Leah Reynolds decides to stick with the school board seat she can win - city council will have to wait.

News 100 blueBy Pepper Parr

May 21st, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Leah Reynolds looked at the number of people running for the city council seat in ward 2 and decided that if she wanted to hold public office it was safer to run again as a school board trustee.

Meed Ward and Reynolds 2014 election night

Meed Ward and Reynolds – 2014 election night

Reynolds was seen by any as the heir apparent to Marianne Meed Ward who is giving up the seat n her run for the Office of Mayor.

In her media release said she is running as the trustee again because “there is much to do”.

She also said that “As a member of the board of trustees, I supported Burlington high school amalgamations to improve the future of education for all Burlington students. These amalgamations were necessary in creating equitable access to the best and most appropriate learning environments for the individual needs of Burlington high school students. Our children’s futures are heavily influenced by what they are exposed to in school. I believe that having a variety of course selections, including skilled trades, in every high school is a paramount step in exposing students to as many career pathways as possible.”

Reynolds is the first trustee who has used the word “amalgamation” to describe the closing of two of the city’s seven high schools.

Leah Reynolds with students

Leah Reynolds with students during a public PAR meeting.

“I am running” said Reynolds “to ensure that the changes and transitions for special education students, including the creation of two comprehensive schools (MM Robinson HS and Nelson HS), deliver on the expectations set out by the Director of Education and community.

The Board of Education plans for the implementation of the new I-STEM program at Aldershot high school and the International Baccalaureate program that was moved from Bateman to Central High School are initiatives that Reynolds wants to be around to ensure that both receive the resources they need.

Reynolds refers to her more than 20 year involvement with public schools as a passionate community member and mother.

You can learn more about Reynolds in her newsletter at: https://madmimi.com/p/25cc3c

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3 comments to Leah Reynolds decides to stick with the school board seat she can win – city council will have to wait.

  • Sharon

    I didn’t understand June 7, 2017, and I don’t understand now. Leah Reynolds sits on the Special Education Advisory Committee. As a Trustee who sits on this committee, she should understand the importance of continuity for Special Education students, that these kids don’t deal with change well. That it takes months for them to settle in a new environment. That some of these kids have been to 6 elementary schools before they got to Bateman. The parents of these kids give a sigh of relief when they get to Bateman knowing they are going to be at Bateman for 7 years, with the same teachers and EA’s that know them. That their kids are going to a school with an accepting environment for all the students. That moving again could cost them to lose a year of school, that they will not be able to recover because some of these students will be moving in their last year of school. Ministry of Education states that students must leave high school by the time they turn 21.
    So tell me how a Trustee that sits on SEAC and I would assume is educated in Special Education would do everything she possibly could to make sure Robert Bateman High School closed? Wouldn’t you think Leah Reynolds would have supported Amy Collard’s motion? Instead, she accepted the outside coaching.
    Leah says “there is much to do”. Please tell me what else you plan? You have already done too much irreparable damage.

  • gordon

    George, thanks for the reminder…and we know where the outside coaching came from. This info most certainly will play against a certain mayoral candidate. The Bateman and Pearson communities have been trashed through this process and they will vote accordingly for anyone but MMW.

  • George

    Amalgamation of Schools?

    Amalgamation of schools is an unusual word to choose for someone who actively, with outside coaching during a HDSB Trustees meeting, fought a fellow HDSB Trustee Ms. Amy Collard to get Robert Bateman high school closed.

    Ms. Leah Reynolds along with Ms. Andrea Grebenc and Ms. Richelle Papin voted to close Robert Bateman. Ms. Reynolds and Ms. Grebenc voted to close Lester B. Pearson high school.

    It is astounding that these three have put their names in for re-election after their useless behaviour regarding the closing of two Burlington high schools.

    Burlington citizens ought to remember to vote against these three in the October 22nd , 2018 elections.