Closing a school is one of the hardest things for a school board to do — closing up to five, as Richmond is planning to do by September 2017, will be brutal.
The Richmond Board of Education claims the closures are a must to ensure our schools are, on average, at 95 per cent capacity. And 95 per cent capacity is a must or else the provincial government won’t give it the money it requires to make the remaining schools seismically sound. Currently, we’re told our schools are at 85 per cent capacity.
A few points. First, why a 95 per cent threshold? Granted, we want all our public facilities to be well utilized, but holding up an arbitrary number as the ultimate objective seems to be putting the cart before the horse — the horse, of course, being our school district’s own stated objective of “providing opportunities for all students to develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge which will enable them to enjoy a productive and satisfying life and to be positive, responsible participants in our democratic society and the global community.”
I’m not saying closing schools will necessarily undermine that goal, but it’s important to recognize public education is about more than maximizing capacity and any decision taken should support its larger purpose.
Second, how are we measuring school capacity? It appears the Ministry of Education`s formula involves counting the number of spaces in every enrolling classroom and compare them to school enrollment figures. Some Vancouver trustees argue this overlooks classrooms used by adult education programs and childcare facilities, it counts special education classes with smaller class sizes as under-capacity, and includes rooms used for music and art lessons as enrolling classrooms which means they’re counted as empty.
But even if we accept the formula is sound and that 95 per cent is the magic number we should be aiming for, are we looking forward? The city forecasts Richmond’s population to be 280,000 by 2041. That’s a 31 per cent increase in 25 years. Granted, if we keep building mega homes and luxury condos as foreign investments, there may not be a lot of kids around. But, even now, city council is planning for more townhouses built along arterial roads; townhouses tend to bring families.
I’m not saying (to paraphrase Monty Python) every school is precious; closing some may be what’s best. But forgive me my skepticism, both in regards to the province prioritizing the larger objectives of public education and the city ensuring we have a diversity of housing that supports families. That said, I’m an optimist. What matters now is that the city and school district work closely to do some careful planning so that 20 years out, we have a healthy, sustainable community. If well-educated kids aren’t at the heart of that, I can’t imagine what is.
