School board moving ahead with major review of its programs, schools

The Tri-County Regional School Board is moving forward with a major review of the education programs being delivered in its schools, and says this two-year formal review process will also involve looking at how schools are being utilized and whether they need to be reconfigured or closed.

The school board says the purpose of reviewing the educational programs in its schools is to understand what is in place, and to determine how the program delivery for students can be improved.

The school board’s review process will get underway in September and will be completed over the next two years. The board says public consultations will be a critical component of the process.

The third and final phase of the review process will involve a school utilization study, and will be aimed at determining how schools can be used more effectively and efficiently. The board says the school utilization study is a timely component of the overall program review because of the ongoing, serious decline in student enrolment, which is expected to continue over the next five years or more.

The board says it wants to be open and up front about the possibility that some schools might ultimately be identified for possible reconfiguration or closure as a result of the program review and school utilization study. However although this is a possibility, the board says any formal consideration of a school closure would have to occur under a separate, year-long process.

A process called school review is defined formally in provincial legislation and is completely independent from this program review process. Any school review process for an individual school could only occur after the board’s program review has been completed, likely in March, 2010.

This means that any schools identified for school review would be considered for reconfiguration or closure from April 1, 2010 until March 31, 2011.

In other words, the board says, no schools can be closed as a result of this program review before September 2011.

The purpose of the school board’s formal program review is defined more specifically with the following questions:

•Is the basic program, the Public School Program (PSP), being delivered in each school as required by the Department of Education?

•What additional educational programs are being offered in each school and regionally?

•How can the delivery of the educational programs be improved?

•Are there particular issues or problems in program delivery that should be addressed under high priority status?

•How can the school facilities be utilized more effectively and efficiently to deliver the educational programs?

•What are the financial implications of making the recommended improvements in program delivery and school utilization?

•What is a reasonable timeline in making the improvements?

These questions will be answered through a three-phase process.

Phase I will be a review of the educational program delivery in each school and how it can be improved.

Phase II will be a school community consultation, in which schools and their communities will have an opportunity to provide input into the program review.

Phase III will be a school utilization study to determine how the schools can be used more effectively and efficiently. The board says it has an educational and fiscal responsibility to ensure that the schools are being used as efficiently as possible and that the diminishing school enrolments are not having a negative effect on the delivery of the required programs to students.

Jim Gunn has been hired as an external consultant to carry out the program review. Gunn served as superintendent of schools for the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board prior to his retirement in 2005, and then in an interim position as superintendent of schools for the South Shore Regional School Board in 2006. Most recently, in the role of a consultant, he has completed a school utilization study for the SSRSB.

“We are very fortunate to have an experienced educator to do a review on the educational program delivery and school utilization study,” said Faye Haley, chair of the Tri-County Regional School Board.

As the details of this process are worked out, they will be made known to the schools and the public on a regular basis. The school board says the process and its results will be fully transparent and public, from beginning to end.