Jay Aspin says transparency will be his number one priority as he came out on top with nearly 4500 votes in the Near North District School Board race.
The former MP and city councillor was elected for a third time to the Near North District School Board and vows to work together with the new trustees to make things better.
He knows it will not be easy sorting out the controversy relating to the potential school closure issues that face the board in the future. After announcing that Widdifeld Senior Secondary would close in the spring of 2019, the board announced in September that they are delaying the closure.
“School closures from my previous experience are always very, very difficult situations,” said Aspin.
“The key is to be transparent, the key is to be open, with open communications and you know I think people are rational, we all are rational. We want to have the facts straight, we want the facts to be known. We want our elected officials to judge on the facts and we want to know the facts so we can make a judgment call as to whether or not we agree with them. You are not going to please everybody but the key thing is to be transparent and keep open communications, and sadly enough that has not happened in the past and I am hoping to contribute to that to make it a number one priority in the future.”
See related: Widdifield closure time frame changed
Newcomer Bill Steer will join Aspin on the new Near North District School Board. He also believes communication is key.
“Effective communication provides opportunities to share information and ideas that build stronger relationships while promoting accountability throughout the school board,” stated Steer in a post-election release.
“We need to continue to do more sharing with our various community stakeholders and this includes our teachers’ federations.”
Louise Sargent and Donna Breault round out the four elected NNDSB trustees. Breault edged fifth place finisher Frank O’Hagan by a mere 4 votes.
The official numbers will be released today.
