By Staff
May 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The following are the people selected as delegates to address the Halton District school Board trustees on the matter of closing high schools in Burlington.
Earlier in the week the trustees listened to 24 delegations and managed to ask a paltry five questions with three of them coming from one trustee.
Chair Kelly Amos didn’t say a word other than to open the meeting, thank the speakers and close the meeting. Engaging the people who elected them seems to be beyond this crop of elected officials.
Cheryl Delugt, standing, a member of the PARC
Tracey and Joelle Howard will speak on the closing of Robert Bateman
Cheryl Delugt, a member of the PARC will speak on the closing of Lester B. Pearson
Elyse Matthews is a community member.
Tammie Beattie will represent the interests of the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
Jane Cooper Kelly is a Community Member
Dr. Lisa Van Zoost will speak for Nelson high school
Diane Miller will speak for Lester B, Pearson.
Adam Peaker is a community member
Tom Muir is a community member who has written at length on why the Board of Education is in the situation they are in. He speaks as a Community Member
Debbie Wakem will speak for Robert Bateman high school
Steve Cussons, on the right, was a member of the PARC committee.
Steve Cussons will speak for parents at Aldershot high chool
Jeffrey Huang Ma will speak for Robert Bateman HS
Maeve Fitzgerald will also speak for Robert Bateman HS
Cassie White will speak for Robert Bateman high school as well.
Camryn McKay will speak for Robert Bateman
Denise Davy, who has worked tirelessly for the interests of the parents with children at Robert Bateman, will delegate Thursday evening.
Barbara Heller will speak about the Gifted Programs
Natalie Hiltz will also speak on the Gifted Program
Julie Hill will speak for Robert Bateman HS
Heather deHaan will speak for Robert Bateman
Stephen Beleck will speak for Robert Bateman
Brent Hall is a Community Member
Tracey Bruton will speak for Robert Bateman HS
Lauren Olsen will speak for Burlington Central HS
Jason Bartlett, parent of a student at Bateman high school
Jason and Kelley Bartlett will speak for Robert Bateman HS. Jason has in the past been a member of the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
Steve Armstrong, who was a member of the PARC will speak for Lester B. Pearson and for Hayden high school
Douglas Emerson will speak for Lester B. Pearson high school
Renée Sirbu will speak on the International Baccalaureate program
Kathy Berglund will speak for the Aldershot HS
Heather McElrea will also speak for the Aldershot HS
Ron Raj Reddy will speak on the International Baccalaureate program.
The delegation meeting of the Board of Trustees on Monday met at the Board of Education offices – if you were not a delegation you had to watch the proceedings at M. M. Robinson high school, a couple of hundred yards away.
The turn out at MMR was 21 people which narrowed down to 17 as the evening wore on. The Board made every effort to keep a crowd that had the potential to get noisy out side the building.
The policy is not to allow any emotional response from the public. That doesn’t square all that well with a policy that lets the trustees applaud when they are handing out awards to members of the public.
Closing any school is an emotional process – the Director of Education said having to tell the staff at Bateman high school that he had recommended the closing of that school “broke his heart”. It’s doing a lot more than that to the parents of the students at Bateman.
There is nothing wrong with people allowing their emotions to overflow. This Board and these trustees seem to be afraid of hearing how people really feel.
When things get noisy or even a little rowdy – a strong chair has a gavel and can call a meeting to order very effectively; that of course is the problem – the chair isn’t very strong.
A man named Jim Young, an Aldershot resident with a passion for getting better public transit service for seniors in Burlington once told that city council that council was not theirs – it was something they held as a sacred trust on behalf of the public – and we thought he was right.
The 11 trustees were elected to represent the public and ensure that the teachers and board staff deliver the service the province directs them to deliver and that the public wants.
So far – not one person has stood up publicly and said that closing a high school is a good thing for Burlington.
Eleven of the people sitting at the conference table will vote to decide which, if any, of the high schools in Burlington should be closed.
Trustees – fill board +
Eleven of the people at the meeting will decide which, if any of the high schools in Burlington are to be closed. There doesn’t seem to be any public support for closing the schools.
At a recent Board of Trustee meeting the 11 members poured over the plans for a new high school on Milton; they talked about where hallways should be, where recreational facilities should be – they sounded like a family designing their new hone. They had all kinds of questions.
They need to be as deliberate and as responsible and as involved and as engaged with the matter of closing a school. This isn’t a game.
The HDSB staff, Director Miller and Trustees were provided with irrefutable evidence from the community during Thursdays delegation that the Directors report simply cannot go forward. Contrary to Millers’ statement that “people have simple solutions to a complex problem” the delegates put forward in extremely complex terms the reasons that closing Bateman and Pearson would be harmful and unnecessary from an educational, statistical, community and fiscal standpoint. To ignore the community delegations indicates an agenda that we citizens are unaware of. To not tap into this wellspring of information and ideas to improve Burlington High Schools is a damaging error.
Thank you to those that spoke up for our children. I am so grateful that we have people of such quality in our community.
Public School Closures leave an opening for developers to step in, redevelop these under utilized infill parcels, and re inject otherwise unattainable revenue back into the City treasury. Which then in turn can be earmarked for site specific schools that need the improvement. It seems like a pretty simple process.
BUT, at what expense does the opportunity cost begin to set in when we weigh City and Developer prosperity vs. Community Schooling.
A debate worth having.