North Bay City Council put in some extra credit work at the end of their day and by a 7-3 vote passed a surprise motion supporting the dual high school option, entering the fray in what has become a hot topic in the city.
Just as the regular meeting held Tuesday at City Hall was about to adjourn to the back room for an in-camera session, Coun. George Maroosis moved to have the rules suspended so that his motion, seconded by Coun. Mark King, could be debated and voted upon.
Maroosis admitted later that he did not give notice of the motion because it would not have been addressed until the June 27 meeting of Council. June 27 is also the date that school board trustees will announce their final decisions on school closures.
"It's very clear that there are two options and I believe that the City of North Bay should support the two public high school option, rather than the one super public high school," declared Maroosis.
Mayor Al McDonald spoke at Monday's special trustees meeting in support of a two-school solution. Board Chairman David Thompson insisted McDonald clarify before he began speaking whose interests he was representing, with McDonald responding "the Mayor's office." As Coun. Mac Bain mentioned during the meeting, in February, it was unclear in which capacity McDonald was voicing his opposition to one public high school as the application to present at the meeting was delivered on City Hall letterhead.
"I always thought there was an agreement where we didn't go into the school board [and vice versa]," said Bain, adding that any dealings he has had as a representative of FONOM have had to do with board amalgamations, not school closures.
Bain, who voted against the motion along with Councillors Daryl Vaillancourt and Jeff Serran (Coun. Mike Anthony was absent), did not feel comfortable writing the final exam without having studied.
"I have not followed the process that closely. The ARC meetings, I don't follow it in the media. None of the properties that I own, [do the taxes] go to the public school board, so I haven't been following the process. To sit here and be able to make an informed decision, which I like to do, without having knowledge from Coun. Maroosis that this was coming," is unlikely, said Bain.
He continued, "The lines are getting blurred, and to think that if we comment on what a school board should do, without knowledge, without sitting down and knowing the numbers, other than knowing what the impact will be other than to one region of the city, I don't know what is the best financial deal[...]Without knowing all of the information that I need to know to make a decision, I'm going to have to vote no."
Serran asked whether "we're going to get involved with all of the school boards? There are five school boards in our area, are we going to be getting involved with every ARC decision? They are all going to be going through it. Is that the intent of this Council?"
"I hope that the school board hears our vote on this. I think it's important to have a school in the north end and in the south end. I see it causing a detrimental effect to our city," added Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette.
Trustee Thompson said Tuesday evening by phone that "the trustees will make decisions based on facts and in the best interest of our current and future students."
Coun. Chris Mayne did not feel that Council taking a side on the issue was a "unique" move, saying that the group often takes stances on provincial affairs that impact North Bay. "The province imposes decisions on us that affects our operations but offers no funding. We're about to comment on the local school board that's publicly elected to review in detail these decisions, but without our portion of the budget complementing."
Mayne added, if we are endorsing "a decision that would increase costs to the school board budget, are we prepared, and to what level are we prepared to commit community money towards that decision? Or is this just an empty motion in support?"
"Our motions do carry a lot of weight, at least I'd like to think they do," said Vaillancourt, "and now I think we're meddling. What's next? We'll have the chair of the local school boards sending us opinions on what we should or shouldn't be doing? They've gone through such a process."
King gave the opinion that "there will be a severe economic impact if the school board sticks with a single super school. I'm totally opposed to the direction they are heading in[...] It is our responsibility as city councillors to indicate where we stand on this issue."
