NEW: My initiative on this issue has been reported in the Barrie Advance. Twice.
Update: Laurie Watt's new Barrie Advance article notes that the 2008 and 2009 capital plans are very inconsistent when it comes to their statements about and predictions for Barrie Central Collegiate student population and repair situation. Compare page 12 of this document with page 20 of this one. A lot seems to have changed in just one year!
Right now there is a major unresolved issue which speaks the transparency, or rather lack of it, amongst our elected officials.
In 2008, the Ministry of Education asked each School Board to create and present a list of their capital priorities - existing schools which needed to be refurbished or rebuilt, or new schools that needed to be built. The Simcoe County board created such a list, and the top listed priority was to rebuild Barrie Central Collegiate (BCC).
However, instead of funding that, the Ministry funded a new high school in Essa township, which was number 5 on our priority list.
Our MPP, Aileen Carroll, has repeatedly stated that she met with top members of the Board and they conveyed to her that their top priority was the Essa school, so she advocated successfully for that funding.
Since then, trustees and the Associate Director have continued to state that the Board's top priority was then, and for the year after, to rebuild BCC.
Something doesn't add up. Assuming our MPP is telling the truth (and that's what I believe), then there must have been mixed messages coming to her from the Board. How did this happen? As a trustee, I would demand an answer to this question.
When our MPP Aileen Carroll recently published a letter citing specific meetings with top board officials, I filed a Freedom of Information request to access whatever minutes, notes, or reports might exist pertaining to those meetings. If messages the Board are giving behind closed doors don't match those they are giving in public, then there is a serious problem and we are not being fairly represented.
This is not an issue about Barrie Central, it's an issue about transparency, honesty, and consistency - all of which we have a right to expect from our Board, and which you will receive from me as your Trustee. Until then, if the FOI request provides documentation to shed light on this discrepancy, I will report it here.
