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2- The Oakville Beaver, Friday September 5, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Store Moving Lawyers thwarted by board chair Continued from page 1 Sale Everything Must Go! SAVE UP TO 70% · Displays · Fixtures · Accessories · Hardware · One location only KITCHENS A KOHLER® COMPANY Canada's largest Manufacturer www.CanacKitchens.com 490 Speers Road, Oakville (1/4 mile west of Dorval Drive) 905-842-5222 Tuck Kutarna would not listen to Pillon on either occasion, citing board rules of conduct and governance. The disagreement between the chair and legal counsel for the group Oakville Residents for Public Education began near the start of the board meeting when Pillon and fellow Stikeman Elliott lawyer, Alan D'Silva, tried to make a formal presentation to trustees on the southeast Oakville issue. Tuck Kutarna interrupted D'Silva on several occasions for straying from the public presentation literature the lawyers had sent to the board. After trying several times to determine what he could say on the issue that might differ from his written presentation to the board, a frustrated D'Silva told trustees that in 20 years of litigating he had not been similarly dealt with before. "You don't know anything about procedural fairness," he said, which drew applause from the gallery. Prior to Pillon's attempts to speak to the board, some parents let out derisive laughter and shouted about "due process" as Education Director Wayne Joudrie tried to apologize publicly for not catching a significant numerical mistake in an earlier board report relating to busing statistics for a portion of southeast Oakville. The mistake was found in the Program and Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) PE14 report, upon "Delegations are welcome at the board and we may see this (legal) delegation again, if they are compliant with board bylaws." Oakville trustee Bruce Jones Amber Door Spa al datejust ow gold Our award winning spa is the best kept secret in Oakville! Come in and relax your mind, body and soul * Facials * Lifting Treatments * Microdermabrasion * Chemical Peels * Organic Treatments * Body Treatments * Manicures/Pedicures * Relaxation Massages * Hot Stone Massages * Reiki/Chakra Cleansing Gift Certificates Available Expanded Hours. Open Sundays! AVER LLE BE NNER OAKVI AL WI MED GOLD NEW from Brazil, THE CRYSTAL BED Call for Details Upper Middle Road Trafalgar Road Reeves Gate 3rd Line 1500 Heritage Way, Unit 6 Heritage Way N 905.469.4825 www.amberdoorspa.com Now hiring aestheticians. QEW which Halton District School Board trustees based a decision to close four schools in southeast Oakville and build a new school in the Clearview area. Linbrook, Chisholm, New Central and Brantwood schools are slated to close by September 2010. The error, discovered by Joudrie on July 14, concerns an incorrect number of children to be bused to E.J. James School under the JKGrade 8 future pupil accommodation model approved by the board on July 2. The report indicated the estimated busing for E.J. James was 30, but it should have read 259. The mistake caused some Oakville parents to become skeptical about the validity of the PARC report and trustees' subsequent school closure decisions. Joudrie said he felt "significant chagrin and regret" about the error in the E.J. James busing number. "One option I considered was rescinding the original motion (July 2 vote) and to continue the debate," he told trustees and the audience at Wednesday's meeting. "After looking at the (busing) numbers I don't believe there is a substantive difference in the impact on students in that area (of Oakville), but it is in the purview of the board" to reconsider the original decision, he noted. In an interview after the meeting was adjourned, Pillon said concerned parents, the lawyers and the board are awaiting a decision by the Ministry of Education as to whether the latter feels the need to get involved in the matter. The lawyers representing Oakville Residents for Public Education filed an appeal of the board's PARC decision on July 28 on the basis of "procedural fairness and the issues to do with the busing numbers," said Pillon. The board responded to the appeal on Aug. 27. Now the ministry has 30 days to decide whether to deny the parents' appeal or appoint a facilitator to attempt to resolve the disagreement between the board and disgruntled southeast Oakville parents. Pillon said another possible submission by them on behalf of the parents to the ministry could delay the 30day review period. Joudrie said after the meeting that he expects the ministry will appoint a facilitator. Oakville trustee Bruce Jones didn't quite know what to make of the spectacle that unfolded before trustees. "Passions were high tonight. The board has made a (student accommodation) decision and now it goes to ministerial review. Delegations are welcome at the board and we may see this (legal) delegation again, if they are compliant with board bylaws. This board is a welcoming place, at least it tends to be. We've heard from 27 delegations on this issue," Jones said. When asked if he expected police to be present for security reasons at the next meeting on the southeast Oakville issue, Joudrie would not speculate. He said the chair of the board has the ultimate say on such issues, but that it would likely first be discussed with him and other trustees. Two Halton police officers were present at the July 2 meeting when the vote on PE14 was held. The audience did not create a disturbance. *** Gail Gortmaker, manager of the director's office at the J.W. Singleton Education Centre, said she could only recall one other time in her 11 years with the board when a school board meeting was prematurely adjourned. She said the late Ethel Gardiner had to cut short a meeting in the 1990s due to persistent booing and applauding by audience members, possibly related to a school closure issue. Joudrie said he did not witness a meeting adjournment when he was education director at the Grand Erie board from 2003-05, but recalled two instances when he was a superintendent in Hamilton when public board meetings were ended abruptly due to crowd disturbances, once over a human rights issue, the other over labour negotiation sanctions.