HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-11-27, Page 17THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2008. PAGE 17.
The Huron-Perth Catholic District
School Board wrapped up its labour
negotiations on Monday, Nov. 24 by
addressing two smaller labour groups.
At the board’s regular monthly
meeting, a four-year agreement
governing the terms and conditions of
employment for principals and vice-
principals was granted trustee
approval, pending ratification by the
employees.
Ratification has already been
achieved for another smaller labour
group – support staff and educational
assistants, who are represented by the
Canadian Union of Public Employees
– so the approval from trustees
marked the final step in the process for
that four-year agreement.
“That’s it for collective agreements
for four years,” commented board
chair Bernard Murray, following the
Nov. 24 meeting. “Now, we can start
putting our resources and time into the
other things that we want to achieve.”
School boards across the province
have been given until the end of
November to sign new four-year deals
with all labour groups, or risk not
having full access to Education
Ministry funding for increased
salaries and benefits. Terms in the
agreements are limited by what are
being called Provincial Discussion
Tables (PDTs), hammered out at a
provincial level between the
Education Ministry and various
provincial labour groups.
The provincial union representing
elementary teachers in the public
system left the negotiation table
without signing a PDT, but the
Catholic teachers’ unions reached a
deal.
In many districts – including
Huron-Perth, where the Avon
Maitland District School Board has
yet to agree with its teachers – that
allowed Catholic boards to negotiate
local agreements more amicably.
“They were very collegial
discussions,” reported Murray,
referring to talks with both the
Catholic elementary and secondary
teachers. “In the end, there were
agreements arrived in which both
sides were complimentary of each
other.”
Key elements of the PDT include
three per cent salary increases in each
of the four years, phasing in class size
limits for ages above Grade 3, and
increased requirements for elementary
teachers to provide classroom
supervision.
Catholic trustees approved the two
teacher agreements at a special board
meeting Nov. 10. The board’s
secondary school teachers already
ratified their new deal, while
elementary teachers were scheduled to
hold a ratification vote on Monday,
Nov. 24.
HPCDSB wraps up negotiations
Downhill from here
Katie Chandler-Nixon takes the downhill plunge without
even hanging on. The youngster was riding the slope at
Brussels Lions Park hill. (Vicky Bremner photo)
With the renewed threat ofgovernment cutbacks, it could
become increasingly essential that
social service agencies examine
what programs they offer, and which
ones can be dropped without causing
serious ramifications.
That was just one of the
justifications offered by Dawne
Boersen, coordinator of curriculum
for the Huron-Perth Catholic District
School Board, when she delivered a
presentation about her – and, by
extension, the board’s – involvement
in the Huron and Perth Children’s
Services Steering Committee.
Since helping initiate the Calling
All Two-Year-Olds (CATYO)
program seven years ago, Boersen
has been involved in collaboration
between different agencies that
provide services to families with
children younger than six.
CATYO, hosted by both school
boards in the district, offers a chance
for the school boards to have contact
with parents well before their
children begin attending school.
But, by inviting agencies like the
health units and literacy consultants
to CATYO events, they also increase
the chances that potential learning-
related problems could be identified
earlier in life.
More recently, Boersen has helped
the Catholic board co-operate on
Best Start daycare and before-and-
after-school care programs within
schools or in nearby settings. Some
of these sites, including Best Start
locations within Catholic elementary
schools in Wingham and Clinton,
already act as “hubs” – with various
agencies setting up satellite services
within the Best Start facility, thereby
enabling families to gain access to a
wider range of services within a
familiar location.
But, according to Boersen, these
are isolated examples of the sharing
of resources and the coordination of
service provision. The goal of the
Huron and Perth Children’s Services
Steering Committee, she suggested
to trustees, is to expand that type of
approach to the rest of the agencies
serving kids between 0-6 in the two
counties.
Since she began working in the
field, she commented, it has seemed
like “many of the same people were
attending different meetings to talk
about the same thing.”
The unique relationship between
agencies within the two counties
often compounds the problem. “I
would go to a Huron meeting and
then to a Perth meeting, see most of
the same people because their
organizations also span the two
counties, and talk about the same
things.”Service providers tended to have,as part of their mandate, a desire topromote a coordinated approach.But it hasn’t always happened that
way. Boersen recalled an instance
when two agencies decided they
would like to offer summer literacy
programming. They both decided to
use the same location and offer
similar activities.
If someone hadn’t eventually
noticed the problem and suggested
the two agencies combine forces,
Boersen suggested, neither of the
programs would have attracted
enough participation to move
forward.
She said the steering committee
isn’t seeking to change the
governing bylaws or mandates of
any of the agencies. But, when a
family consults any one of the
agencies about a problem, she would
like to have confidence that, if that
particular agency can’t offer
assistance, they can still put the
family in touch with someone who
can.
“A lot of this will be behind-the
scenes work,” she told reporters after
the Nov. 24 meeting. No new staff
will be hired, no office space will be
rented, and the families whichbenefit from the coordination willnot necessarily know that a steeringcommittee helped enable theeffective communication.
Answering questions from
trustees, Boersen admitted it will be
difficult to maintain strong
communication between all service
providers.
But Goderich/North Huron trustee
Jim McDade commented, “it’s a
good start,” and commended
Boersen for the efforts of the
Steering Committee.
Divas
dance
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The Citizen
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Murray and Shelley
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were united in marriage
on September 20th, 2008
at Ethel United Church
Thanks to everyone
who made this day
a memorable one
filled with joy
and happiness!
Special thanks goes out
to our Matron of Honour
Lisa Stremble and
Best Man Russel Miners
and of course all six of
our children for their love
and support!
Don’t Give Up A Thing.
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By Meagan Higgins
Meeting five of the Dancing Divas
4-H Club was held with members
dancing the Macarena.
The meeting opened opened with
the pledge.
The roll call was: What is your
heritage? Answers varied from Irish
to Ukrainian to Scottish.
Members talked about the dance
for the big performance and what
moves they would include. They
started putting ideas together to
create the dance for their
performance. Once the dance was
created and practised, members
through it would be a good idea to
practise the polka.
By Stew SlaterSpecial to The CitizenHPCDSB hears presentationon social services committee
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen