High School muddy waters

Last Updated: March 18, 2024By Mark Winegarden

Discussion 64 of 365;

Well, I will be glad when the Ministry of Education makes a decision. This year’s submissions for high schools in Wasaga Beach have certainly highlighted the divide driven by Mayor Smith and his supporters.

Now, Roger Williams (One of the Mayors biggest online support team members) has played a new card and it’s disgusting. His claim (supported by his network) is that those of us who are promoting a best solution for Wasaga Beach students are discriminating against Roman Catholic Students. He even posted a picture of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

This most recent attack against my friends, my wife and myself is ludicrous and disgusting.

I have said from the beginning that ideally getting both schools would be best, but if only one is approved, more students will receive a more rounded education at the Public Board School. My opinion and my comments regarding this have had NOTHING to do with religion. The two proposals have completely different enrollment numbers, completely different curriculum abilities. These facts are indisputable and the Public School Board proposal is superior in both categories. At the time of writing this, the Ministry of Education has still not announced their decision(s).

But… The politics involved have once again darkened the reputation of our Municipal office. So, Let’s talk POLITICS.

Our current Mayor messed up during his last term. He directed (or followed- nobody knows) his main man Andrew McNeill along a path destined for failure. They formed a high school task force. They attempted to get a school through agressive protest tactics. The biggest problem was that they lied about the numbers. It went really bad for the Town and eventually Brian Smith was no longer Mayor.

Then we had a four year term where Nina Bifolchi attempted to patch up relationships with the School Board and for the first time we found ourselves on a Capital Funding list to build a high school. Not only that, but we got a new Elementary School funded (opening soon) AND the School Board was granted permission to negotiate purchase of property for a new Secondary School.

Despite the progress in many areas by the Bifolchi Council, many lies were spread by the Smith Pitchforks and Hatchets gang and Brian Smith won another election.

It was as though Brian Smith AND his Council refused to learn lessons from before and during this term of office, they have ventured down a dangerous path of offending the School Board, Lying to the Ministry about numbers (again) and dividing the town in a way they had never done before.

To be clear, Brian Smith has left much of the dirty work to his online attack team. He often sits in his home up in Tiny Township and his friends who live locally (as well as those out of town) engage in constant praise and defense of his blunders online.

There are a few Facebook Groups where it is safe to talk about these things without being attacked and these discussions are posted in three of them daily.

The High School issue this time around started with a few indisputable facts that should be reviewed. So here are some facts:

Our current Deputy Mayor Tanya Snell served the last term of office as our Public School Board Trustee. Her attendance was poor in that position, but she was very aware of processes involved in approving new schools.
Our current Councilor Richard White not only sat on the previous High School Task Force, but he became a very vocal advocate for their strategies and defended the use of misleading numbers in their protests.
Our Current CAO Andrew McNeill was the key person in the debacle described in discussion 39, where the School Board sent a letter instructing the Town to only communicate through lawyers in future.
Our current Mayor loves to take credit for things he did not do if they are seen as successful. He also denies things (Like WDI) that appear to stain his reputation.

5. Brian Smith is assisted in these endeavors by an absence of true media who question facts and also by a local newsletter that has become a tool of the Smith Council.

So, knowing some of the players, this started with the Province putting out a call for Proposals. Traditionally this happens yearly, but not during the COVID years and during the last round of funding requests, no funds were allocated to SCDSB builds. As deadlines approached for submissions, the SCDSB was assembling an updated submission for a full STEM 1150 Student High School in the Sunnidale Trails Subdivision in Wasaga Beach. What nobody knew, was that Brian Smith was secretly working with the Catholic School Board to put a proposal in for a school as well.

Smith had decided that working with a different school board to get a high school was his best move at getting credit. It didn’t matter that that particular School Board did not have the actual need for an additional High School in their region, the fact was that the general “community” student numbers finally supported a build and it was important to Smith to be seen as a champion. So, suddenly on the day of submissions, the Town of Wasaga Beach put on a big media show declaring a partnership with the Simcoe Muscoka Catholic School Board and declared they were in partnership to bring Wasaga Beach its first High School.

The announcement took the SCDSB by surprise, as the Town had not offered them partnerships in any fashion. In fact, that surprise was expressed in some public disappointment which Mayor Brian Smith answered with a poorly written letter supporting the SCDSB FIFTEEN DAYS AFTER the submissions were handed in.

I say poorly written, because AGAIN, Brian Smith felt compelled to lie about numbers in his letter in order to paint a better picture for his cause. Some would say, who cares as long as it works. Not me, I think the Ministry of Education will research their own numbers and things like discrepancies in numbers raise red flags. (This number issue was questioned and the response was that the numbers they used were from census information. This is typical Brian Smith behaviour. He had the ability to use “actual” numbers of high school aged children being bussed out of town. It would have taken two phone calls. But a more convincing number could be used if they used flawed reasoning from census information. The age categories in the Census Data include children from grade 8 age to one year post graduate age. I dwell on this, but it is important because when you lie about the simple things, those you lie to should look closer at everything you say.

So, let’s look closer. Attached is a link to the wonderful facts in the proposal from the SCDSB. Please read the linked info as it is the school we should all want! The Public School Board Trustee has been very accommodating in answering questions and advocating for our students. Posting information like this has helped keep us all informed.

Alternatively, very few details are available from the Catholic Board. I asked questions publicly, was directed to send an email instead and still have not received the promised answers.

This is the first time the Catholic Board has requested a high school in this area.
This request is made despite no actual need for their School Board to accommodate additional High School Aged children in the area. I have heard that Our lady of the Bay (previously Vanier) high school in Collingwood is under subscribed by as much as 20% of their capacity.
This means that IF the Catholic High School is approved, an additional 250-300 High School aged Children will no longer attend a full high school already under-enrolled.
This creates curriculum issues in BOTH Catholic High Schools, as funding for High Schools is based on “bums in seats”.
But this proposal by Mayor Smith and the Catholic Board is for a K-12 school. The one Catholic Elementary School in Wasaga Beach is MASSIVELY over enrolled. It is the only School west of centrally located Worsley Public School. Students of any faith are enrolled here because there are no other choices.
In September, the SCDSB will open the doors of its yet to be named Elementary school in the Sunnidale Trails subdivision. So, the load on St. Noel will be reduced.

There is one important fact that Brian Smith doesn’t want us to focus on. Regardless of which proposal (hopefully both) gets the nod, the funding comes from one source, The Ministry of Education! One HAS to believe that if they have two proposals in close proximity to each other, all factors will be weighed in making BOTH decisions.

Fact- Wasaga Beach has grown and continues to grow at a rate that finally supports the building of a full high school. The ministry can fund that full high school (that meets the needs of all) or they can fund a half sized high school (that results in hundreds of students still being bussed to Collingwood) or they can fund both.

We can hope for both, but realistically, my first hope is for the high school we actually need.

One further argument seems to be dwelled upon by Mayor Brian Smith. They prepared a statement to be read at the last Council meeting that pointed out our placement on the two lists. Sure on the Catholic list, we are number two and on the public list we are number twelve. What does that really matter when all funding comes from one source.

I would hope that the ministry has a scoring method for these proposals and they will decide what builds fit where on THEIR list of priorities. The ministry can pick and choose from anywhere on the lists. On the Public Boards list there is only one other full high school build listed before us. The rest of the items are smaller projects.

As you can see, this has nothing to do with religion. This has everything to do with two separate organizations requesting funding from the same government department. The numbers and what they mean for serving the educational needs of our students is what should be considered here.

Predictions anyone? Please share what you think the Ministry will decide. Please share how you think Mayor Smith will respond to each of the four possible outcomes.

A new Public STEM High School (1150 students)
A new K-12 Catholic School (500/500 students)
Both Schools (1650/500 students)
Neither School at this time.

My guess is he will claim victory for any decision 1-3, but will lay blame everywhere if 4 is the outcome. Of course he personally won’t lay blame, he will leave that to the Pitchforks and Hatchets gang!

Oh… I will never tire of discussing this issue until our Children are all able to attend a High School right here at home!

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