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Respect Bathurst
June 2001
Bathurst Heights Secondary School
in Toronto is being closed. A closing ceremony and final reunion
is taking place at the school on Saturday June 23, 2001. A prominent
figure in the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, Paul Godfrey,
has been invited to be the keynote speaker at the school's closing
ceremony. There is a feeling among some of the school's alumni,
students and staff that the invitation to Mr. Godfrey is highly
inappropriate in view of the fact that he is a key behind-the-scenes
figure in the Harris government whose cutbacks in education funding
are forcing the school to shut down. We are therefore asking that
the invitation to Mr. Godfrey be withdrawn. The text of the petition
appears below:
We are writing as current and former students and
staff* of Bathurst Heights Secondary School to protest the decision
to invite a prominent Progressive Conservative, Paul Godfrey, to
be the keynote speaker at the school's closing ceremony.
Bathurst Heights, which has played a vital role
in recent years as an important adult education centre, as well
as a high school, is being closed because Ontario's Progressive
Conservative government has ruthlessly cut education funding in
general, and funding for adult education in particular. Paul Godfrey
is one of the most influential behind-the-scenes power brokers in
the Harris government. As such, he is deeply complicit in this government's
destructive policies, of which the closing of Bathurst Heights is
one deplorable example.
The Harris government stated early in its tenure
that it intended to throw the public education system into crisis,
and it has followed through on that threat. Its ill-conceived restructuring
and funding cuts have resulted in chaos and have undercut the basic
principles of public education. Schools which serve less affluent
communities and programs which offer adult education are being callously
cut in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and subsidies for
private schools. The Bathurst Heights community is one of those
being forced to pay the price of these policies.
Inviting a prominent member of the Progressive Conservative
party like Paul Godfrey to commemorate the history of a school being
shut down by his party's policies is not merely inappropriate, but
offensive to the community which is being harmed by these damaging
cutbacks. Through its actions, Mr. Godfrey's party has shown itself
to be hostile to the public education system as a whole, and to
adult education in particular, and indifferent to those for whom
educational opportunity means the possibility of a better future.
We therefore ask that the invitation to Paul Godfrey
be withdrawn.
Signers as of June 6:
This list will be updated as more signatures
are added to the petition.
Ulli Diemer
Miriam Garfinkle, MD
David Chapkin, London, England
Peter Matilainen, Edmonton
Howard Stein, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, Roosevelt University
Glen Horenblas
Gary Waters
Sherry Bader
Barbara Carbone
Darlene Andrews
Stephen Arod Shirreffs, Ph.D.
Joel Lexchin, MD
Lori Bull (nee Short), Kibbutz Shamir, Israel
Robin Rosen Silver
Errol Young, Former Trustee Downsview/CWJ
Ruth Cohen
Ruven Wilson, Past President of Bathurst Heights Student Council,
2000-2001
Roberto Cerda
Alexander Cerda
Lester Cerda
Luis Cerda
Kham Phothirath
Pons Phothirath
Dave Clouston
Antony Smith
Daljit Dhamrait
Ronald James
Sean Sinclair
Shaleem Khan
Sherri Rosen
Carol (Garfinkle) Shani, Israel (Class of 1965)
Rod Adams
Karen Rosen
Judith Johnson
Elizabeth Coelho, former teacher, District Co-ordinator, English
as a Second Language and English Literacy Development, Toronto District
School Board
Brian Short
Mike Sterling
Patti Hinton (formerly Longarini)
Diane Garfinkle
Peter Dorfman, never graduated
Michelle Flecker, presently Literacy Teacher at Bathurst Heights
Nancy Morgan, Math Teacher, Bathurst Heights
Kerre Briggs (class of 1996)
Olivia Hawrish Morose (graduated 1961)
Robert Peter Morose
Background Information about Current Education
Issues and about the Harris Government.
People
for Education
Board
Watch News
Toronto Adult
Student Association
Toronto
Parent Network
Friends of
Public Education
Public Education
on the Block: A Straight Goods Forum
Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives
New
Democracy
The
Reason I Joined This Program.... Report of the Learner Goals Database
Project
Ontario
Teens for Our Education
Profile
of Paul Godfrey from Report on Business Magazine
Breakfast
with the big boys: Eye magazine article on the power brokers behind
Mel Lastman
Tories
Tipped the Odds in Ontario Election: An analysis of campaign financing
Contact information:
Phone: 416-964-5735
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