ALBERT STREET MIDDLE SCHOOL - IS KELLY LAMROCK RIGHT OR WRONG ON THIS ISSUE???

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Originally uploaded by Oldmaison.

Charles,

As you often state you blog 'for the people', I am surprised at your silence on the Albert Street School issue that has many parents up in arms about relocating the school to the suburbs.

Is it because liberals are in power that you are going soft on them?

Kelly Lamrock is acting like a petty dictator in telling parents, you know, the ones who pay the taxes to build or renovate the school-as well as Kelly's handsome salary, why their concerns aren't important. He claims that the building itself isn't important, but the children who school there.

If its up to the kids then, why not hold a 'kids referendum' and ask them?

Since taxpayers are paying for it, why not let them decide? If there are such strong reasons, then obviously people would support it.

Most provinces don't even deal with local issues such as these, since they are clearly municipal, even local in effect. You can just post this message if you don't want to blog it yourself, here's the CBC story and Lamrocks "Press Release":

Parents fuming over Liberal plan to move school
Last Updated: Friday, December 22, 2006 | 11:44 PM AT
CBC News

Some Fredericton parents are furious at the Liberal government's decision to relocate a middle school from downtown to a suburban neighbourhood.

Education Minister Kelly Lamrock announced the controversial news on a Friday afternoon, hours before the end of the last business day before Christmas.

Lamrock, who seldom turns down a chance for a media interview, issued a news release Friday afternoon decreeing that Albert Street Middle School will be moved to Kimble Road. A Department of Education spokesman said the minister would have no further comment about the issue.

The Lord government had decided that the centrally located Albert Street school would be replaced by a new building on the same site.

Parents and teachers had opposed the Kimble Road site, but Lamrock said in his news release that schools don't exist to make parents or teachers happy.

"It is not the child's job to have a school where adults find it convenient or emotionally satisfying. So while I have heard many of these arguments, they are not factors," he said in the release.

Leslie Balcolm is one of a number of parents with children at Albert Street who is angry about the government's decision. "I really find that quite offensive."

Balcom says she can't understand why the minister would make the change when the ground has already been laid to keep the school where it is.

She and other parents are forming a lobby group to pressure the education minister to reconsider his switch in plans. "We had a decision made before. Why should we accept that this is the permanent one?"




Education minister's decision on replacement site for Albert Street Middle School (06/12/22)

NB 1602

Dec. 22, 2006

FREDERICTON (CNB) - The following statement regarding a replacement site for Albert Street Middle School was issued today by Education Minister Kelly Lamrock:

"If one is faced with a tough, intractable decision on where to build a new middle school, it helps to consult with parents, teachers and community leaders. And then you should go to an elementary-school Christmas concert.

"While at my son's Christmas concert, I realized that the real constituency here is children in elementary school now. They are the ones who will live with this decision, and they are the constituency. While they often rely on adults to debate their interests for them, adult views are only valuable to the decision insofar as they further the child's interest.

"So when you have two different sites from which to choose, you have to exclude a lot of arguments that have to do with adult concerns, not children's.

"That means that there are certain things that are excluded as factors because they are not relevant to the experience the child has in the school. It is not the child's job to have a school where adults find it convenient or emotionally satisfying. So while I have heard many of these arguments, they are not factors.

* Schools do not exist so that an adult can walk to a child's school.
* Schools do not exist so that a parent can work close to a child's school.
* Schools do not exist to raise a neighbourhood's self-esteem or property values.
* Schools do not exist to satisfy adults' desire for continuity or tradition.
* Schools do not even exist to make teachers happy, although teachers make a school a good place for children to learn.

"I make these points not to minimize the role of parents. I, too, volunteer at my child's school, drive to extracurricular activities, and occasionally drive between my work and my child's school. These are important, wonderful experiences. But the role of a school is not to facilitate these things, or consider them alongside the interests of the child. Parents like us simply adapt our lives around the ones our children lead, and we find a way to do it wherever a school may be.

"What this government is faced with is a choice between two sites for a school. One, at Albert Street, is alive with a school there today that is a top-notch learning community, with staff who believe in the children and work extra hours for them. The other, at Kimble Road, has space and recreation facilities beyond most sites, but whispers only its potential.

"When you visit a lot of schools, as a minister of education does, you quickly realize what a small role the site plays in the success of a school. A school is first and foremost about people - the ideas and choices and passion that educators bring, the volunteer support of parents, the love of learning we hope children have.

"Sometimes, when these things are present, we can sell ourselves short. We start to believe that the building where all these wonderful things happen is doing it for us, transferring all that positive energy to us. But this is an illusion. People animate a building, not the other way around. The people who make Albert Street Middle School great will be a constant.

"If buildings made the school, and emotion and tradition decided the issue, I would never replace the building where I attended school, Albert Street. I still love walking into it. But the building is important because of what happened there. And now, the building is clearly outdated and ready to become history.

"So the choice of where the new one goes is worth getting right, but students will have a first-class education at either site.

"What would draw me to Albert Street is that teachers have been using the site for years and have built up ways to use its central location and adjacent services as ways to enhance teaching and extracurricular activities. And they do it well, walking to cultural events, athletic facilities, and using community resources and volunteers.

"Other schools' faculty do this too, just with different ingredients. A staff at Kimble Road would soon turn those same creative powers to the strengths of that site, just as I've seen done at schools such as Liverpool, Park Street, Barker's Point and Nashwaaksis Middle School. Some things Albert Street teachers do well will be dislodged and even lost in the transition - that is undeniable. What replaces those things is less tangible, but very likely.

"The canvas for creativity at Kimble, with three times the space and more recreation facilities, cries out for a team of educators to take it on. In a system where educators develop parks, interactive learning centres, outdoor teaching activities - the Kimble site was chosen because it is such a rich canvas. It is hard to take the leap of faith to leave what is for what could be. But if people make a site, the Kimble site is rich with opportunity for the right people.

"In the end, we have a chance to put a bigger, richer, better site in the hands of the people who do great work. The transition will pose more challenges for the adults in the community today. But the children, the ones not yet there, will benefit from the work the adults do to make the best site as good as it can be. Our government will work with them and give them resources. And for all the discomfort change brings, children will be better off.

"Kimble Road has been selected as the site for the new school, to open in September 2009. We further pledge to make the Albert Street site available for recreational use by George Street Middle School, and ask officials to review community and educational options for the Albert Street site, given its location at the heart of a residential neighbourhood."