Why we must keep community schools

Re: This is what’s lost when a school closes, July 4. I could not agree more with Marie Zettler’s opinions about school closures. Yes, indeed, the school boards and ministry of education need to change their way of thinking when considering school closures. The reasons for closing a school appear to have little to do with a child’s education or well-being.

“It takes a village to raise a child.” Two schools from different boards that made recent news, Westmeath Public School and Regina Street School, are in communities where many students can walk to school. They don’t walk alone. They are with siblings, neighbours, a parent or grandparent. Two to four times daily, it is a routine where social skills are blended with fitness (no gym necessary) and academia (science, social studies, language arts, to name few).

A school in the community where a child lives will, most times, be the place where the whole child is educated best. The rink, the ball diamond, the field, the pond, the church, the Cubs and Scouts, the unstructured, multi-age after-school play times are readily available to all.

Compare this scenario with what could be said about a three-year-old sitting on a bus daily for an hour or more. Who seriously thinks dollars spent to work on a plan to keep children attending school in their community is not money well spent? Helen Harwood, Arnprior