Anyone thinking about a legal challenge over the closure of their high school may want to pay close attention to what follows.
Back in December 2009, the city and the public school board were in talks about rebuilding the Westmount recreation centre.
The facility had been closed for two years because of safety concerns, but thanks to the recession and sudden flow of public money for infrastructure projects, the city was going to get a rec centre to replace Westmount. The only question was where it should be located: on Mohawk College property, somewhere on the southwest Mountain or next to the original.
During the course of its deliberations, the city said it liked staying next to Westmount high school and would like to see the high school still standing there for years to come.
Trustees decided behind closed doors to pull Westmount from their upcoming closure process in order to woo the city. But then they decided  they needed to pull the wool over the public’s eyes as to why the school (which was in just as bad shape as Sherwood, it later turned out) would not be closed — and why students there would remain in crammed into portables rather than find them better accommodations.
So they came up with the idea that students in very overstuffed schools — buildings which were at 115 per cent or greater capacity — would be shielded from review. Somebody figured out that, hey, Westmount and two of our newest schools (Saltfleet and Waterdown), have more students than any other, we should use that excuse.
The board said it would never consider closing Saltfleet or Waterdown, so it didn’t want to waste anyone’s time with those in there. (It could have just said that, but that’s another point). Yet last year, while everyone knew King George down by Ivor Wynne would be shuttered, they threw the nearly new Prince of Wales into the mix as if it was seriously being considered for closure.
The real reason wasn’t because of “overcapacity” issues. (Which, when you think about it, is an absurd reason to leave a whole block of students out of a process which should be able to get them out of portables and into a decent classroom). But the questions is who concocted the ruse and why.
The board has been fighting a freedom of information request I filed last June in regard to details of the formation of the overcapacity excuse. It is now in the inquiry stage and it could be another full year before a decision is levelled on whether a key document should be made public.
Trustees have since admitted they wanted Westmount exempted from the process due to the expected land lease with the city, but they never gave any official direction to keep Saltfleet and Waterdown out of the process. So how did that end up happening?
Trustees, who are supposed to be looking out for the public’s interest, didn’t even crack a smile when they were presented with the overcapacity smokescreen at their March 2010 meeting. Without batting an eye they okayed the staff suggestion.
Now, we know trustees and staff were in the habit of holding secret meetings during that time — gatherings where they would go over agendas and other matters out of the eyes of the prying public and without recording minutes.
Call them all and ask them why they played a role in this ruse and how many others they have let pass during their reign.
Hill Park parents might want to pay special attention, given that their school was in much better shape than Westmount before a freeze on capital upgrades shut out every other high school and allowed millions of dollars to flow Westmount’s way. If there was a level playing field, developers might not be preparing their bids for Hill Park and Sherwood right now.
Bowes and arrows
City staff are conferring this week on what to do with the recreation centre at Hill Park if the high school is picked to be shuttered in 2015. We will have a full report next week.
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With dynamite now being set aside for Hill Park, it now becomes clear why no date has been set for the closure review of the elementary schools which feed the central Mountain high school. Watch out, Linden Park.
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I’m going to go against the grain on this. I don’t think “city building” is part of the public school board’s mandate, so building on the central Mountain doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is fact they let a taxpayer-funded building rot to force the move out of their 45-year-old home.
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Last summer, the provincial Liberals went on a spending spree with our money. Obviously they knew spending cuts were needed, but they had no trouble trying to buy votes with tax dollars. What MPP will champion legislation calling for a moratorium on this type of spending in the six months leading up to an election?
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As letter writer Mark-Allan Whittle notes, the public school board is so far left it’s gone around the bend. The decision not to allow a co-op placement at Hillbilly Heaven is absurd. Shaw Cable has a commercial in which they note, “We choose to answer our calls in Canada.” There’s a phrase the left could easily twist into being “racist.” Sounds like another place that should be off the board’s acceptable co-op placements. Any others?
Gord Bowes is editor of the Mountain News. The Editor’s Notebook generally appears biweekly.