Owen Sound city council is supporting the latest move by the SAVE OSCVI group.
SAVE OSCVI released the contents of a letter it sent to the Bluewater District School Board, calling for board staff and trustees to hold a public meeting in Owen Sound to explain their plans for the school closures slated for the city.
On April 19, Board trustees made the decision to close OSCVI in June, and have all the city's high school students attend West Hill Secondary in September.
The Save OSCVI group supported the community request for a one-year delay in order to allow time to adjust and to give stakeholders an opportunity to consult on the idea of the closure.
Owen Sound City Council voted unanimously this week to support the group’s call for a public meeting.
"I think that it’s high time the Bluewater Board talked to this community," says Judy Keeling, who attended the council meeting that saw council support the group’s request.
Keeling says that now that the Ministry has declined to review the process that brought five school closures in Owen Sound - including OSCVI - it’s time for the board staff and trustees to meet with the community of Owen Sound to explain how this will work.
"We were told, for example, that they would be applying immediately for a new school to replace West Hill," says Keeling. "Then we learn in the media that there are no such plans. We’d like to hear it from the board exactly what’s happening."
