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The Citizen, 2008-04-17, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2008. Flippin’ These girls put a different spin on things during the finale at the Carry On Cloggers’ show Hit The Road at Blyth Memorial Hall this past Sunday. (Vicky Bremner photo)To the beach The Carry On Cloggers Hit The Road this past Sunday with an afternoon and evening show at Blyth Memorial Hall. This group, which was comprised of Sam Bezaire, Taylor Durand, Vanessa Ladd, Jonnie and Meghan DePutter- Lavis, performed Surfin’ USA. (Vicky Bremner photo) Boys of summer The ‘Beach Boys’ (Gary Black, Gary Preszcator, Gary Martin, Don Jewitt and Mike Ladd) took their turn on stage as the Carry On Cloggers presented Hit The Road at Blyth Memorial Hall during a matinee and an evening performance. (Vicky Bremner photo) And then there was one. Last November, trustees of the Avon Maitland District School Board voted to create three community-based Accommodation Review Committees (ARCs) in accordance with the Education Ministry-mandated process that’s required each time major changes are considered to school accommodations. The ARCs are meant to provide a vehicle for public consultation into if and how changes are implemented. Within days, ARC-based public consultation was taken out of the equation in St. Marys when the Ministry declared one of the town’s existing elementary schools as “prohibitive to repair” (PTR). Under PTR, the board is essentially told that the school must close, and told how much money will be made available to accommodate the students. The only decisions left with the board – and open to an altered public consultation process, which the Avon Maitland board called a “Facilities Advisory Committee” (FAC) in the St. Marys case – revolve around how and where to spend that money. And even that input is limited: once a construction plan is devised, it must be approved by the Ministry. And once tenders are received from contractors hoping to do the work, those also must be approved by the Ministry. Following a series of public meetings chaired by Avon Maitland education director Geoff Williams, the St. Marys FAC – with representation from school councils, municipal government, business and the public – delivered its report to trustees Feb. 26. That report called for a new kindergarten-to-Grade 8 school on town-owned property adjacent to the new Pyramid Recreation Centre. Most recently, represen- tatives from town council, a grassroots parents’ group, and school board trustees met with Perth-Wellington MPP John Wilkinson to discuss the implications of the Liberal government’s recently- released 2008-09 budget. According to various participants in the closed-door meeting, Wilkinson urged the stakeholders to negotiate a united front about the scope and location of a proposed new school. The MPP argued that will provide him with a stronger argument if and when he approaches Education Minister Kathleen Wynne for money over and above the $4.8 million in PTR funds already committed. “It will be up to the school board to apply for the money. Not Mr. Wilkinson, not the community members, not the Town of St. Marys,” said St. Marys mayor Jamie Hahn, in an interview following the MPP meeting. “But it’s up to us to work together with Mr. Wilkinson and put him in a strong position to argue for that money . . . It needs to be a ‘win, win, win’ for all involved.” Meanwhile, public consultation meetings were hosted throughout the winter by ARCs in Goderich and Mitchell. All trustees were in attendance when those ARCs presented their final reports to board staff in early March. And members of both ARCs were in the audience at a regular meeting March 31 when operations superintendent Ted Doherty presented staff recommendations for potential changes to trustees. Public response to Doherty’s recommendations was mixed. In Mitchell, trustees are asked to maintain the status quo until all of Mitchell Public School’s students can be accommodated at Upper Thames Elementary School without significant construction. ARC members complained to the media that the staff report failed to include assurances that Mitchell District High School will remain open over the long term, or that community desires for enhanced programming will be met. ARC member Dean Smith appeared before the board at its most recent meeting, April 8, charging the report’s main recommendation “does not meet the spirit of the ARC.” But after a surprise announcement April 1, Mitchell remains the only one of the three original communities still under the ARC process. That’s because Goderich, after originally learning PTR funding had been rejected for Victoria Public School, suddenly learned it will receive $1.7 million to relocate the aging facility’s students. In effect, questions about whether or not to close a school were once again taken out of the hands of the community and trustees; as in St. Marys, PTR designation means Victoria must close. Only this time, community- based considerations of that nature became irrelevant only after they had already been completed. “It was really badly handled,” ARC member Judy Crawford told the Goderich Signal Star, following the PTR announcement by Huron- Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell. Referring to the months of work undertaken by the ARC after initial indications that Victoria wouldn’t qualify, she wondered “why did (the Education Ministry) not give us the appropriate tools and information?” The final outcome, however, will likely be the same: that Victoria will close, an addition will be built at Robertson Memorial Public School, and all the town’s Grades 7 and 8 students will be moved to Goderich District Collegiate Institute. A trustee vote in the St. Marys case is expected in May. Votes about Goderich and Mitchell could follow in June. Al w a y s r e a d a n d f o l l o w l a b e l d i r e c t i o n s . Ag S o l u t i o n s a n d H E A D L I N E a r e r e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k s o f B A S F . © 2 0 0 8 B A S F C a n a d a I n c . You can get a yield boost with HEADLINE®, too. In fact, this impressive result was just one of the trials run in Ontario and Quebec that netted an average yield boost of 12.2 bu/ac with high-yielding hybrids in 2007. See all the trial results for yourself at www.agsolutions.ca/planthealth #U" UNTREATED )&"%-*/&BOOSTS  $03/YIELDIN 4&"'035) Mitchell last ARC afloat By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen