ARC 'D-Day' March 26
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The Tillsonburg Elementary ARC was officially disbanded on January 8, 2013, after the Tillsonburg Elementary ARC’s report was presented by chair Bill McKinnon at a Board of Trustee meeting in London on December 18, 2012.
“There were six of us (Tillsonburg Elementary ARC members) that went,” said Barbara-Jean McNeil, citizen representative from Annandale Public School. “Chair Bill McKinnon did a presentation to the board and members of the board asked questions. There were only a couple of questions - it was really just to clarify what our recommendations meant, regarding certain things.”
The senior administrative response to the ARC report was received by the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) at its meeting on January 8, 2013 and although both Tillsonburg Elementary ARC members and interested residents were invited to provide their feedback and input at a meeting held last week, on February 19, none was received or heard, confirmed ARC assistant with the TVDSB, Teresa Muscat.
A final decision by the Board of Trustees was expected by either the end of March or early April and has now been confirmed for Tuesday, March 26, 2013 in London.
McNeil said she and other ARC members are hopeful that the TVDSB will consider their recommendations and come to a positive conclusion.
“Really the ball’s in their court now,” said McNeil. “I think we took a long time, went through the different areas very carefully. I think we had good reasoning behind our thoughts and everything was well thought out. We tried to encompass the concerns of the town.”
Once a decision is made on March 26, the process will move forward with the creation of several committees, needed to complete the work outlined in the ARC recommendations. Those committees could include a design committee, one or more transition committees, a naming committee and a system consolidation committee.
Although McNeil may not be able to attend the meeting at the end of March, she is looking forward to hearing the final decision.
“It is a long process and we want to see what the response is to our recommendations,” said McNeil. “We firmly believe we were thinking along the right lines, and we would like to see that they realize that too.”
For more information, visit www.tvdsb.ca.