3 Waterloo region public school board trustees call for town hall after education director's sudden departure

Three trustees with the Waterloo Region District School Board have called for a public town hall to get input on how to "re-calibrate our board's goals."

A letter signed by trustees Bill Cody, Mike Ramsay and Cindy Watson was shared on social media earlier this month. 

It comes after director of education jeewan chanika's sudden departure from the board in December. The school board has never said why chanika left and chanika has not responded to requests for comment.

In their letter, the trustees say they are "constrained from commenting" on chanika's "sudden departure."

"However, in our opinion, we now have an opportunity to revisit the fundamental goals and educational strategies of our [your] school board," the letter says.

Cody, Ramsay and Watson describe themselves as "moderate conservative members" of the board and they say it's "well known that we are not fans of special interest agendas, whether from the far left or the far right."

The letter says the idea of a town hall meeting was raised by Luisa D'Amato, who is a columnist for The Record newspaper. They say they support that call "to obtain local public input as we prepare to make the necessary decisions that should lead us to re-calibrate our board's goals."

A notice of motion currently does not appear on the agenda for Monday's committee of the whole meeting. The agenda notes any notices of motion must be referred to the agenda development committee.

CBC News reached out to Cody, Ramsay and Watson to request an interview. None responded to the request.

Maedith Radlein, chair of the board of trustees for the Waterloo Region District School Board, issued a statement to CBC News through the board's communication office to say trustees and staff are "fully committed to student achievement and well-being."

She noted the board would not release any further details about chanika's departure and pointed to a December post on the board's website about Scott Miller being named interim director of education.

"Any trustee can use the process outlined in the bylaws to bring a motion to have a town hall. There will be no further comment on the request for a town hall." Radlein said.