Article content
By: Lloyd Brown-John
The controversy swirling around choosing the appropriate name for Kingsville’s new mega-composite school can be traced to the insistence of one elected school trustee, Julia Burgess.
Article content
By asserting her opinion on the name at public school board meetings she has managed to so sufficiently alienate some Kingsville people — whom she ostensibly represents — that many might desire her resignation as a trustee. Maybe she should not seek re-election as a school trustee.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Ontario’s next municipal elections will occur Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. Voters will have an opportunity to review the “work” of their school trustees and determine how many should be sent, as the British might say, “to Coventry.”
Kingsville’s school naming fiasco has cost taxpayers money, not only for trustees and board meetings but also for the services of a certified parliamentarian, Lori Lukinik of the Ontario Association of Parliamentarians.
The pity is that the advice rendered by that expert parliamentarian easily could have been rendered at much less cost — if not free — by many locally who are fully familiar with parliamentary procedure and Robert’s Rules of Order.
That expensive exercise aside, we are still faced with a prospective name for a new school that overwhelming numbers of Kingsville taxpayers and students don’t want.
Of course, it wasn’t only trustee Burgess who decided the school’s new name. She was aided and abetted by a few others, who formed the board majority.
Ridding the original fantasy school name of the word “Academy” was a first step. However, in a bit of a sham board meeting on April 2, the word academy was replaced by “District School”. The other irrelevant word “Migration” was left in situ.
Advertisement 3
Article content
Discussion at this kangaroo board meeting, despite a valiant effort by Leamington trustee Nancy Armstrong, was quashed. The quick-fix meeting did not seem to be run effectively.
Trustee Armstrong asked to address the board a second time. So, why was the meeting adjourned?
Meanwhile, the instigator of the naming turmoil noted that the meeting had been called by board chair Gale Hatfield, who attended by phone! Is this the best our board chair can do on an issue which has incensed an entire community?
Trustee Cathy Cooke attempted to find out who placed the recommendation for an amended name on the agenda. Ironically, Ms. Cooke represents the same Windsor Wards 3, 4 & 10 as telephone chair Gale Hatfield.
Perhaps the public school board trustee problem can be linked to the long durations some trustees have nested on the board.
Another problem stems from a diminished lack of serious interest from the general public, both in municipal elections and, more specifically, school board elections. School boards spend a ton of tax dollars and we should hold board trustees more specifically accountable for their actions at municipal election time.
Advertisement 4
Article content
I take school board representation seriously, despite not having a single child, grandchild or even great-grandchild in any Windsor-Essex County school. Despite a significant portion of property taxes assigned to school boards, the issue of trustee accountability remains opaque.
School trustees of all boards are responsible on our behalf for effectively directing delivery of educational opportunity in this country. Responsibility’s correlate is accountability and that has seemed like a slender obligation for some elected school board trustees.
Over the next two years property taxpayers in Windsor and Essex County should cast critical eyes at the activities and blunders of the current array of school trustees. Time for some to say goodbye.
Perhaps some of our Windsor trustees might consider other less demanding opportunities because some of them clearly need to be replaced.
Lloyd Brown-John is a University of Windsor professor emeritus of political science and director of Canterbury ElderCollege. He can be reached at lbj@uwindsor.ca.
Article content
