SUDBURY—When you enter public service, particularly elected office or when reporting on issues associated with the public service, it is easy to step in it up to your knee with a comment that, in just about any other normal setting, would not cause pause to anyone. For one of Manitoulin’s Rainbow District School Board (RDSB) trustees the consequences of what was essentially ‘a throwaway line’ appears to have had far reaching repercussions.

It was a comment attributed to RDSB trustee Larry Killens, quoted in an article on school closures on the front page of the November 31 edition of The Expositor and that referred to winning the “battle” on school closures or rationalization on Manitoulin prior to the latest round of school reviews that seems to have erupted the latest firestorm around the feisty trustee.

For his part, Mr. Killens maintains that the quoted reference to a “battle” actually referenced what would happen if the school board was to suggest closing any Island schools in the future, but in any event, the school board administration was quick to respond to any suggestion that Island schools were ever under consideration for review or that any “battle” was involved at any level in ensuring that was the case, sending a letter to the editor to in order to correct the record. A previous call to the RDSB director of education on the matter was not returned.

Mr. Killens, for his part, did not request a correction on the record, suggesting rather that the issue was being blown somewhat out of proportion, but he did maintain that the reporter had missed the context. While The Expositor stands by its story, it is willing to accept Mr. Killens’ interpretation of what he had meant to say. These things happen from time to time.

It is interesting to note that what was left out of the original story was Mr. Killen’s effusive praise of the school board and his fellow trustees during the interview in question, as well as his repeated focus on the provincial government and that funding shortfalls were the key source of the decision for school closures within the board.

As Mr. Killen’s notes, it has previously been reported in both The Expositor, and our sister publication The Manitoulin West Recorder, that all but one of the Island’s schools are currently listed in the critical column in terms of enrollment, but that when the list of schools to be reviewed was compiled, none of the schools were listed as being considered for rationalization or closure. It seems that despite the critical state of enrollment figures, no battle was required to keep Manitoulin Island schools off the review list.

Although no Island schools were under review, apparently no “battle” was involved in making that decision. The Expositor regrets the confusion and hopes that it is now clear. There was no “battle,” and all is calm, all is bright. To be clear, no Island schools were ever being considered for closure or rationalization.

In an unrelated matter, a letter from Manitoulin Secondary School informed Mr. Killens that RDSB Chair Doreen Dewar would be addressing the students on behalf of the board during the annual Awards Night. The letter went on to suggest that, since Mr. Killens has challenges with the stairs to the stage, perhaps he would prefer to sit in the audience. The school could find an award for him to present.