Dear Editor:
An open letter to the Council of the Township of Whitewater Region.
I want to thank all of you for your over the past 91 days.
Mayor Hal Johnson for his leadership and the dedicating of a councillor to our committee. His time invested with the media, our County Warden, our MPP and all his efforts to meet with the Minister of Education was significant. He obviously cares very much for the Township. Our committee – and our community – truly felt supported.
Councillor Dave MacKay for his support and dedication to our committee. He attended our weekly meetings and provided valuable advice on how to approach the many challenges we faced through this process. He represented the township and helped our committee believe that we could do something to make our voices heard. We appreciate his dedication and support very much.
I know we had much support from our other councillors. I thank them for the time they gave the committee time to speak to the council and the time they invested in our public meetings and the delegations. We may not have saved Westmeath Public School, but we demonstrated to the greater County of Renfrew just how tight our township is and how we can come together to support each other. The efforts to address this issue also demonstrate the potential of our municipal leadership and how, if we work together to support the future of our communities, we can make change happen.
As we formally stand down our Save Our School Committee, I will leave our Councillors with two recommendations as it pertains to education within the township.
First – that the council consider an avenue, such as an economic development committee, to collaborate with the school boards in the planning of economic development of our township. I don’t expect this to be easy as they may not want to fully participate, but we need to force the issue. We need to work with the school boards and confirm their long term plans for Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Westmeath, Beachburg Public School and Cobden District Public School, and how the township can contribute to their long term viability. As we learned over the past 91 days, it is too late in the process to get invited to the table after they already have a plan — we need to influence the development of the plan.
Second – that the council consider becoming a member of the Community School Alliance (www.communityschoolalliance.ca), as this group of rural municipal leaders may have other insights to ensure the future of schools within our township.
Thank you for all your efforts.
Neil Nicholson,
Chair of the WPS SOS Committee
