Residents from the Harrow and Amherstburg areas press public school board trustees to keep their schools open at the GECDSB regular meeting on September 15, 2015. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)Residents from the Harrow and Amherstburg areas press public school board trustees to keep their schools open at the GECDSB regular meeting on September 15, 2015. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Windsor

Essex Wants Review Of Harrow High Decision

The Town of Essex is calling for an administrative review of the decision to close Harrow District High School.

Mayor Ron McDermott says the town isn't pursuing a court challenge of the decision as previously reported by other media.

"I have no idea where that came from, but all we're going to do on behalf of the town is look for an administrative review," says McDermott.

The decision to move forward with a review was made at an emergency meeting held at 7:30am on Friday at town hall. Councillors Bill Caixeiro, Larry Snively and Randy Voakes along with the mayor attended the meeting.

"Council has directed administration not only to communicate with various provincial ministries to raise awareness about the future social and economic impacts on the community, but also to obtain legal advice on all available options," says town CAO Russ Phillips in a news release.

Speaking to BlackburnNews.com, Phillips says when it comes to the planned Harrow high school closure, the town is only focused on getting a successful administrative review completed.

"At this point in time we're not looking into a judicial inquiry into this at all," says Phillips, adding the town has worked with a community committee on the matter. "The [Harrow] committee has raised specific regularities, they raised some concerns with maybe some of the process, but more so the council is committed to pursuing all the options that are available to them.

The town plans on submitting a petition and a formal request for review to the Greater Essex County District School Board and the Minister of Education before the appeal period expires on November 12. Should the application meet ministry criteria, Phillips says a facilitator will be appointed to review whether the public school board's accommodation review process was done appropriately.

Phillips says the review could lead to new information being brought forward to trustees and council hopes that could lead to the school staying open.

"They [council] would want that opportunity to have it either overturned or reconsidered," says Phillips.

The town has retained the services of lawyer James Cooke of Ducharme Fox Law Offices of Windsor to help in applying for the review.

Harrow's high school is set to close June 2016.

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