Community Mandate Petition Supporters
First, thanks again to all who have signed our petition so far - now totaling 265 people of which 214 (80%) are local community members, although we surely appreciate the support from many other communities beyond Oakwood Vaughan.
The strength of this response allowed OVCO to make an overture to the TDSB to start a conversation with us on the future of the former VRA. Not surprisingly, TDSB middle managers replied that they had discussed our concerns with senior management but that no decisions had been made and that "while trustees are not currently part of the school board, the staff at TDSB continue to follow the protocols designed to include the voices in the community" - that protocol means some undefined time for public consultations. There is, of course, no schedule for such public consultations.
In the absence of a school trustee (the Ontario Government has released them of their responsibilities), OVCO asserts that the OV community has given it the mandate to engage on the issue with the TDSB. Specifically, OVCO's response sent today (October 20) is:
" We took the issue to OVCO's Annual Meeting and more than 80 local residents asked OVCO to open a conversation with TDSB/TLC senior management to discuss the options. We put this community mandate out to our local network and, so far, 210 community members have supported a petition in support of this community mandate. In the absence of a local trustee, the community has asked OVCO to voice its concerns and even more importantly to engage with TDSB in discussion of the options under consideration for the use of the former VRA beyond September 2026."
We will update our supporters on any reply. We may require our supporters to act directly with messages to the powers that be to secure the very reasonable request for discussion with us on the community's behalf. But, at this time, we are just letting you know that your support enables us to advance our position with confidence for continuing community access to the former VRA.
Thanks so much again.
Peter Clutterbuck, OVCO Chair