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The Citizen, 2011-09-22, Page 28All schools in the Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) will undergo a Formal Facilities Review this school year. Mike Ash, superintendent of education, school operations, told trustees at the Sept. 13 board meeting that schools in northwest Huron will be reviewed first. A facility review determines what repair work a school needs, as well as when repairs should be made and projected costs. A facility review was already conducted on Colborne Central Public School after mould, humidity and water issues were discovered in the spring of 2011. Other schools in the northwest, such as Holmesville Public School, Brookside Public School and Goderich Distrit Collegiate Institute Elementary, will also be reviewed so that board trustees can compare figures as they decide the fate of Colborne Central and Holmesville Public Schools through an accommodation review. Ash said Stratford schools will be the next group to be reviewed. Four Stratford schools, Bedford, Romeo, Shakespeare and Hamlet Public Schools, are also under an accommodation review, but the AMDSB does not anticipate closing down any buildings in Stratford. All other AMDSB schools will follow, with results anticipated by the end of the school year. The review consists of a visual inspection conducted by an architect, mechanical and electrical engineers and a facilities team which includes special education representation. Suggested repairs for a building are prioritized in four categories: no action needed, immediate action needed, replace/repair in five years, or replace/repair in 10 years. The last Formal Facilities Review was performed in the fall and winter of the 2007-2008 school year, at which point the AMDSB decided to conduct the review every five years. The preliminary accommodation analysis report presented to trustees in June 2011 noted that “fully 50 per cent of our buildings are now 46 years and older, and significantly more costly to maintain.” The AMDSB considers information gathered through the Formal Facilities Review and the Ministry of Education’s ReCAPP database, as well as enrolment and loading percentage numbers, when proposing accommodation reviews. At the Sept. 13 meeting, board staff told trustees that the next preliminary accommodation analysis report will not be brought forward until the 2012-2013 school year, and then probably late in the school year. Schools to undergo facilities review PAGE 28. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011.Continued from page 25mathematics categories.Dan Parr, superintendent ofeducation at the HPCDSB, said the board is “pleased and proud” with its results, but will continue to work with students who aren’t meeting the provincial standard. “We want all students to achieve at that high level,” he said. Both school boards’ Grade 9 students tested among the highest in the province. Overall, 83 per cent of Ontario Grade 9 academic students met or surpassed the provincial standard. In the AMDSB, 87 per cent of students met or surpassed the standard while 90 per cent did in the HPCDSB. The provincial average for Grade 9 applied math students was 42 per cent. HPCDSB students came in at 43 per cent while AMDSB students came in at 48 per cent. Kim Black, AMDSB superintendent of education, curriculum, said one of the board’s math improvement strategies has been cross-panel teams of Grade 7, 8 and 9 teachers working together to prepare students for the Grade 9 testing. She credited the teachers, support staff and parents of AMDSB students for the continuing improvement of scores. The HPCDSB’s Grade 6 reading score was among the highest in the province, with 85 per cent of students meeting or surpassing the provincial standard, compared to the provincial average of 74 per cent. The HPCDSB Grade 6 writing scorewas 78 per cent compared to theprovincial average of 73 per cent.The AMDSB’s Grade 6 reading and writing scores were lower than the provincial average – 73 per cent and 68 per cent, respectively. Those scores are “significant improvements” said the AMDSB in a press release, noting that the reading score is an increase of three percentage points over two years ago, while the writing score is an increase of six percentage points. The AMDSB also gained in its Grade 3 writing score, increasing three points to 66 per cent compared to the provincial average of 73 per cent. Its Grade 3 reading score stayed at 58 per cent compared to the provincial average of 65 per cent, while the Grade 3 math score dropped two points to 71 per cent, still above the provincial average of 69 per cent. The HPCDSB Grade 3 students’ results in reading, writing and math were 71 per cent, 77 per cent, and 78 per cent respectively. The AMDSB compared its current Grade 6 students’ results to the results when those students took the Grade 3 EQAO tests. They found that 15 per cent of students who tested below the provincial standard in Grade 3 reading met or surpassed the Grade 6 standard. Comparing the scores for writing, the board found that nine per cent of students who tested below the provincial standard in Grade 3 had met or surpassed the Grade 6 standard. In its press release, the AMDSBalso broke out performance bygender, noting that females outperformed males in all categories in both the Grade 3 and Grade 6 groups. The gender gap is largest in writing, where girls outperformed boys by 20 per cent points in Grade 3 testing and by 22 per cent points in Grade 6 testing. The gap is smallest inmathematics, where Grade 3 andGrade 6 girls outperformed the boys by seven per cent and eight per cent respectively. Black said that an in-depth analysis of gender performance trends reveals a gap that sometimes closes and sometimes reverses, but “essentially, it’s something that justdoesn’t go away.”Like other school boards, theAMDSB is still working on further strategies to deal with the gap. The tests were taken in the spring of 2011. Both boards and their schools will use the results to further develop learning strategies for students. Catholic Board over average in all categories Making music Pastor Ernest Dow from the Living Water Christian Fellowship performed with Diane Ferguson, centre, and Sharon Jackson, right, on Sunday at the Blyth Greenway Memory Garden’s ninth annual remembrance service. (Vicky Bremner photo)By Rita Marshall Special to The Citizen Get breaking farm news on the Rural Voice section of our website www.northhuron.on.ca