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"Scugog"s Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, December 1, 2001 - 3 Motion for new school accommodation plan defeated By Rik Davie Port Perry Star A move to bring forward yet another draft plan for the Durham District School Board's 2002 Student Accommodation Plan was defeated last Monday night. Scugog Trustee Martin Demmers brought forth a motion asking for staff to put together a 'Plan B' that would show how funding for renovations to older schools and new school construction would be affected if four of the schools up for closure remained open. The schools slated for closure, including Epsom Public School, have been making presentations to the board of trustees ask- ing that their schools remain open despite lost revenue to the board through the provincial funding formula. They asked that plans to increase enrollment and make the schools more viable be put in place. The motion was the result of statements made earlier by Mr. Demmers who said that he would not vote to close any school "where the parents oppose that closure." "It has become increas- ingly obvious that we need to look at alterna- tives to these school clo- sures and look at ways to increase enrollment at these schools," Mr. Demmers told his fellow trustees at Monday night's meeting. He also added that the motion would result in what would be "only a draft" and that "anything could happen after that." As of Monday evening the board had two more nights set aside to hear presentations from schools who want to make their points for needed additions and new build- ing, but Mr. Demmers said he did not need to hear from other schools before making the motion. Director of Education Grant Yeo attempted to point out to Mr. Demmers that if the request to staff was for alternative figures on the proposed $89 mil- lion planning document, then the trustee could simply request it. "However," Mr,. Yeo added, "if this comes for- ward in the form of a motion then yet another round of public consulta- tions on this will be required because altering the plan will affect other schools not currently list- ed in the plan and those parents will want input." Nancy Loraine, the committee chair and trustee for the Uxbridge- Brock area, asked if Mr Demmers would entertain a friendly amendment stalling the motion until after all the public deputa- tions to the board had been completed on Dec. I. Mr. Demmers declined, saying, "l would prefer that we give staff our instruc- tions now. Today." Director Yeo again reminded trustees that a part of the motion which called for increasing the enrollments would involve shuffling students and would require public input from those parents. After pondering the motion, Board Chair Liz Roy questioned why trustees had slated a pri- vate meeting for Tuesday (Dec. 4) night. "Why are we (the trustees) even meeting tomorrow night," Ms. Roy asked during discussions on the motion. "The pur- pose of the original draft motion was to meet with staff and all the public before going further. "I would hope that as elected officials we would be able to say that we worked with staff and with the public through the entire process. It does not take a rocket scientist to see what these numbers say,"she said in reference to changes to the accom- modation plan that could affect the dollar amount available for new school construction and renova- tions. Several proposals for changes to the plan are currently under considera- tion by the board. After almost 40 minutes of argument by trustees the motion was defeated and a simple report con- taining information on alternatives was agreed upon. However, at the end of the discussion, student trustee David Werry of Eastdale C.V.I. in Oshawa asked for the floor. "We can, it seems to me, waste a lot of time doing nothing when in the real world all we needed to do was ask staff for a report (on alternatives)," Mr. Werry said. "We need not sit here for 40 minutes and put on a play." He was twice interrupt- ed by calls for point of order but continued. "Let's all call points of order and then another when we have the commu- nities here tonight wasting their time waiting for us. Next time make a phone call first, it's that simple | think," he said. When Mr. Werry fin- ished speaking, Mr. Crawford walked quickly from his seat over to the student trustee and was seen by many members of the audience waving a document in his face and shaking his finger in the face of the shocked look- ing student. After the meeting, Mr. Werry told reporters that Mr. Crawford was only "try- ing to make a point and explain something." When asked if the exchange changed his stance, the young trustee said, "No it didn't. Not at all." Uxbridge Regional Councillor Susan Para was shocked at what she saw during the meeting. " find it absurd," Councillor Para said. "For a student trustee to make a comment and, from what | could see, for one of the trustees to almost person- ally threaten him is beyond my belief of any- thing | have ever seen." "It is scary for people elected to office to control the amount of dollars they do and from what | could see tonight, not have a clue what they are talking about," Councillor Para said. Staff are now compiling figures for trustees to see Snakes from $12.95 Stuffed Animals from $9.00 at special board meetings set up for Dec. 10 and 11 when Uxbridge Secondary School and several others will make presentation. Mayor Gerri Lynn O'Connor will speak on behalf of Uxbridge Township in support of the I4-room addition to help the greatly over-crowded school. More hearings were scheduled for last night and tonight. 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