Pearson high school parent group meets with the Mayor

News 100 yellowBy Pepper Parr

September 14, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

“You may have already had some feedback about the meeting with the Mayor, but wanted to provide some initial thoughts” said Steve Armstrong who was part of the four member delegation that spent an hour and a half with the Mayor and his Chief of Staff Mike Greenlee.

“Overall it went very well. Once the initial uncertainties melted away about our agenda we were able to have a productive discussion.

LBP Steve PARC

Steve Armstrong, a Pearson parent who did some of the best analytical work on the enrollment numbers.

“We brought some reasoned perspective to the table, and have promised to follow up with information backing up our talking points.

The Mayor agreed to a follow up discussion after he has had time to digest, and reflect more on the perspectives that he was given by the delegation.

That the meeting went longer then was scheduled, “is testament to a genuine interest.”

LBP George Ward + Rory Nisen

Rory Nissan exchanging contact information with George Ward – both went on to become strong members of the high school group fighting to keep their school open.

Rory Nisan who was also part of the delegation came away with basically the same impression. “The Mayor listened and we felt we were heard. He asked real questions.” The delegation talked about the population changes that are going to take place in the city and who was going to buy the homes that were being sold.

The group of seven were able to give the Mayor information he said he was not aware of. Additional information is to be put together and sent along to the Mayor. What will come out of the meeting? Depends on what and how he Mayor gets back to the Pearson parents with.

Nisan didn’t want to go on the record about some of the conversation other than to say that the group felt they had made their point and that they would be providing the Mayor with additional detail.

LBP George Ward 2

George Ward.

George Ward, another member of the delegation who has some very strong views on the decision to close Pearson high school was expected to be very direct with the Mayor.

He came away impressed, saying it was an excellent meeting and that the Mayor summarized what had been covered very well.

Let’s watch and see how the follow up with the delegation goes.

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3 comments to Pearson high school parent group meets with the Mayor

  • William

    I’m not surprised the mayor listened – he’ll express empathy. The challenge is getting the mayor to follow through on tangible action. He may have called the HDSB Director, the Minister of Education and our MPP for private conversations and said something at a council meeting.

    However, he never used his office or rallied council to effectively make a case to the school board that schools are essential for complete communities.

    He downloaded the municipal representative responsibility to the city manager without pulling council together to provide the manager clear direction on how he should represent the city.

    The mayor missed an opportunity have meaningful involvement.

  • helene skinner

    Steve, George…if you want to know what a meeting with the current mayor means…let me know

  • Tom Muir

    Make sure people know that the number of delegates was 7, not 4, as initially stated in this story. It was correct later, but first impressions? Curse those typos.