Dear Editor,
I am writing to you to make sure that your paper has got coverage of a very important meeting which will take place at the Halton District School Board on June 1st, 7.p.m. On that night the Director of Education David Euale will make a recommendation to the Trustees of the Board,( based on the information brought forth by the Boundary Review Committee which has been in place since January of this year) for the programming and boundaries for the new West Oaks High School. This is a very important meeting of the Board as we don’t build and open 30 million dollar schools very often. It will also be the first opening of a new school under our new Director of Education, David Euale.
Ward 4 Oakville is a ward which has experienced huge growth and unfortunately our schools have not kept up with the builds of our houses. We will actually be short secondary placement options even with this new school. It is paramount that the community be aware that this is being brought before the board on Wednesday night as unfortunately other schools in Ward 4 have been hijacked for optional programming in the past and we need the community to understand the importance of this recommendation.
We have Trustees at the board table who may well try to change the course that this school is supposed to take. Any one of those Trustees could make a motion for that school to be for students who do not reside in that community, that is a huge concern. We need taxpayers to understand that their dollars are supposed to be fairly and equitably supporting ALL children in the public education system, not just those whose voices are louder and who think that they have entitlement over all others.
On Friday the Halton District School Board announced that it will hold a delegation night for the community on June 14th 2011. I urge everyone who cares about the outcome of this school to please delegate the board and have your voices heard. You can book your delegation through the Secretary of the HDSB at gortmakerg@hdsb.ca The rules and regulations of delegations are available on the school board website. Thanks for helping me to reach the community on this important matter.
Wendy Gunn
Advocate for fair and equitable education and member of the Coalition for Quality Education
