Arbitrary closing of Blyth Public School - What Happened to Our Fighting Spirit?

Blyth must be going soft. Our forerunners did not accept arbitrary decisions of others. They either fought them or ignored their detractors and went ahead with what they thought was right.

Today, we are faced with an arbitrary and prejudicial decision which will rob this village of its school. We have raised our objections respectfully and politely. We’ve presented well documented arguments against the decision by a group of outsiders to make this assault on OUR COMMUNITY. The ARC committee did an enormous amount of  research and solid work.

In return, we have been ignored. We have been fed official lies and subterfuge. We have been subjected to a make-believe consultation process which was rigged against us before we began.

Surely it is time that we stop being polite. Time that we begin to treat the Avon Maitland District  School Board with the contempt that they so richly deserve. Time that we take some action to embarrass them and make them at leas extremely uncomfortable, if not repentant. Time to report their destructive ways to the Minister of Education who needs to understand what the provincial policy on school accommodation has unleashed on rural communities across this entire province and on this community in particular.

We sat idly by when amalgamation was forced on us a few years even though 99% of the community opposed the process. The adventure increased our costs, diluted our representation on municipal council, and produced no discernable advantages. It is too late to go back on that fiasco. We lost on that one.

In this case, we already know that there are no advantages to this change in school arrangements, and that we in Blyth are facing serious and irreparable damage to our children and our community. If ever there was a reason for protest, this is surely one of them.

Let's not stand there. Do something!

Brock Vodden
http://allaboutblyth.blogspot.com

Brock Vodden
PO Box 492
Blyth, Ontario, Canada  N0M 1H0

Phone 519-523-9393
hbvodden@ezlink.on.ca
Check out my blog titled "All About Blyth"
http://allaboutblyth.blogspot.com

It includes:

• Information about our Repository of Blyth History
• Opinion pieces about Blyth and small towns in general
• A place for your comments and questions

Reprints of Huron Historical Notes 2007: Repository of Blyth History are available at the Citizen Office in Blyth and the Huron County Museum in Goderich, Ontario.   Only $8.00

Posted via email from chris_lee's posterous