Common Ground for Boards and Municipalities

Toronto, July 29, 2009- The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) viewed with interest the stories that have recently appeared in a number of Ontario newspapers highlighting the newly formed Community Schools Alliance, an initiative of Mayor Doug Reycraft, former president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

While the impetus for the commentary in these stories comes from responses to potential school closures in a number of communities, OPSBA sees this as an opportunity for opening up broad-based collaboration between municipalities and school boards on the valuable role of schools in our local communities. As OPSBA views it, this collaboration would include far-reaching and meaningful discussions about community planning and about schools as a hub and centre of resources not just for children but for all the taxpayers in the community.

OPSBA Vice-President Catherine Fife will be taking this message forward when she speaks later this summer at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa.

“OPSBA is extremely pleased to see the issue of collaboration between school boards and municipalities on the table in this very positive way,” said OPSBA Vice-President Catherine Fife. “We will work hard to forge strong links with the municipalities so that we are all working together for children, families and communities.”

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For more information, please contact:

Jeff Sprang
OPSBA Communications
(416) 340-2540