The flag at Hamilton City Hall is flying at half-staff today as the City mourns one of our greatest and most selfless citizens.
The flag directly across the street at the headquarters of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board remains at full-staff.
This surprised me.
When I was involved at the HWDSB a decade ago, there was a protocol in place that when the flag of one government was lowered to half-staff, the other followed suit.
The reason for the protocol was to properly display civic mourning without the conflicting symbol of a full-flag visually beside the half-staff flag as one drives into the Downtown core.
There is a better reason than protocol that the HWDSB should follow suit and publicly join the city in mourning the passing of Jimmy Lomax.
Mr. Lomax served the children of this city and contributed so much to our school system.In honour of his contributions to the child of our city, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board should immediately lower its flag to half-staff.
In the future, both 100 and 71 Main Street West need to communicate their respective protocols to ensure their flags do not send conflicting messages.