Potential closing of Madoc Township PS upsets more than just locals

By Alana Pickrell

BELLEVILLE – Alumni from Madoc Township Public School are joining from all over Ontario to express a very similar opinion: the school needs to stay open.

“This school wasn’t just a school, it was like having another family,” said Kimberley Snell of Quinte West.

Former students of the small rural public school have gathered together on social media to reminisce about their childhood memories that were built at Madoc Township and express their concerns about the proposal to close it down permanently.

“I had a hard enough time riding the bus for the hour it took to go from Millbridge to the school as a child if they close MTPS some of those children will be on a bus for 2-3hrs each way. It’s unfair to them,” said Snell.

The original proposal to close the school was made public at the end of November 2016 by the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board. It recommended three changes that directly affect the Madoc area:

• Close Madoc Township Public School and consolidate students to Madoc Public
  School for September 2017.
• Relocate Grade 7 and 8 students from Madoc Public School to Centre Hastings
  Secondary School, creating a Grade 7-12 model, for September 2017.
• Explore opportunities for community partnerships aligned with the 2015-2020
  Strategic Plan priorities.

The changes could be applied as early as September 2017. They are a result of the cost of maintaining older school buildings and declining enrolment.

One common concern seems to be the potential loss of the yard and area outside for children to get exercise, fresh air and a break from classroom activities.

“In an era when we are becoming increasingly alarmed at the level of inactivity and obesity in our children, it makes little sense to close an educational facility like Madoc Township School with a spacious 5.5-acre playground that includes a 1/4 mile running track. Apparently, we are now preparing to lose this unique location and move students to Madoc Public School with a fenced-in area not large enough to be enjoyed by all students at the same time,” said Grant Ketcheson from Madoc Township.

Past student, Cody Chambers, who now lives in Spencerville, said, “I learned so many life lessons at this school and being in the middle of the country it allowed our creativity to thrive due to the fact that we didn’t have the amenities that a school in town did.”

“I find the thought of the school closing quite heart-breaking. The school is clearly still providing a wonderful learning environment for the students there – the EQAO results are fantastic. Studies clearly show, without a shadow of a doubt, that smaller schools offer students a superior education.  It would be a complete shame if the community, and the Hastings Prince Edward District School Board, lost such a valuable asset,” said Sue Ketcheson, alumni of MTSP and current high school teacher in the Simcoe District.

There is a scheduled public meeting for January 17th at Centre Hastings Secondary School to discuss this proposal in more detail.