That is a question all parents in Niagara-on-the-Lake should be asking themselves.

Every week, parents are bombarded with a new "proposal" by one group or another. I'm sure every group truly means well and is working diligently in order to find a solution to keep our schools open. The issue I and many others have with these proposals is that none of these ideas have any grounding in educational research.

Whether it be creating a Grade 7-8 middle school, a super school or merging several elementary schools onto the Niagara District Secondary School site, the evidence is clear: None of these options are in the educational best interests of our children.

Every new option seems to involve reconfiguring our already-thriving elementary schools.

The most perplexing part of these suggestions is that even if we were to close all of our elementary schools and build a super school on the NDSS site, the funding for the secondary school portion would remain exactly the same.

Bringing all students together, including elementary school children, would not address the issue of the funding required to provide programming for high school students. NDSS would receive funding for only those enrolled in Grades 9-12. The high school would not receive one additional penny in funding if the campus style option were to be implemented.

So, what then would be the purpose of reconfiguring the elementary schools?

For the educational benefits? No. For the social benefits? No. For the psychological benefits? No.

The only reason to implement this scenario is to up the sheer numbers of enrolment in the hope that some of these children may stay and attend District, and even that argument is questionable at best.

These proposals are unacceptable. The abundant educational research clearly proves that children do significantly better when in a smaller JK-8 local school. I urge parents to search the Internet and read the easily accessible research studies. The evidence is overwhelming. The research is so compelling that we and many others will remove our children from the DSBN, should reconfiguration occur.

Sadly, we have become a community where citizens are divided into one of two groups: you are either perceived to be for or against the high school. Because I fully support the ARC recommendation that the three elementary schools remain open and JK-8, somehow I've become one of the villains, when in reality, I am simply cognizant of the fact that the physical location of the elementary students will not address the sustainability of the high school and most importantly, as research has shown, the reconfiguration of schools will negatively impact the elementary students' academic and social potential.

Donna Walker

Virgil