The Near North District School Board has voted to shut down Widdifield Secondary School.
No, this is not 2017 and you’re not re-reading an older article. This is indeed 2019 and the decision has been confirmed after two years of it being up in the air. Over the past two years, the decision has been reopened, new school board trustees have been voted in, and the argument over whether Chippewa or Widdifield should shutter its doors carried on. As the dust settles, Chippewa remains and Widdifield will shut its doors by September 2020.
“Let’s face it, if you take a huge school out of downtown North Bay, you are going to have a lot of transfers to other boards,” NNDSB Chair Jay Aspin explained. “Scollard Hall is only two blocks away from Chippewa and it would cause a mass exodus of students. I looked at all the numbers, clearly, Widdifield was the one that had to be chosen.”
“I’m flabbergasted,” Rebecca Geauvreau, a member of the public said. “I want them to make the best choice for my kids, your kids, all of our kids in the future. I was concerned about the process. It did not seem transparent at all. Basically the reason that everyone gave was that so much time has passed, the heck with democracy, let’s just move forward. They basically excused the wrongs of the past board.
“There is still no transparency. Why did you choose Chippewa over Widdifield? It might be the right choice but you still haven’t said why it is the right choice and that is what I want to know as a parent,” Geauvreau continued. “A lot of them voted without saying a word as to why they are making the choice. We are the electorate, we voted them in, and I expect them to work for me and my kids and all of our children. This matters.”
“There are futures at other schools,” Aspin said. “There are other situations where boards have closed other schools. One door closes, another one opens. We have to look at the total picture and losing $7 million, or $3.5 million dollars a year, we just can’t sustain ourselves so we have to act. We appreciate the individual situations. It’s heartfelt, we don’t like to do what we are doing, but we are forced to look at the situation and respond accordingly.”
The dollar figures Aspin was speaking about involve enrollment going down and the board receiving less money to work with. Aspin said over the past two years since the initial decision was made, the board has lost $3.5 million per year.
“Money the board gets is based on enrollment, as enrollment goes down we get less money,” Aspin explained. “If we don’t offset that amount, we have to swallow it. That digs into programming, so we are forced to do what to do. We don’t like doing it, who likes closing a school? But you have less money. It’s like standing still on an elevator going down.”
“It’s discouraging,” Geauvreau stated. “I am a parent of elementary kids, but I can certainly imagine the angst and anxiety as both a student and parent not knowing where to go. It really begs the question, why stay with this board?”