That is what I mean, exactly what does it mean having the school board downtown versus on the mountain? Nothing really. It is not a civic requirement for a school board to operate downtown. TDSB hq is located in North York, over 13 km from their city hall. Has this arrangement hurt Toronto in any way? The redevelopment of Hamilton's core doesn't hinge on another public building in the core, nor does its civic functionality depend on a school board's proximity to the core.

I think them moving up to the Mountain is just another example of how they're abandoning the core. If they were doing that while opening schools in the lower city, it'd be one thing. But to do it now, to spend millions of dollars on a new HQ while closing seven high schools (even if it will save them money in the long run)... It just all looks really bad on the board.

The high school closures are a seperate issue, but on that point the board had 11,000 vacant spaces across the system and needed to shut schools down in order to remain viable. The closures were across the board. Of the three new high schools to be built, one will be in the central city so while the north section of the city has one-third of the school closures, one-third of the new schools being built will be there as well.

BTW unless I am mistaken they also decided at the last meeting to close Highland in Dundas as well as Parkside and build a new high school in Dundas to replace those two closures.

Via-a-via the new HQ, the board is not just building a new HQ, it is closing five administrative sites and consolidating those sites into the new Crestwood site. Basically the same exercise performed on the schools is being performed on the administrative sites.

I can't believe the downtown trustee voted for Crestwood. That's insane.

DRESCHEL: Trustees uses province as ‘bogeyman’

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...ce-as-bogeyman

Liberal cabinet minister Ted McMeekin says the education ministry put “absolutely no pressure” on the public school board to abandon the option of building its new headquarters downtown.

McMeekin says fears the province might pull its support for the headquarters stem not from government coercion but the “skittishness” of trustees.

“This board tends to be risk averse and fairly conservative,” said McMeekin, minister of agriculture and MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale.

“It’s unfortunate they terminated the process they agreed to.”

McMeekin was responding to the suggestion that the board prematurely bailed on the proposal to build at the historic Cannon Knitting Mills in the heart of Beasley neighbourhood out of fear the ministry might change its mind about the $31.6 million headquarters

Earlier this week, the board voted 6-5 to stick with its original plan to build at the Crestwood school site near Lime Ridge Mall on the Mountain instead of honouring a June 18 deadline for a task force to put together a business case for Beasley.

The move shocked downtown councillor Jason Farr and west-end councillor Brian McHattie, who led the charge to keep the education centre in the core after the present site at Main and Bay streets was sold to McMaster University for a health campus.

McHattie believes some trustees and senior board staff were nervous about the downtown option from the get-go and so used the education ministry as a “bogeyman” to justify short circuiting the process.

A deeply disappointed Farr calls the decision a “squandered” opportunity.

'and needed to shut down schools in order to remain viable.'

You have a school that fits 1700 and 1100 students. What's not viable about that?

And how do you get from excess capacity to three new schools? Is there some sort of requirement that the school board have exactly the capacity as there are students? Because every time the board builds a school it is almost immediately at capacity and they're building portables. In fact I bet if they tore down all the portables they've built they wouldn't be over capacity.

But I can see no way to get from 3000 student capacity in three schools (one of which is special needs) to a mandate to build one new school at 1500 capacity. Taking Parkview out of the formula, for good reason, you're left with two schools 7 km apart, each with 1500 capacity. So they're half full. What's the issue? That's the same excess capacity as any other office space in this city.

This is because the Ministry requires schools to be built to hold the lower end of the population curve for the area. So, if they're building a school where they're still building houses, the ministry estimates the necessary capacity as if those houses just don't get built.

(This is based on my memory from when Saltfleet was built in '96, so details may be off)

I appreciate the topic of school closures by its nature makes it difficult to take the news without some aspects of the community feeling wronged, abandoned and/or betrayed. Objectivity is difficult to maintain when it impacts a vested interest, real or percieved.

There was an excellent article posted on thespec.com that gives more insight into the factors considered as the board conducted deliberations on how to restructure the school system. Kudos to Teri Pecoskie on some excellent journalism. the article addresses a lot of the questions surrounding the closures being asked here and elsewhere. Rather than my simply repeating them, here's a link to the article:

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...es-what-s-next

You're not being objective - you're just pulling the same knee jerk contrarion attitude you pull on every single topic ever raised on this site. Someone would propose to build a quarry downtown and you would immediately suggest it's not really as bad an idea as the 'hysterical masses' are saying.

And that article is nothing more than a list of unsubstantiated reasons pulled directly from the board. And bad quotations - everyone with a truck was a contractor? No wireless connection therefore you need a new school? Please.

This is pretty simply Mark. You make people have to go further for their schools it doesn't matter what kinds of smartboards it has.

For the record, if someone was to propose to build a quarry downtown I would be strongly opposed to it. That is as bad an idea as putting a stadium in the West Harbour lands.

It is the sum of all points that weighs the decision, not the parts individually. Bottom line, it is in the best interest of the students to offer as healthy, safe and effective a school environment as is within he means of the board budget.

Given the obesity outbreak among Canadian youth today one should welcome the extra exercise provided by walking a little further to school each day.

Application for Consent / Land Severance
 

FYI - there is a Hearing of the Committee of Adjustment at City Hall on Thursday June 14th in Room 192/193, First Floor (no time on the notice posted at the Board of Ed.)

It looks like they are proposing to divide the lot in two leaving the Building and the Parking Lot on separate lots.

Notice
Application for Consent / Land Severance
Hearing Date - June 14th, 2012
Rooms 192 & 193, 1st Floor, Hamilton City Hall

For Information Contact the Committee of Adjustment
Phone 905-546-2424 ext. 4221
Refer to File: HM/B-12:45

Likely so that Mac can continue to keep the parking lot as a parking lot.

The newest outlandish plan from the Board of Education is to drag the 130 year old Mohawk Trail Schoolhouse to the back parking lot (sorry, "rear courtyard") at their future Crestwood headquarters

http://www.hamiltonnews.com/news/moh...restwood-site/

ridiculous. I wonder how many houses they can fit on that land.

Last chance to see inside the BOE building
 

Tonight is the last night to see inside the BOE building before it gets torn down. Open house is 5-7pm Tuesday, June 19. Here is a link to the CBC Hamilton story about it.

http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/talk/stor...-wreckers.html

With so much focus being put on the construction of the downtown McMaster Campus, I completely forgot about the new Board of Education building. Anyone know if construction has started?

I drove by to find out for myself. Crestwood is gone and there is construction equipment on the site. It should be starting soon.

I guess the response to your question (or lack thereof) tells you something about this project. ;)

No one cares about it? :haha: