The Honourable Liz Sandals, Minister of Education, has declined to meet with Owen Sound City Council to discuss the Bluewater District School Board accommodation review.
In a letter received from Minister Sandals dated May 30 (see text below), she instead offers to meet with Mayor Boddy at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference. This conference will occur in Windsor from August 14 to 17 – three weeks prior to the start of the school year.
On October 15, 2015, Owen Sound City Council wrote to Minister Sandals asking her to intervene with theBluewater District School Board review process. This appeal was refused.
Mayor Boddy wrote again to the Minister on April 29 and May 27. During the Bluewater District School Board accommodation process, Owen Sound City Council obtained a legal opinion to determine their potential options. The resulting opinion suggested the City has no legal jurisdiction, and thus no grounds to appeal a ruling.
Dear Mayor Boddy,
Thank you for your letter inviting me to meeting with representatives of Owen Sound City Council to discuss Bluewater District School Board's recently completed accommodation review. While my schedule does not permit me to meet with you at this time, I would be pleased to discuss this matter with your delegation on this at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference in August.
Our ministry's top priority is to support the success and well-being of all students across Ontario and to provide better learning opportunities and programs for our students in order to ensure they continue to achieve excellence.
As you know, Ontario's school boards and their locally elected trustees are responsible for determining the appropriate arrangements for the delivery of their elementary and secondary programs. This responsibility includes managing capital assets and making decisions about school boundaries, grade configurations, school closures and consolidations, and new school construction. As part of their regular capital planning exercise, school boards review their facilities and address underutilized space. It is important to clarify that our government does not have the authority to direct board to keep school open or stop transition work related to school closure or consolidation.
I understand that the Bluewater District School Board has made decision after reviewing the Owen Sound Group of Schools. Now that the Bluewater District School Board has finalized its decision, the board will move into transition planning phase, where details of the future move will be developed. As per the Pupil Accommodation Review Guideline, the board is expected to establish separate committee to address
the transition for students and staff following closure or consolidation. I encourage members of the community to remain engaged in this process, as community participation is important to assist school boards in deciding how to best support all students through transition.
Giving students the best possible learning environment is part of the government's economic plan to build Ontario up and deliver on its number one priority growing the economy and creating jobs. We remain committed to supporting our school boards in building better schools for better learning. Thank you again for taking the time to write, and look forward to seeing you at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario
conference this summer.
Sincerely,
Liz Sandals
Minister
