Scanned, recopied or Internet copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections: Opening comments: Maybe more at the end. Back to the Lyndwood School Cover-up. Comments by others to this web-page - 2 - to this web-page at time of posting. Mississauga News - Dec. 6, 2011 (6:27 am) - Editorial Names get political After a controversy about naming a trail along the Credit River in 1985 for then-councillor David Culham, the City of Mississauga set a new policy for naming facilities and parks. The City decided that public venues would not be named for any living person, unless staff recommended it and Council agreed to endorse that special exception. It may seem a bit harsh to tell people that they have to die before they and their friends can see their community efforts recognized, but Council decided to set the standard high. The rule has been the subject of much criticism over the years, most recently from Councillor Katie Mahoney, who complained after the policy thwarted her efforts to have a baseball diamond renamed for a prominent citizen. Contrast the City’s policy with that of the Peel District School Board. Last week, it renamed Hartsdale Public School for Ward 1 and 7 Trustee Janet McDougald, in recognition of her 14 consecutive years as chair of the Board and her longtime dedication to public education. While we do not for a second question the outstanding contribution McDougald has made, we do question the wisdom of naming a school for a person who’s still in office, especially a school located in that person’s ward. A challenger who chooses to run against the incumbent in a future election could easily be invited to attend a public meeting to debate at Janet McDougald Public School. That’s just not appropriate. There are numerous schools in Peel named for former directors of education, principals, superintendents and trustees. In almost every case, the honour was granted as the person was retiring, or afterwards. This is the second time in recent memory that a school has been named for a trustee who’s still serving. It simply smacks of cronyism and conceit. There’s an appropriate time to mark the outstanding contributions made by longtime trustees, even occasionally with the major honour of naming a school for them. That time is clearly only after the person leaves office. Comments by others - 2 - to this web-page at time of posting; hio Dec 12, 2011 5:46 PM Streetsvilleguy Dec 9, 2011 12:14 AM Home Page - Main Table of Contents - Back up a page - Back to Top [COMMENTS BY DON B. - ] |
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