Marianne Meed Ward
Burlington’s Program & Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) is winding up its work this week with two final meetings March 21 and March 23, after which time the Director of Education will make a recommendation to elected Trustees for a final vote in May.
We’ll all know within about a week whether Burlington Central High School and Lester B Pearson High School are still being recommended for closure, as they were in the Director’s initial report in October that launched the PAR process.
Since then, the PARC, which includes two parent representatives from each of Burlington’s seven high schools, has recommended several other options for the Director and Trustees to consider, including the original recommendation to close Central and Pearson, closing Nelson, closing Bateman, closing Bateman and Pearson, or no closures.
The Director’s final report will be presented to the Board of Trustees at their Committee of the Whole meeting Wed. March 29 at the J.W. Singleton Education Centre at 2050 Guelph Line. The public session begins at 7pm and is open to the public. The report may be released prior meeting, though it is not clear when. It will be posted on ward2news.ca when available.
April 28 has been scheduled for the public delegation evening. That is your opportunity to provide input to the Trustees on the final recommendation. Delegations begin at 6pm, at the Singleton Centre. You must register in advance to delegate. Information on how to do that is here: Delegate the Board
The final report will come to the Trustees for a decision May 17, 7pm, at the Singleton Centre. This meeting is public and you can delegate to this meeting as well, but only bringing new information or a new topic (if you have delegated in the past four months).
My Take: I encourage everyone to get involved in this issue and make your views known. No matter what the outcome, this is a city-wide matter that affects us all.
TY Marianne for this timely and important information.