Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-10-30, Page 11Last week’s public informationmeeting of the AccommodationReview Committee (ARC) at East Wawanosh Public School mapped out the procedure and timeline of possible changes. THE SCHOOLS Five schools, Hullett Central, Blyth, East Wawanosh, Wingham and Turnberry Central Public Schools are officially under review by this ARC, which is comprised of representatives from each school, parent council and municipality. While memos were circulated by parent councils concerning possible closures of one of the five schools, Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) trustees discussed the criteria under which a school would find itself being reviewed. As East Wawanosh parent council co- chair and Morris-Turnberry councillor Mark Beaven pointed out, only one of the schools falls into this category: Turnberry Central Public School. The three reasons a school would find itself under review would be if more than 60 per cent of the school needs repair, which is called prohibitive to repair, if the school is holding under 150 students and if the school is teaching under 60 per cent of its suggested occupancy. The latter option is the category Turnberry Central Public School currently falls. The other four schools, as explained by Mike Ash, superintendent of education and the man who will be the chair of the meetings throughout the process, have been included in the process as geographically-relative schools that reside along the Hwy. 4 corridor. In the event of a change, he said, the other four schools could end up inheriting students. Closure, as explained by Meg Westley, trustee from Stratford, is an option in this particular case. THE PROCESS The purpose of last week’s initial meeting was to lay out the framework for the months ahead in terms of the ARC’s meetings and actions. Then after the committee has made its recommendation, the AMDSB’s schedule, from the vote all the way to the implementation of the impending decisions was also presented. Ash laid out the timeline required for the process. Between the first and last meeting, there must be 90 days. After the last meeting, the ARC will have 14 days to submit its written report. The AMDSB then must wait 60 days before it can vote. The board vote will likely happen at the first meeting in June and changes, if there are any, will be implemented by September, 2010. However, Ash said, there have been instances where the board felt the school in question wasn’t quite ready for the change, so it has had to wait for one more year. The priority, he said, it’s that the transition be as smooth as possible. Right now the first official ARC meeting is scheduled for Nov. 13 and the last for Feb. 26. The committee must meet at least twice between these dates. Each school has been given an extensive framework document that will need to be filled out over the course of the meetings. These frameworks will be finalized by the third meeting and at the fourth and final meeting the ARC’s recommendation will be presented to the AMDSB publically. While the process involvescommunity involvement, Westleyreiterated that the board has thefinal say.In order to prepare the committeeand the public for a possibleletdown, Westley was asked to not “beat around the bush and not be delicate or diplomatic, but to be straight-forward” by ARC participants last year. She said there have been times when recommendations from the committee have been rejected by the board and there have been times when recommendations have not been carried out in full due to decisions at the board level. “You will be making recommendations to us, but you will not be making a decision,” she said. THE DECISIONS There were several decisions made Thursday. Joy Antoniuk, principal of Hullett Central PublicSchool, said her school would liketo host one of the meetings. Fromher proposal came the motion thatthe guaranteed five meetings beheld at the five schools that areunder review. While last week’s public meeting isn’t counted in the four required meetings, it was decided that East Wawanosh Public School had held the first meeting and that the subsequent four meetings, beginning with Hullett Central, would be held at the remaining four schools in question. The meetings will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will circuit through the schools. There was also a provision in the motion that an opportunity be made to tour each school as it is visited. Beaven said the school tour concept would give parents from all of the schools a more convenient opportunity to take in a meeting andto have their say.The committee also decided tokeep Ash as the sole chair of themeetings. In the past, he said, therehave been instances where the chairof the meeting has lived in the affected area, causing some members to consider the chair’s possible bias. Ash, however, says this is not a concern with him, as he lives outside of the area and insists that while there were concerns about bias in previous instances, they proved to be unfounded. The third decision was to keep possible scenarios drafted by the school board absent from the meetings, at least in the beginning. Beaven proposed this in an effort to keep the committee open-minded, positive and neutral in its decision- making, at least at first. This was a decision, however, that was not met with unanimous support. After Ash said it was Turnberry Central School that was being looked at closely, a representative from Turnberry Central Public School asked that the ARC receive the board’s scenarios at the first meeting, seeing as “they won’t be of any big surprise to anyone.” They voted six votes to three in favour of withholding the scenarios. CORRESPONDENCE Steve Howe, manager of communications for AMDSB made a presentation on how the public can keep up with the ARC and its actions. On the board’s website at www.yourschools.ca there is a tab called “Accommodations” and through clicking there, the North Huron review can easily be found. Any correspondence will be made available and if there are comments left on any of the materials associated with this particular review, the comments will be sent to every member of the committee.INVOLVEMENTChuck Reid, AMDSB director ofeducation said the board has no pre-determined solution.He said that three different ARCprocesses were held last year in Goderich, St. Marys and Mitchell and that the meetings encouraged a lot of community involvement. This is something that will be enforced throughout this process as well. Every meeting will be public and all correspondence, including e- mails will be made available to the public throughout the process. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008. PAGE 11. Concentration Working on jack-o-lanterns isn’t simple stuff, as Kim Walker’s Grade 2/3 class at East Wawanosh Public School learned earlier this week. Working diligently is Johnathon Musson.. (Shawn Loughlin photo) Info meeting maps out ARC procedure, timeline MUNICIPALITY OF MORRIS-TURNBERRY 2008 FALL YARD WASTE COLLECTION The Municipality will be picking up leaves, grass clippings and yard waste in the Morris-Turnberry Urban areas on the following dates: Wednesday, November 5 Wednesday, November 12 Wednesday, November 19 NO BAG TAGS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS PICKUP! Leaves, grass clippings and yard waste may also be delivered to the Morris-Turnberry Landfill Site at 85047 Clyde Line, any Wednesday or Saturday. Materials MUST be placed at the curb in biodegradable bags. Paper organic yard waste bags, can be purchased at Stainton Hardware and Hodgins RONA in Wingham, OR biodegradable mesh bags can be purchased at Hodgins RONA, Wingham and Henderson RONA, Lucknow. The bags must be placed at the curb by 7 a.m. for collection. The bags will be picked up by a different truck than the regular garbage. Plastic bags are not acceptable for yard waste and will NOT be picked up. The Municipality encourages grass clippings to be left on your lawn providing valuable moisture and nutrients to your lawn. Residents should not include tree branches, which are greater than 4" in diameter and 5 feet long. Use strong twine to bundle tree or shrub branches. Yard waste DOES NOT include sod, soil, lumber, tree stumps or stones and must be free of metal, food wastes and garbage. The Municipality will NOT pick up loose branches! Any questions please contact the Municipal office at 519-887-6137 E-WASTE The Municipality of Morris-Turnberry will now be accepting E-waste (Electronic Waste) at the Morris-Turnberry Landfill Site. E-waste is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their “useful life.” Computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are common electronic products. A complete list of items accepted at the landfill is available on the website at www.morris-turnberry.on.ca The Municipality of Morris-Turnberry has placed a bin at the Landfill Site for the recycling of E-waste. You may deliver your electronics to the Landfill Site - 85047 Clyde Line at NO CHARGE, any Wednesday or Saturday. These items will not be picked up at the curbside, they must be delivered to the Landfill Site. No Bag tag or Tipping fee applies! Any questions please contact the Municipal office at 519-887-6137 MEETING NOTICE MUNICIPALITY OF MORRIS-TURNBERRY The upcoming Council and Committee meetings for the Municipality of Morris- Turnberry will be held: Tuesday, November 4 at 7:30 pm Regular Council Meeting Thursday, November 6 at 7:30 pm History Book Committee Meeting Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 pm Public Meeting for History Book Tuesday, November 18 at 6:30 pm Regular Council Meeting Monday, November 24 at 7:00 pm Belgrave Water Committee Meeting By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen