Others won’t name it outright. I will.
The Regina Public School Board of Education’s 10-year Renewal Plan is at best, stupid. At its worst, it is racist and classist. It goes against the RBE’s own shared values:
Our Shared Values transcend our differences and provide an equal opportunity to recognize and encourage the unique characteristics and contributions of students, parents/caregivers and staff.
Well, maybe they somewhat did until now. The RBE has chosen to ignore significant data revealed to them by citizens’ groups.
Independent studies have shown that the majority of the schools slated for closure are in areas of the city where the First Nations population is higher than average and where the socio-economic status of the citizens is lower than average. It has furthermore shown, given 2006 numbers and the RBE’s own data on closures, that as many as 45% of the RBE’s student population in K to Grade 8 will be bussed when the new plan takes effect.
So the 10-year plan is not only classist and racist, but it is also devised to create more greenhouse gases in our city!
And I will refrain from commenting on the Campbell Collegiate Community Council’s presentation to the Board except to say that it demonstrated exactly why the south end is deemed to be a place of white power and privilege in Regina. And it sickens me that my kids are enrolled there.
Then again, maybe they can make a difference…
the regina mom 
Timebandit
/ March 6, 2008I hope your kids do make a difference, Regina Mom.
Coincidentally, one of my fellow presenters for Real Renewal, the group that is opposing the plan, also has a child enrolled at Campbell and another who may be in the next year or two.
It bothered me a lot to see a school rep nosing around for money from the closed facilities before the final decision on closure is made. Hyenas. Scavenging hyenas.
The worst of it, though, was the glibness and flip tone with which the community council rep delivered her presentation. I can only hope she’d have a little more respect for the people on the losing end of this equation… Perhaps spending some time in North Central would open her eyes. Or not. Racism by default, a common ailment of us white folks, is pretty powerful. Sort of a sense that we’re not racist because we aren’t burning crosses or spitting on people of colour — but our assumptions based on our own experience blind us to the other side.
I am afraid for this city.
George
/ March 7, 2008“So the 10-year plan is not only classist and racist, but it is also devised to create more greenhouse gases in our city!”
You’re an idiot
Timebandit
/ March 7, 2008Actually, it will — right now, just under a third of the kids in public school are being bused, which is bad enough, but the new plan will raise that percentage to 45.5%. Nearly half.
Dunno about you, pal, but I don’t think half the kids in the city need to be sucking exhaust fumes every morning and afternoon.
Now that you have a little acutal information, George, don’t YOU feel like an idiot…
George
/ March 8, 2008I do feel like an idiot for taking 3 seconds and actually viewing this ridiculous blog by crazed left-wing man-hater who is so out to lunch it’s painful.
Timebandit
/ March 8, 2008But you keep coming back for more, Georgie-boy… What does that tell us about you?
Saskboy
/ March 12, 2008“but it is also devised to create more greenhouse gases in our city!”
George and like minded Vice-Chair ought to examine the laws on the books in Canada. The federal government is bound to reduce carbon emissions, and while centralizing students in well maintained and ecologically responsible schools may reduce net emissions despite diesel burning buses and Kiss and Ride parents, I highly doubt it can. First of all, who says the new schools and those “consolidated” will be made energy efficient? All signs point to underfunding, overcrowding, and temporary buildings low on insulation. Are they going to invest in bio-diesel buses, and discourage Kiss-and-ride drop offs and single student vehicles? Ooops, kid drivers can’t have a passenger go with them; strike-out.
And aside from the environmental impact, think of the mental impact in making a kid ride a bus when they used to be able to bike or walk home. I know the difference first hand. Buses suck (and I say that as an environmentalist, and someone who loves to cycle, walk, and take the STC and city transit). There’s nothing that can beat not commuting to work/school. Almost Nothing.
Vivian (Usher) Evans
/ March 17, 2008I also think the high school students at Robert Usher Collegiate are being robbed of their close neighborhood school because “they’re on the wrong side of town”. This never mattered before in its 30-year history & it shouldn’t matter now. I commend the parents & students who are working so hard to save their school. More power to them.
admin_papa
/ August 30, 2008Hello Everybody
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Regards,
Carl
sndrsndvz
/ May 1, 2010hi im new to thereginamom.wordpress.com , looking to learn new things 😀
ederobpo
/ May 12, 2010Hello, I am from Hungary, from Budapest.