The Town of Essex wants the premier to know it's feeling left out of the process that saw Harrow District High School voted closed.
The premier's special advisor on community hubs, Karen Pitre, is set to bring back that message after meeting with councillors and residents in Essex on Monday night. Pitre stressed she can't change the public school board's decision on Harrow High, but says the town will get support for a potential community hub plan.
"We were clear from the beginning — we're not here to second guess the decision, we're not here to talk about the process," says Pitre. "Depending on what happens, there's an opportunity to develop a community hub independent of that decision."
At the meeting, councillors stressed concerns over the lack of communication and co-operation between different levels of government. It's a concern Pitre has identified in her report on community hubs.
"There's a lack of coordinated planning. This is not the only place this is happening," says Pitre. "We need to do a better job of bringing our schools boards, our municipalities, our partners locally together."
Pitre says there is "a lot of traction" in getting the different ministries on board in working towards better collaboration and adds a senior implementation committee is working on putting in place the recommendations made in her community hubs report.
