The Rainbow District School Board shot down a motion by trustee Larry Killens Tuesday night that would have at least temporarily halted the board's accommodation review process.
The board is looking at closing up to 12 of its schools through the review. A final decision is slated to be made in early February.
“I was disappointed,” Killens said, speaking to Sudbury.com by phone Wednesday. “That flows naturally. I was the one that put it up.”
The motion trustees voted on is as follows: “That the Strategic Planning Committee recommend to the board that the final decisions resulting from the accommodation review process currently unfolding in the Rainbow District School Board area, be placed on hold until parliamentarians have the opportunity to resolve educational funding issues.”
Progressive Conservative Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MPP Jim McDonell introduced a motion to the legislature Nov. 1 calling on the Minister of Education to suspend all pupil accommodation reviews taking place across the province.
He wants to sit down with communities and school boards to come up with a funding strategy to keep rural schools open. Another PC MPP, Steve Clark, is also calling for a moratorium on school closures.
Killens, who represents the Manitoulin Island area, said he'd hoped Rainbow's accommodation review process could be halted until McDonell's motion be dealt with in the legislature.
But Killens' motion was defeated 6-3 at the board's Nov. 8 meeting. Besides Killens, the motion was also supported by trustees Gord Santala and Grace Fox.
Killens said by bringing forward the motion, he was not implying that he doesn't have faith in Rainbow's administration.
He said he does feel for the parents who are so upset about the possibility of their children's school closing. However, as a former police officer, he said he's able to put his personal feelings aside and deal with facts.
“As a trustee, I'm mandated to do what I think is best for the education stakeholders, the parents and the kids,” Killens said.
