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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday September 12, 2008 - 3 School board sticks to southeast school closures By Tim Whitnell SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The closures and program changes affecting six schools in southeast Oakville will go ahead, for now. Trustees with the Halton District School Board unanimously accepted a report from Education Director Wayne Joudrie that highlighted a significant error in proposed student busing numbers related to E. J. James elementary, one of the schools in the Program and Accommodation and Review Committee (PARC) report originally passed by the board on July 2. At a special public meeting on Wednesday, the board reaffirmed its July 2 decision with no dissent among trustees. There was far less grumbling from a packed audience of parents this time around than occurred last week. At that meeting board chair Gillian Tuck Kutarna called an early end to the meeting on the Oakville issue for what she deemed inappropriate interruptions by a lawyer for the group representing Oakville Residents for Public Education. For now, the board is proceeding with plans to close Chisholm, Brantwood, Linbrook and New Central by September 2010, renovate E.J. James and Maplegrove, and build a new Kindergarten-Grade 8 school in the Clearview community of southeast Oakville. Oakville Residents for Public Education filed an appeal to the Ministry of Education, over the PARC decision, on July 28, citing procedural fairness and the divergent busing numbers. The board has submitted a response to the appeal to the ministry, with both sides awaiting whether the province will deny the appeal or appoint a facilitator to take another look at the board's plans for southeast Oakville. Tuck Kutarna said she doesn't expect any renovation work to be done at E.J. James or Maplegrove until the new Clearview school is opened, possibly by September 2010. The scope of renovations at E.J. James and Maplegrove is to be brought to the board for consideration by January 2009. At the opening of this week's board meeting, Tuck Kutarna spoke at length, defending the board's work on the southeast Oakville issue. "I saw how diligently people applied themselves to this and I know Sign up on Line Tuck Kutarna from being a part of this over the past year and especially in the last six months, that trustees did their homework." In response to some criticism about a lack of public involvement at key points in the PARC process, Tuck Kutarna noted the PARC group held 18 public meetings on the issue from October 2007-February 2008, with the minutes of each meeting posted on the board's website. She said the education director's report was issued at a public meeting on April 15, 2008, that trustees heard from 29 delegations at a May 20 public meeting, and that the director's final report was issued June 18 and put on the board's website. Tuck Kutarna also noted trustees received more than 800 e-mails on the issue, plus numerous phone calls. Alan D'Silva, a lawyer for Stikeman Elliott in Toronto, which is representing Oakville Residents for Public Education, said he doesn't believe the public has been given timely input on the issue. "Hopefully, someone will pick up on the unfairness of the way this has unfolded." D'Silva said only nine business days notice was given on the two school program options for the area, there was no meeting for public input on the issue after June 18, there was no prior notice of what the trustees' preferred school program option was before the July 2 vote and he scoffed at the board's treatment of the nearly 1,000 per cent student busing number error for E.J. James. D'Silva praised parents in Oakville's Ward 3 for quickly reacting to the busing number mistake during the summer vacation period, which set an appeal in motion. "The community got together and did it on their own. That is what makes it and the numbers who signed up (for a petition), so remarkable, getting over 70 per cent of families in the summer months on a tight time frame -- and families from all six schools have objected, even from the ones that aren't closing," he said. The trustee for Oakville's Ward 3 Philippa Ellis, stung by criticism that she may have influenced other trustees' decision on the four school closures and programming changes, asked every one of her fellow trustees at this week's board meeting if she had tried to persuade them or asked them to vote in a certain way. Among those who answered, none said she had. "I'm sorry some in your community have been so disrespectful and rude to you," said Burlington trustee MaryElizabeth Dilly, who was promptly cut off by Tuck Kutarna for making personal remarks. Prior to the meeting, a group calling itself the Clearview Oakville Community Alliance (COCA) issued a press release supporting the board's decision. "The board's decision is right in line with the information educators presented to the PARC committee on school configuration," the release quoted PARC 14 representative Michelle Sloan, who is also chair of Clearview Oakville Community Alliance. "The educators told us that school districts across North America base most of their decisions related to school configuration on optimal size. With Ontario funding formulas, they advised the optimal elementary school size was approximately 500. By the way, educators consider that a small school, not a `Big Box' as some are claiming." "This represents a fair balance and healthy school sizes. The children will now have the best programming with more teachers and better facilities. This ward will finally have stability for the future," the release quoted Sari Albert, COCA executive member and former PARC 14 representative. See related story on page 10 DANCE MUSIC MUSICAL THEATRE DRAMA FINE ARTS PRE-K AFTERNOON ARTS ADVENTURE CAMPS BIRTHDAY PARTIES Offering Oakville the finest in arts exploration and development. 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