Friday, February 16, 2007

ALBERT STREET MIDDLE SCHOOL - SHAWN GRAHAM RECEIVES A LETTER!!!


IMG_7266
Originally uploaded by Oldmaison.
Can someone send me a picture of the Albert school? Send it to oldmaison@yahoo.com. Here's their website -

http://www.keepalbertstreetcentral.com/

Premier Graham:

While I am not a primary “stake-holder” in the Albert Street School issue (I live outside of the city and none of my children go to Albert Street School ), I have been following this issue with great interest since December. I am writing to you now because, despite my initial enthusiasm when your party came to power, I have reached the point where I am completely appalled by your lack of response to the compelling objections that have been raised against moving the school.

While I have many questions which I would like to ask you about this issue, I will restrict myself, here, to just a few:

1. When it became clear to your government that the Minister of Education’s initial “summary” of parents’ objections to moving the school had little relevance to parents’ real primary objections (e.g., real objections like the ones summarized in Tom Beckley’s recent Daily Gleaner article and like the ones I mention below), why did you not respond, publicly and quickly, to these real concerns?

2. Why has your government gone so far as to misrepresent your constituents’ most forceful objections to moving the school? In his interview with the Gleaner (Jan. 9/07), the Minister of Education insists that, even after having given the public “every chance to make arguments”, he finds the presented arguments unpersuasive. However, the only “arguments” he addresses in this interview – and the only arguments he has addressed since – are the same tired ones he mentioned in his initial December press release (e.g., parents’ concerns for their own property values, the “tradition” of having a school on Albert Street , etc.). I know for a fact that the Minister has been aware, for many weeks now, of several other much more compelling arguments (many of these other arguments are, as you know, summarized in Tom Beckley’s article). Why is the Minister determined to give the public the misguided impression that parents’ only motivations for resisting the school move are either narrow self-interest or misguided nostalgia, when he knows full well that these parents have much more forceful and legitimate grounds for their objections? Why is he intent on misrepresenting and discrediting those who call his plan into question? Surely, you don’t want your constituents to get the impression that you not only have contempt for their concerns but are actively trying to prevent their real concerns from being heard.

3. Why has your government repeatedly framed this issue as if “the amount of available outdoor space for students” somehow trumps all other factors in making this decision? While increasing outdoor space for students is clearly a good thing, is this, by itself, sufficient grounds for such a decision? What about all of the other relevant issues (e.g., students’ walking distance to parks, art galleries, legislature, and other community-central institutions, just to name one)? According to your “maximization of outdoor space” logic, it would seem that, if you are to apply your principle consistently, all downtown schools should eventually be moved to the margins of the city, where there is more space. Is this your government’s “long-term plan”?! I wonder what downtown Fredericton will look like when you’re through.

4. Once it became clear to you that your plan to move the school was predicated on an archaic and disastrous urban planning model (i.e., shifting vital social institutions to the periphery of cities has consistently wrought havoc in American communities for the last several decades), why did you make no attempt to re-evaluate your plan? Indeed, though this major flaw is, by itself, sufficient to discredit your whole plan, you have yet to even acknowledge it!

I realize that many political issues, because they are complex and many-sided, require complex and many-sided solutions. The Albert Street School issue, however, is an obvious exception:

1. Short-term demographic trends (e.g., how many children could currently walk to the proposed Kimble Road location as opposed to the original Albert Street location) should have no substantive bearing upon long-term urban planning decisions (e.g., building schools). As you well know, the demographic make-up of neighbourhoods changes constantly, and quickly. The Minister’s mantra “three times the space for three times the students” is nothing but empty rhetoric.

2. No responsible government reverses a major decision involving this level of social impact without first engaging in substantial public consultation. The Minister of Education’s failure, in his December press release, to grasp the real reasons the public wants to keep the school where it is attests to just how little serious public consultation you have sought. You have yet to deal with this issue responsibly and democratically.

3. No responsible government would micromanage, from the provincial level, what should clearly be a local decision.

4. Removing vital social institutions – e.g., schools – from a city’s downtown core hurts the whole community, adults and children alike. I could offer countless examples of communities in the United States which have been ruined by urban planning policies like the one you are striving to implement. Downtown schools are an asset for students, in particular, but also for the whole community. This is such an obvious and fundamental point, it shouldn’t even have to be mentioned.

I do hope that your government will not sidestep this issue by simply replying, yet again, that “reasonable people can disagree” in their beliefs where controversial issues are concerned. Such a reply is a cop-out. This is not about mere “beliefs”; it is about reasoned arguments (as the Minister of Education himself insists in his Gleaner interview). In short, your responsibility is to respond, point by point and in detail, to the concrete objections raised against your plan, objections which you have thus far ignored. Moreover, I hope that you will not resort to the rhetoric of the Minister of Education’s December press release: his sharp distinction between the “interests of parents”, on the one hand, and the “interests of children”, on the other, is simplistic and artificial. Indeed, a cynical person might be inclined to interpret the Minister’s exclusive focus on “the children’s interests” as a means for quickly dismissing any adults who raise objections to your plan. Please stop pitting parents against children as if they were distinct “interest groups”; and please acknowledge that there are collective community interests at stake here.

I can assure you that, as a result of the Albert Street issue, the integrity of the current New Brunswick government is very much in question in the minds of many people. Of course, one way in which a government can easily demonstrate its integrity and good will toward its constituency is to admit when it has made a mistake and to take the necessary steps towards correcting that mistake. Your government currently has the opportunity to demonstrate its integrity in this way. Will you do this?

While I am cc-ing this letter to the Minister of Education, I am not interested in receiving a response from him. I insist, respectfully, on a direct and prompt response from you.

Sincerely,

James Gilbert-Walsh

Associate Professor of Philosophy

St. Thomas University

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"While I am cc-ing this letter to the Minister of Education, I am not interested in receiving a response from him. I insist, respectfully, on a direct and prompt response from you."

Mr. Premier,

I know you have appointed a Minister of Education who is responsible for the education system. I also know you have three quarters of a million constituents in this province. However, I insist that you drop everything and contact me personally, so I can cross-examine you on education policy.

Signed,

Egomaniac

Anonymous said...

Perhaps "just driving by" has missed the point of the letter: that, since the minister of education has repeatedly chosen to ignore, rather than confront, the most compelling objections put to him repeatedly concerning the plan to move the school, there is no real point in writing yet another letter to him. The next logical step is to confront the Premier directly.

Anonymous said...

Hey, its the egomaniac's who make demands up front that get what they want in this world. You think Jamie Irving leaves messages for ministers or secretaries? Don't buck it, try it.

Anonymous said...

Egomaniac: It looks that the maniac part has taken over you. You were driving by -- did you crash and burn.

Anonymous said...

ok so you admittedly are not a stakeholder but still demand an answer?

Anonymous said...

Just Driving By,

You do have a point, actually: it is absurd that I should have to write the Premier directly about this issue (and MANY people have written him directly, after having been frustrated by the Minister of Education's side-stepping and typically condescending responses).

My egomania notwithstanding, you might take note that the provincial government has PUT us in the awkward position of having to write to them concerning what should be a local – not a provincial – issue. This is what is absurd.

Funny post, by the way.

Sincerely,

Egomaniac

P.S. regarding the last posted comment: I never said I wasn’t a stake-holder; I said I wasn’t a PRIMARY stake-holder (i.e., I'm not a parent with kids in the school). All of us who are concerned about the vitality of the Fredericton downtown core, and about kids' education in general, are stake-holders here, myself included. Each of us has a right to demand an answer here.

Anonymous said...

'We need to integrate schools into the community'
Smart planning and architecture integral to creating healthy
buildings
ANDRÉ PICARD
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail (01/23/07)
MONTREAL — François Émond is an award-winning Montreal
architect and, when it comes to schools, a big proponent of
all things natural.
When he designs schools, he likes to ensure that all rooms
are flooded with light, that fresh air circulates, that
natural materials are used to minimize the release of
volatile organic compounds (chemicals that seep out of
products like plastic), that corridors are wide and bright,
that there are common spaces like atriums. But he says
school boards resist spending money on anything but the bare
basics.
"Schools should be showing the way, not setting a bad
example," Mr. Émond says.
He says poorly maintained ventilation systems pose one of
the biggest health threats to children because they allow
dirty, recycled air to circulate and mould to flourish.
"Maintenance is really a neglected area," he says. "People
take care of their bodies and their cars, but when it comes
to buildings, they don't have a clue."
One of the things he likes most about his son's school,
École FACE in downtown Montreal, is that it is so old
(built in 1914) that it has no ventilation system, just
old-fashioned, drafty windows. He also loves that he and his
son, eight-year-old Gabriel, can walk or bike to school.
Lawrence Frank, the Bombardier chair in sustainable urban
transportation systems in the school of community and
regional planning at the University of British Columbia,
says urban planning is a sadly overlooked area of health
policy, and the lack of attention to the issue has
contributed to the poor health status of children.
"It seems glaringly obvious, but if you want kids to walk,
you have to give them places to walk to, like schools," he
says.
Yet the vast majority of children in Canada do not walk to
school. They are bused or driven in cars, in large part
because of poor walking routes that fuel parents' fears of
traffic.
"We are training the next generation to be auto-dependent,"
Dr. Frank says.
The urban planner, whose high-profile work has shown a
correlation between suburban living, commuting time and
obesity, says schools are a principal contributor to urban
sprawl.
That is because school boards, perpetually strapped for
cash, look for cheap land. Dr. Frank says this is wrong. He
believes schools should be located in high-density areas,
where children can come by foot or on public transit, and
where there is already a built-up environment -- something
that becomes important as children reach junior high and
high school.
"We need to integrate schools into the community rather than
segregate them," he says. "That's how we can make them
healthier places."
He'll get no argument from Michael Hayes, assistant dean of
health sciences at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.,
and a health geographer.
"They lock them down at 3 o'clock," Prof. Hayes says of
schools. That's largely because of liability concerns should
someone be injured on the property, he says -- and that
prevents children (and adults) from being more physically
active.
Prof. Hayes also bemoans the fact the most schools are built
strictly to be functional, with few aesthetic qualities.
"It's penny-wise and pound-foolish to put our kids in ugly
boxes, to condemn them to unhealthy working and living
spaces," he says. "It sends a message that they are at the
bottom of the food chain, that their health doesn't really
matter."

Michael G. McKay said...

Do you think this would have happened, the Albert Street School being transfered under the Lord government. I don't think so. Now we have a child in their who is a wanna be premier who only wants to run on a Liberal agenda. And I ask you isn't that what got them voted out of office in the first place and Premier Lord into office. think about it.

Anonymous said...

Pointing out that the Liberal government is making a big mistake with the Albert Street issue doesn't have to be an endorsement of what the Conservatives
"would have done". This isn't just a partisan issue.