Ministry of Education representatives held a public session at the Markdale Arena, aimed at communicating more closely with the public in order to come up with solutions regarding education in rural centres.
Markdale was a fitting host for the event, having recently been granted a one-year reprieve on closure of Beavercrest Community School, despite the facility being less than 40% full with 192 pupils serving the area surrounding the community of just over 1,300 people.
Ashley Chapman of Chapman’s Ice Cream, Markdale’s largest employer, sat front-and-centre at the meeting and was the first to provide his table’s results after filling out a Meeting Workbook, provided by the ministry and aimed at supporting the discussion of education in rural communities.
Thursday’s session was part of a larger effort by the province of Ontario to seek public input on rural education, with Markdale serving as the eighth stop on a 21-day trip that sees ministry members traveling to communities across Ontario, including Wawa, Honey Harbour, Picton and Merrickville. The session provides the chance for ministry members to hear ideas from the public on how to provide quality education programming, supporting new opportunities to enhance education in rural and remote communities, and recognize the value that schools bring to a community as a whole.
The meeting saw both citizens and ministry members take the microphone and provide ideas they hoped would translate into possible solutions.
While some members of the public spoke in a way that focused on a poor provincial funding formula and a general neglect of public input in the process of determining which schools to close, ministry officials pointed to how an increased discussion into the matter has provided an opportunity to hear the citizen’s side to a story that may be unfamiliar to them. Sseveral members noted they grew up in urban-based settings and may not necessarily understand the challenges of schools in rural communities. Whether that be focused around times spent riding a bus, a lack of time to participate in extra curricular activities, or the increased time to travel to a larger community.
"And from a municipal standpoint and from a business standpoint, no school in this community is not an option," said Grey Highlands Mayor Paul McQueen. "It's not an option because when people come to your community, whether to start a business or work for a company, if there's no school, young families aren't going to come here."
According to the most recently-available government data, roughly 15% of all students in Ontario’s public education system are enrolled in rural school boards, and the provincial government says that since 2003, they have provided just over $1-billion for capital projects in rural Ontario.
Markdale and Wawa were the eighth and ninth stops on the ten-town tour through Ontario, which wraps up Friday in Nipigon.