By Staff
April 18th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Margo Shuttleworth, a candidate for the Ward 4 Halton District School Board trustee position in 2014 announced today that she will seek the seat currently held by Richelle Papin in the October municipal election.
Shuttleworth was a consistent observer of the HDSB Program Accommodation Review that resulted in the closure of two of Burlington’s seven high schools.
Margo Shuttleworth
She has been, actively involved in community engagement during her seven years as a Burlington resident: a member of the Burlington Charter Action Team, Healthy Kids Steering Committee member, Parental Involvement Committee member (PIC), Healthy and Safe Routes to School Co-ordinator, Parent Council Executive, Age-Friendly Community Chair Founding Board Member and Small Fry Skating Vice-President.
As a mother of children in the HDSB school system Shuttleworth describes herself as being committed to continuing to fight for the students of Ward 4.
You can reach Margo Shuttleworth at:
shuttleworth.m.a@gmail.com or call 289-838-4078
Sharon, thank you for posting this letter> I feel ill just reading it. The casual dismissal of an entire school and neighbourhood. Pearson never had a chance, even the current chair voted to close it despite being an alumni. I had no idea Pearson was so roundly despised but it explains a lot. How very disappointing that we cannot do better than this. Clumsy political maneuvering, selfishness and incompetence.
Margo wrote a leter to the PARC supporting the closure of Pearson. Her letter is as follows:
Margo wFrom: Margo Allison Shuttleworth
Date: Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 7:23 AM
Subject: [lbpearsonparc] Feedback following open house
To: daniellid@hdsb.ca, aldershotparc@hdsb.ca, centralparc@hdsb.ca, dfhaydenparc@hdsb.ca, lbpearsonparc@hdsb.ca, mmrobinsonparc@hdsb.ca, nelsonparc@hdsb.ca, rbatemanparc@hdsb.ca
Cc: amosk@hdsb.ca, gravesk@hdsb.ca, grayje@hdsb.ca, collardamy@hdsb.ca, grebenca@hdsb.ca, papinri@hdsb.ca, reynoldsle@hdsb.ca, ehlharrisont@hdsb.ca, harveyhopea@hdsb.ca, oliverj@hdsb.ca, millers@hdsb.ca, boagd@hdsb.ca
Director Miller, Assistant Director Boag, Members of the PARC committee, and Trustees,
Thank you for taking the time to host the open house and discuss options concerning the review of the secondary schools within Burlington. I appreciate the time many of you took in speaking to both myself and my son about the impact the PARC will have on families, children and communities.
Although my ideal option would be to not close any school, keep schools within their communities which would cause the least disruption to the current configuration of school that exists within Burlington, I recognize that this is a somewhat unrealistic ideal. I recognize the cost of empty seats within the schools and the ripple effect this has on programming options as well as fiscal obligations of the board.
I do have an affiliation to the South East Schools, Robert Bateman and Nelson as my family lives in the current Nelson Boundary and my two boys go to Pineland. I think both of these school play a vital role in the communities. I do not think either of these schools should be considered for closure, and, more over, that Nelson boundaries should remain similar to the current configuration. We have already been affected in the loss of our community primary school, and living west of Appleby Line, we are again going to be greatly affected in this PARC. I have, however, decided to approach this email from looking at more favourable options versus telling you which options I do not think would work- in other words, I am going to give suggestions as to what to do rather than what not to do.
Ideally, the option of 7b (boundary changes to Frank Hayden) would be the optimal solution, however, as I recognize that this still leaves significant gaps in ‘bums on seats’. Could this not be paired with the closure of Pearson? I recognize that closing any school will cause disruption, however, the least disruption will be involved with Pearson. They have no specialized programming (apart from late entry French which has a minimal population) If the Pearson population was divided between MM Robinson and Bateman, that should put those two schools closer to the 90% optimal student population. This would also allow Central, an integral part of the core of Burlington, to remain open. I do recognize that this school needs quite a bit of ‘rejuvenation to make it accessible and current and if this rational is also behind looking at closures of schools, or if there are reasons, unknown to me, this would not work.
Another option that would be of lesser impact on greater student life would be 28c with some minor tweaks. Currently there is a piece of the Orchard that is in the catchment of Hayden, could this not be switched to Bateman? It would help to keep this community together and bolster the population of Bateman. This would also allow the existing boundary of Appleby Line to apply to the Nelson Community- so that less disruption and community division to occur in the Southern Community as well as within the Orchard community.
I know that there are several parents that looked at this option and it was put forward to both trustees as well as planning committee members and greeted with some optimism. I hope you consider these tweeks in creating more cohesive communities within the schools that are currently existing.
Thank you again for all time and consideration you have taken in looking at the numerous options. From my involvement with the LTAP a couple of years ago, I now the commitment you have made and thank you for your time.
Margo
Sent from my iPad, excuse mistakes from clumsy fingers
Dr Margo A Shuttleworth
289 838 4078