The "Save Our Schools" Campaign Worked

The Waterloo Region District School Board’s announcement that they were considering closing or consolidating four Woolwich schools unleashed the unbridled efforts and talents of hundreds of individuals in many communities across Woolwich. The success of everyone’s efforts demonstrates that individuals CAN make a difference.

The eleven weeks of the "Save our Schools" campaign was indeed a small price to pay but it was a price: there was less "family-time", spouses made valiant efforts to pick up the family work so that one member of the family could attend countless meetings, businesses were run at less than full capacity, evenings and weekends were devoted to collecting, reading, and analysing huge amounts of material on funding formulas and planning scenarios, and endless telephoning became a way of life.

The flip side of those hard working eleven weeks was the participation in a community coming alive and working together for something they valued. It was a very powerful and rewarding experience to be part of a meeting of 250 people who came expecting to hear that their community school was going to be closed but left believing that their efforts could make a difference and save their schools. It was a real experience in personal and community empowerment to be respected as valued participants in a decision-making process and to work with other parents, other communities, School Board Trustees and staff, Ministry of Education staff and the media. The hard work and the emotional roller coaster of those eleven weeks certainly took its toll. The support of co-workers, parents, students, school staff, and trustees throughout the process was critical to keeping the momentum going. Our communities in Woolwich have come together and been strengthened in achieving change.

Toni Clarke, Winterbourne