Dispelling the Myth of a "School Swap" Precedent

There have been a number of frustrating aspects to the campaign in favour of a school swap between LaVerendrye School and Earl Grey School. Having to overcome false information, like claims to how many students Earl Grey School can hold, have been a tremendous challenge. Another is the sheer lack of respect shown by some of the proponents of the swap, which is becoming clear is NOT everyone at LaVerendrye, especially when it comes to understanding of just how much this swap will truly effect Earl Grey School. They have tried very hard to downplay our very real concerns and worse, very real loses and it is only adding to the division felt in the community as a whole between the two schools. 

A recent post on their blog illustrates the kind of misinformation we have to fight against in our quest to have the right thing done, which is to stop this swap. In it, proponents of the swap argue that a swap has been done successfully in the Louis Riel School division between Ecole Marie Anne Gaboury and Hastings School. Well, it wasn't exactly successful in the sense that even it divided the community, and that was a switch with even less impact for both schools involved. 

The fact is, both Ecole Marie Anne Gaboury and Hasting School's shared the same property. It was just a matter of crossing a field. Also, the child care facilities in both schools were run by the same company. In this case, you did have a genuine swap, and even this was extremely divisive as outlined in several news articles, like this one. 

In the case of Earl Grey and LaVerendrye schools, we do not share a property. In fact, it is a sizeable enough distance between the two schools to cause substantial headaches for Earl Grey students and families. Also, the Earl Grey Children's Centre is ONLY licensed for the current Earl Grey site, where as the other two schools has child care facilities run by the same company. On top of that, Earl Grey School's connection with the adjacent community centre, which also holds Dante Day Nursery, will be broken and that doesn't appear to be a factor in the other swap. Kids rely on the community center for lunch and after school programming and being removed from the site will make it a challenge, if not impossible, to access this resource. And then, of course, is the fact that a move will mean that Earl Grey School will lose it's grade 7 and 8 programs. 

Comparing the Ecole Marie Anne Gaboury and Hastings School swap with what would happen to Earl Grey in the case of a swap with LaVerendrye School is like comparing apples to school buses. They are not remotely the same. In fact even calling what would happen between Earl Grey and LaVerendrye as a swap is misleading because, as illustrated above, it is more of a dismantling of Earl Grey than a swap. 

So, claims that there is a successful precedent that was smooth and peachy keen is disingenuous and ignores the realities of what will happen between Earl Grey and LaVerendrye. It is a slap in the face of concerned Earl Grey families who know the truth about what we have to lose, and don't appreciate these concerns being down played, or having misinformation spread about them. If a swap is going to be made, it must be made with all of the facts laid bare. And in this case, the fact is, this "swap" is nothing like the Ecole Marie Anne Gaboury and Hasting School swap in many ways. Trying to draw a parallel is grasping for straws at best. And this is why we must continue to fight to stop the swap