Ministry of Education to review Burlington school closure process

Parent groups applaud province’s decision

BURLINGTON — Angry parents demanding the province review the policies and process that led to the decision to close two Burlington high schools have been granted their wish.

The Halton District School Board said it has received notification from the Ministry of Education granting administrative reviews of its Burlington secondary schools program and accommodation review (PAR).

The board’s review during the 2016-17 school year led to a vote by trustees in June to close Lester B. Pearson by June 2018 and Robert Bateman in 2020.

Pearson and Bateman community representatives submitted the requests for a provincial review of board policy and process to the Ministry of Education.

A ministry spokesperson said it looked at the requests and found both met the criteria for an administrative review.

“The selection process for the facilitator to lead this review is underway and the successful candidate will be appointed as soon as possible,” Heather Irwin said in an email.

That is welcome news, said Lisa Bull, a member of the Save Bateman Committee. “This decision — to appoint a facilitator and conduct a review — validates what we have been saying all along, that the process was flawed from the beginning,” Bull said in an email.

“Given that the ministry placed a moratorium on school closures in Ontario because of serious concerns about the process, we continue to argue that not only should the process be reviewed and overhauled, but that the decision to close Bateman must be overturned given that it was made under this flawed and faulty process,” she added.

According to ministry guidelines, an administrative review is a process by which an independent facilitator determines whether a school board has followed its pupil accommodation review policy.

Like the Save Bateman reps, the founder of the Save Lester B. Pearson High School Campaign is equally thrilled with the ministry’s decision. “We are very pleased to see that the ministry determined that the Lester B Pearson Committee appeal for an administrative review had merit …” Amy D’Souza said in an email.

“We, as a committee, will continue to move forward with our efforts to right this wrong and will again look to the trustees to reconsider their decision given this recent announcement.

“This decision, combined with Wynne government’s pause on PARs, is proof that the decision must be reconsidered and at minimum postponed until an appropriate process is put in place. The fact that the ministry has approved an administrative review from both parties clearly demonstrates questionable actions were taken that led to the final verdict…,” D’Souza said.

The Halton District School Board issued a statement emphasizing that an administrative review is not an assessment of the decisions made by the board of trustees.

“We welcome an independent review of our process,” Stuart Miller, director of education for the Halton public board, said in the same press release.

“Having an independent third party review of our Program and Accommodation Review Policy and the Burlington PAR ensures that we have followed our processes and provides an opportunity to address community concerns. It is important for the HDSB, the community and the Ministry of Education that the process is thoroughly examined and reviewed,” Miller added.

“During this review period, the Halton board will continue to keep student needs at the forefront. As such, we will continue to collaboratively plan for and implement the board’s decisions made in June 2017,” stated the board’s press release. “We will, however, be cognizant of minimizing the expenditures of the implementation during the review process,” it added.

Pearson and Bateman were targeted for closure among recommendations Miller made in a 282page report to trustees on May 17.

Declining high school enrolment in south Burlington and student program equity issues prompted the review.

With five out of seven Burlington public high schools either experiencing or expecting to have declining enrolment, including below the ministry guideline of 65 per cent pupil capacity, something had to be done, Miller said.