks because it is easier for them to go unnoticed. In a small school, a student is usually only one in 300 to 400 students, rather than maybe one in two thousand, and is known by all the members of the small school community. Teachers talk about how students are doing, and compare information across classes and over the years. All of the students know each other. If a student is having trouble, all the student’s teachers can meet with the student and/or parents to talk about the problem and create a plan to help.
Small schools are significantly safer than large schools. Incidents of violence and drug abuse are far less common in small schools. For example, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), only 7.9% of urban small schools reported a incident of serious violent crime (physical attack or fight with a weapon) while 26.5% of urban schools with an enrollment of 1,000 students or more reported such a crime to police (NCES, “Principal/ School Disciplinarian Survey on School Violence, 1997).
I know there are a few of my supporters who have websites of their own and I’ve been asked if there is a way for local bloggers to show their support for my campaign. Now there is!
Simply copy the code to the right of each image and paste it into your website:
Are you on the Voter’s List? Do you know where your polling place is? Make your voting day as easy for yourself as possible by confirming that you’re already on the voter’s list and that you know where to go to vote.
If you find you are not on the list, call this number and press zero for assistance: 519-740-4680
Service provided by the City of Cambridge
The Cambridge Times reports that an all-candidates meeting/debate is being hosted by the Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries, the YWCA Cambridge and the Cambridge Network of Neighbourhoods Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Islamic Centre of Cambridge.
This should prove to be a interesting evening because all candidates for city council, mayor and regional council have been invited to attend the meeting. That means that up to thirty candidates could be on stage trying to make their case to voters!
You will note that a class of candidates have not been included; candidates for school board trustee have not been invited. The theme for the debate is poverty and the organizers may have felt that this issue fell outside the purview of school board trustees. I disagree – I think the school board has an important role to play not only in eradicating poverty in the long term but mitigating its effects in the short term. read more…
[this is the first in a series of posts over the summer that, collectively, will develop into an election platform]
Ours is a society that has, in recent history, valued quantity over quality. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, “bigger is better” has been the mantra guiding our social and civic development. Our schools have not been immune to this mentality of progress through growth and it is not difficult to find schools in Ontario with student populations extending into the thousands. In the Waterloo Region District School Board, all of our high schools have student populations over 1000 – the largest being Cameron Heights with 1800 students.
It’s time we started reversing that trend and moving towards smaller, stronger schools.
read more…
I am a blessed man. I enjoy the unconditional support of my family and my friends in each endeavour I undertake. This campaign to serve my community is no exception and I sincerely appreciate the support and encouragement I have already received in the few short weeks since announcing my candidacy.
One of the realities of politics, however, is that elections are expensive. Even a low-key and fiscally prudent campaign such as mine will cost several hundred dollars. So here I am with my hand out.
I humbly ask you to please consider making a monetary contribution to support my campaign. I hope to raise just a few hundred dollars to fund some advertising in the fall and to purchase some campaign materials that my supporters can distribute to spread the word.
If you feel that you can afford to support the campaign, please use the contact form located HERE to get in touch with me.
