A clear lack of transparency in the process
To the Expositor:
As a parent of a school that was slated to be closed along with 11 others in the latest Rainbow District School Board (RDSB) Accommodation review, I was tasked with coming up with “creative solutions” to a yearly $3.6 milllion shortfall. While I felt that this was not my role as a parent and that the RDSB had financial advisors for this, I undertook it with as much enthusiasm as I could. The end result if I did nothing was that my child’s school and community would be decimated. I have witnessed the annihilation of our community services under the “Greater City of Sudbury” and wasn’t prepared to watch one of the last remaining resources (our schools) vanish as well.
It wasn’t up to me to expose the fact that a multi-million dollar soccer bubble was well underway with architectural drawings, and $1 million having been set aside for soccer turf and offered up to the City by Tyler Campbell at Norm Blaseg’s request. This deal was uncovered in an FOI (Freedom of Information request) that resulted in Ward 2 Trustee Tyler Campbell stepping down as a result of this conflict of interest. RDSB Chair Doreen Dewar felt it appropriate to let the media know that he was not stepping down due to this conflict, but rather has become too busy in his role as a manager with the city. If that is the case, then our trustee just quit in the middle of the largest single school closure review. To make matters worse, while the RDSB has revealed their budget in August (as they have in 2013, 2014, 2015) they waited until all the presentations were done with parents and students begging for their schools and announced the very next day (although hidden until December this time) that they don’t have a shortfall to compensate for but rather a surplus of $3.6 million instead. That means that they were able to find an extra $7.2 million to not only cover their projected shortfall, but to add a significant portion of this to their reserves which are near $15 million at this time.
One would think that this accommodation review would be halted, yet it appears to be going full steam ahead in Area 2, which has three schools affected without representation. In the 2014 municipal election, Tyler Campbell was the chosen candidate with 57 percent of the votes. The runner up was Anita Gibson with a very handsome 43 percent of the vote. The Rainbow School board has chosen to ‘appoint’ a trustee for us because quite simply they don’t seem to like Anita Gibson. It does not seem to matter to the Rainbow School Board that 1,265 of us chose her to represent us. According to the Ontario Good Governance guide, the first option in choosing a replacement is “appointing the candidate who came in second in the general election.” The other option is to hold a by-election. Chair Dewar stated that “the remaining trustees, who were all democratically elected, have already voted to move forward with an appointment instead.” Since when do eight out of the nine trustees take over the “democratic process” and decide who represents our area? Why are they so opposed to this candidate?
It would be like me saying to Trustee Grace Fox that the First Nations don’t need their own police service on the Island with OPP so close by, or saying to Trustee Bob Clement that the McKerrow Fire Department doesn’t need their own trucks and station when Espanola F.D. is more than equipped to respond instead. When second count, they are only minutes away. Is that not good enough for them? Would they be happy with someone from Onaping Falls making those decisions on behalf of their community? Why then are they making decisions for my small town when the constituents have already recorded their voice?
It is no secret that I have lost faith in the RDSB’s ability to make rational and sound financial decisions. I am now being force fed their idea of what will be best for my community and my child’s education. There has been a clear lack of transparency in this process–and it was clearly an exercise in futility. Instead of pushing pause on the school closures, they are willing to forge ahead with a bank full of surplus money and fulfill their agenda at all costs. These costs should not include our community voice being stifled. I am demanding that the RDSB either appoint the one and only person who has shown genuine interest in becoming the Area 2 Trustee (Anita Gibson) or to call a by-election–regardless of the cost. To continue to make “democratic decisions” that appear to be anything but aren’t acceptable.
Chantelle Gorham
Levack
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tyler Campbell announced his decision to step down from his elected role as trustee citing the workload contingent with his role at the City of Greater Sudbury and the need to interact with a wide range of community groups in that role. No connection was made by the City, the Rainbow Board or Mr. Campbell between his decision to step down to the released email content or the proposed soccer dome.
