School Closures

CBC News: “Province adopts new rules on school closures”

Thursday, February 8th, 2007

NDP says timing a good political move for Tories
Parents worried about losing their community school have been granted a reprieve for at least another year.
The province is adopting a new process for school boards to determine the fate of a school, which includes extending the review period from four months to 12.
Education Minister Karen Casey [...]

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Department of Education: “Minister Ready to Act on Closure Report”

Thursday, February 8th, 2007

Education Minister Karen Casey is prepared to introduce amendments to the Education Act to strengthen the community’s role in reviewing schools for possible closure.
In her initial response to the report of the School Closure Process Review Committee today, Feb. 8, the education minister said she has shared the report with cabinet and the eight school [...]

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Chronicle Herald Opinion:”Community vs. big-box schools”

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

ECOLOGY ACTION CENTRE
SCHOOL closures, and the building of new schools, is a hot topic in Nova Scotia. It’s a sore spot for parents whose kids face losing their local school in favour of a larger, consolidated one outside their community.
Financial savings are often cited for this worrying trend of closing small, community schools and creating [...]

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Chronicle Herald: “Report: Open up on closing schools”

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

Public sometimes feels left out of consultations, committee says
By RICK CONRAD
Education Reporter
How a school board decides whether a school stays open should be more open and transparent, give people more time to make a case and consider the impact on the community, a committee studying the province’s school closure review process said Tuesday.
While Norma Kennedy [...]

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Chronicle Herald: “Minister cuts closure scrum short”

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

By RICK CONRAD Education Reporter
Education Minister Karen Casey didn’t appear to know Tuesday how many schools are still up for possible closure and she didn’t stick around to explain to reporters what happens to schools that were under the knife less than a year ago.
She walked away from a reporters’ scrum soon after it began [...]

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News release “School Closure Review Report Should Benefit Rural Schools – Estabrooks”

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

Timberlea-Prospect – NDP Education Critic Bill Estabrooks says recommendations made by the School Closures Review Committee, if fully implemented by Education Minister Karen Casey, should benefit rural Nova Scotia schools.
“The recommendations are designed to create a situation where a school board, not a school closure committee, must prove that a school needs to be closed,” [...]

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Daily News: “A kinder, gentler review process “

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

DAVID RODENHISER
A school can be the heart of a community. Kids go there to learn, make friends and mature. After hours, it’s often where recreational sports teams come to play, and service groups conduct meetings.
The loss of a community’s only school can be devastating. This is especially true in small villages that lack a community [...]

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