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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2010-07-01, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010. Communities react to controversial trustee decision There has been no shortage of reaction to last week’s decision by the Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) to close Brussels Public School and convert Grey Central Public School to a K-6 facility, both of jubilation and devastation, depending on whose side you were on. While the decision was made at the June 22 meeting of the board trustees in Seaforth, Grey Central supporter and member of the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) Armand Roth said that at recent meetings, he could feel the tide begin to turn in Grey Central’s favour. “I could feel the energy building in the last few weeks in our favour, but you never know,” he said. “Someone from my family has been at every board meeting and behind the scenes we were heavily involved.” Roth said that when the process started, he felt that many minds were already made up that Grey Central should close, so many of the school’s supporters knew they would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to save their school. Roth said that letters from the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority and Huron County Warden Bert Dykstra not supporting Grey’s Environmental Learning Grounds and supporting Brussels Public School respectively made Grey Central’s future look dim, but that supporters continued to work on building a case for the school. “The trustees thought for themselves and they did it the way they wanted to do it,” Roth said. “It was a complete reversal and the vote was very definitive that Grey Central should stay open.” Grey Central’s Parent Council issued a statement on the decision, saying that “we are pleased that the trustees have recognized the value in the Grey Central facility and chosen it as the location to amalgamate the Brussels and Grey elementary schools in Huron East.” “We would like to thank the trustees for their diligent work in making this important decision for the future of our children.” There are, however, several members of the Brussels community who feel that board trustees didn’t take all of the available evidence into account when making their decision. If they had, they say, perhaps they would have made a different decision. There is significant confusion in the Brussels community as to why a school that was shown to have nearly full capacity and no declining enrollment issues going forward. “I couldn’t understand [the trustees’] reasoning,” said ARC co- chair and Huron East Deputy-Mayor Bernie MacLellan. “They used a completely different reasoning for the schools in Huron East than they did for the schools in North Perth.” MacLellan said that Grey Central, according to the school board’s information that was provided to the ARC will have significant enrollment issues going forward, where as Brussels is sitting at nearly 100 per cent capacity and is shown that it will hold steady for several years. “It didn’t make any sense,” he said. MacLellan said that because many of the trustees weren’t at a significant number of the ARC meetings, no dialogue was possible, which hindered the progress of the process. MacLellan also said that he was very disappointed that now nearly all Huron East students will have to take buses to school after a school closes where approximately 75 per cent of its students walked to school. Huron East Mayor Joe Seili expressed similar frustration. In addition to his comments at the June 22 meeting towards the trustees, he spoke afterwards, saying “I think the trustees slept through the process.” Seili said that through the mandated amalgamation process, he and the rest of Huron East council spent 10 years building up communities, only to have them ripped apart by the accommodation review process. “Both schools should have stayed open. We’ve worked for 10 years to put these communities together and 12 people tore them apart in just a few months,” Seili said. “I expected that either both would stay open or that both would close, but I didn’t expect this.” Seili said that he never intended to support one school over another, saying that they are both needed in the community. Roth said that several community groups and supporter groups on social networking websites like Facebook have begun “trash talk” between the two communities, which he says will not help anyone. “Supporters of Brussels just thought they had it in the bag and when it turned against them, they got nasty,” Roth said. Brussels community supporters and ARC members Jim Prior and Charlie Hoy have decided that they may not take no for an answer in this situation and have begun investigating possible grounds for an appeal of the decision. “We’re not really very pleased,” Prior said. “We don’t think the decision was based on facts and it Business Directory D & J CONSTRUCTION Jim McDonald 519-887-9607 - COMPLETE MECHANICAL SERVICE - COMPUTERIZED TUNE-UPS - TIRES - BRAKES MUFFLERS - VEHICLE INSPECTION STATION DAN'S AUTO REPAIR Owned and Operated by Dan & Heather Snell RR 3, Blyth, Ont. N0M 1H0 (on the Westfield Rd.) DAN SNELL, Automotive Technician 519-523-4356 ELLIOTT NIXON INSURANCE BROKERS INC. BLYTH, ON N0M 1H0 519-523-4481 MEMBER OF HURON INSURANCE MANAGERS GROUP 5 Generations Since 1910 R. John Elliott Res. 519-523-4323 J. Richard Elliott Res. 519-523-9725 Randy Nixon Res. 519-523-4989 VANDRIEL Excavating Inc. Simon VanDriel 519-482-3783 We Dig For You Call us for... 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The Citizen Call Us Today For Details 519-523-4792 or 519-887-9114 Fax: 519-523-9140 See histories and historic photographs on the Huron History section of our website www.northhuron.on.ca PAUL COOK ELECTRIC Home, Farm & Commercial Wiring BELGRAVE 519-357-1537 Get information on Huron County attractions on the Stops Along The Way section of our website www.northhuron.on.ca Susan Alexander, CFP Certified Financial Planner 472 Turnberry St. PO Box 69 Brussels, Ontario N0G 1H0 Phone: 519-887-2662 Toll Free: 1-866-887-2662 Fax: 519-887-2671 Email: alexander@ezlink.ca Decoration Pastor Sandra Cable and Brussels Legion President John Lowe led the Brussels Cemetery Decoration Service on Sunday. (Vicky Bremner photo) By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 17