No ministry facilitator for Hamilton school closure

The province will not appoint a facilitator to study the local public school board's decision to close Prince Philip Elementary School.

In a letter to Prince Philip supporters on Friday, assistant deputy minister Gabriel Sékaly wrote that the Ministry of Education “has decided not to appoint a facilitator in this case.”

The letter responded to an appeal submitted by Prince Philip supporters, which included a petition signed by 141 parents and people who had attended a public meeting on the matter.

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board voted in May to close the kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school on Rifle Range Road and send its students to George R. Allan on King Street West.

The group is disappointed, but is going to evaluate the response and possible next steps, said Craig Burley, the appeal's author and father of two Prince Philip students.

“It was a surprise,” he said. “I was quite confident that we filled the criteria.”

The appeal letter expressed concerns that included the board's assessment of its capital needs, the accuracy of school information profiles provided to the accommodation review committee and the transparency of the process.

The board adequately followed its own process, and initiated the accomodation review committee's process because of declining enrolment, increasing renewal needs and the ability to offer programming, the ministry said.