Some PCVS supporters will keep battling board
Re “Both sides to abide by court ruling” (June 8) –
With the judges’ final decision on the future of PCVS pending, we already know the outcome: a bitterly divided community, a profound mistrust between opponents and an overwhelming sense of mismanagement and waste. Regardless of who “wins,” the victory may prove pyrrhic.
A board victory, while lending a frisson of legality to their decision, will not lead to a political capitulation. Angry PCVS supporters are not going to stop their efforts to hold the board accountable. A PCVS victory will not restore the school as supporters know it. The board has made changes that a court cannot undo. Both sides want total victory. But the judges’ decision will not be like V-E Day, May 8. It will be more like Nov. 11 – a fragile armistice in which the cancer of future conflict will flourish.
What have we learned from this? Have PCVS supporters learned the folly of entering into a manipulative accommodation review that pitted school against school in a competitive survival contest, the political costs of claiming that their school is better than others, and the dangers in allowing the board to define the terms of the debate?
Has the board learned that community consultation must be done honestly, not as a deceitful public relations charade, that collaboration is a more powerful problem-solving modality than manipulation, and democracy is ultimately more effective as a governance philosophy than imperial decree?
The board has dissembled, prevaricated and cloaked itself in disingenuous posturing and specious arrogance throughout this battle. Its offer to relocate its Fisher Dr. office to TASSS? A clever ruse to avoid dissent during the summer of 2011.
PCVS was closed because of spending priorities. The board steadfastly refused to look at alternative funding models for keeping TASSS open as a high school without closing another school. Multiuse models were not investigated. Fleming College and Trent University were not approached to share space; this option might have saved tax dollars.
Nobody wins when a good school is closed. No matter who wins, the board’s legacy for downtown Peterborough will be one of mismanagement, mistrust, anger, waste and broken dreams. BILL TEMPLEMAN
Boswell Ave.