OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is in response to our article, titled 'Most Orillia schools get failing grade from Fraser Institute,' published Jan. 16.
While reading the article Most Orillia schools get failing grade from Fraser Institute, I was saddened to see that the rankings were quite low for most schools in Orillia. In fact, only two of Orillia's 13 schools were rated above the provincial average of 6.0.
It raises many questions for me as an educator. First, I wonder if the students in these schools are being appropriately supported at home and at school and second, I wonder if the educators in these schools are also supported properly.
If you follow the link to The Fraser Institute’s website, you can gather more information about each individual school. I was personally interested in viewing more information about the school that performed the worst at a 1.3 score out of ten: Regent Park Public School.
Specifically, I was curious if there were any reports on the climate of the school or rates of children with Individualized Education Plans (IEP’s). The Fraser Institute outlined that around 54% of the polled student population were deemed “special needs”. This is an incredibly large amount of the student population. It was not clear to me if this was just in the grade three and six classrooms or if it was the whole school population. Either way, this number is astounding.
As mentioned, I am an educator of children in this age group and these numbers prove to me that there is a serious issue with the system as a whole. Educators will most likely be blamed for these scores and a few may blame the children themselves; but in the end we need to look at our policies and procedures that are put onto children, families and educators that are oftentimes unrealistic. We are living in a time where mental health is at an all time low. These scores are a by-product of larger issues within our social fabric: the cost of living crisis, the mental health crisis and so much more which has a ripple effect in the community evident here with The Fraser Institute's report.
I can only hope that these scores empower the provincial government to look upon how they can better support families, educators and children, as clearly they are all struggling.
Marlee Robinson
Bracebridge
