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Home My WebLink AboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-05-09, Page 38Page 33 Times-Advocate, May 9, 1979 By JEFFSEDDON As of Monday approval... or disapproval . of text books for use in Huron Coun ty schools will be handled by the book. The Huron County board of education gave its final approval to policy Monday that sets out procedures to be followed to approve text books for classroom use and to handle complaints or con cerns about those books The policy approved by the board was the third draft prepared by board ad ministration.* school prin cipals, department heads and teachers. Guidelines for the policy were set several months ago and a draft prepared for the board’s perusal in April. That draft was rewritten and the board gave the final nod to it Mon day at its regular monthly meeting. Board approval of text books is only required for books not previously ap proved by the ministry of education. The province decides what texts will be used in subjects like mathematics, sciences and languages leaving material for use in English classes up to individual boards Still want exit route Exeter council decided this week to try again to secure permission from the South Huron Hospital board to have an access route provided to the local police office through the parking lot of the dental clinic. Police committee chair man Don MacGregor said the exit was needed because the police have only one exit from their Main St. office and they could be blocked in if a vehicle was parked in front of the laneway. It was indicated a letter had been sent to the board last year requesting an exit through the dental clinic parking lot. but it had not been approved. While MacGregor recommended another letter be sent. Reeve Si Sim mons suggested having the motion changed to allow Mayor Derry Boyle and MacGregor attend the next board meeting to state their case in person. Other recommendations from the committee ap proved included the purchase of a typewriter and the payment of the $95 registration to the Ontario Association of Police Chiefs. MacGregor announced that Chief Day had hired a student for the police office for the summer months the a new salary to be paid through provincial grant. Decaluwe and Andy Hardy LUCAN 'B' CHAMPS The Rex team won the 'B' championship of the Lucan men's bowling league. Back, left, Jack Hardy, Art Hodgins and Bev Chapman. Front, Frank Hardy, Larry Decaluwe and Andy Hardy. T-A photo people who by «* BEST IN MEN'S LEAGUE The top individual bowlers in the Lucan meh's league received trophies at Saturday night's banquet. From the left are Wayne Smith 232 average, Jim Hearn 889 triple and Bob Smith 378 single. T-A photo BIDDULPH SCIENCE WINNERS - The farm project entered by John Cook and Mark Scott won a prize in the recent Biddulph Central School science fair. T-A photo Huron board sets policy for selection of books Not having a policy for ap- a great deal of anguish last proving of textbooks or for year. A group of citizens, up- handling complaints about set about the content of those texts caused the board some English literature tex- LUCAN INDIVIDUAL CHAMPS RECOGNIZED — The individual champions for the Lucan mixed bowling league received their awards at a banquet Friday. Picking up the high single awards were Jim Unwin and Edie Burt, Bill and Ruth Butler hadthe high triple while Bill Neil and Maxine Parnail had the high average. j-A photo Hope for solution this summer Engineers report on Carling St. The town’s engineers have been unable to come up with any definite ideas of why homes on Carling St. are subjected to periodic flooding, but B. M. Ross & Associates indicate they hope to present a more adequate solution to the problem early this summer. Meanwhile, council learned Monday night that several residents in the affected area have retained the services of local lawyer Chris Little to look after their interest in the matter. The letter from the engineering firm, which had been requested by council, was as follows:* * * In reply to your letter of April 24, and your recent Resolution of Council, we wish to report on our progress to date in deter mining the reasons for the flooding which has occurred on at least two recent oc casions because of water backing up in the sanitary sewer system. On March 13, 1979, we set up a program to be followed by your Public Works em ployees in an effort to determine the location of any interconnections between storm and sanitary sewers; whereby, the water in the storm sewer system, and the Anne Street Drain in par ticular, might be backing up into the sanitary system. Whenever weather con ditions and the workload permitted, Superintendent Kells and his staff have been working on this program and reporting to us the results of their findings. We regret to inform you that, to date, we have been unable to locate any serious cross-connection which would permit significant flows of the magnitude required to create the flooding which has occurred. River fishway is a busy place The Ministry of Natural Resources, Wingham Office announces the spring operations of the rainbow trout fishway on the Lucknow River in the village of Port Albert are underway. The fish run started early in April and should continue through most of May. The run is currently ahead of last year’s rate, when a spr ing total of 550 rainbow trout were handled. The rainbow trout are be- ing tagged with clear streamer tags ahead of the dorsal fin this year. In 1978 yellow streamer tags were used. The fish are checked for lamprey scars or wounds, sexed, weighed, measured, and relieved of a few scales that enable qualified personnel to age the fish. The fish is then released to continue its up stream migration to the spawning grounds. To date about 25% of the fish retur ning are bearing a 1978 tag. The public is invited to view the operations with daily lifts at approximately 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Ad ditional lifts may occur if conditions warrant them. Group tours may be arranged by contacting the Ministry of Natural Resources, Wingham, On tario, telephone: 357-3131 toll free Zenith 92000. or ts, prevailed upon the board to have those texts banned from classrooms. That re quest upset a group that felt We have, however, determined that there are at least four former field drains connected to the sanitary sewer system on Sanders, John and Gidley Streets in the vicinity of Carling Street. These were intentionally connected to use prior to the installation of the sanitary system. Since these septic tanks are no longer in operation, and the homes are connected directly to the sanitary sewers, it is intended that these former drains now be cut off from the sanitary system and directed to the storm sewers in these respective areas. It may be that water from eaves or ponds in back yards may be directly contributing flows through these old drains. Glenn Kells advises that these drains will be redirected to the storm sewers within the next two to three weeks. The Town Works crew has completed the surcharging of the Carling Street storm sewer, North from Anne Street, without determining . any cross-connection to the I sanitary sewer. In addition, the Anne Street Drain itself was blocked with the use of sandbags at both Carling Street and Main Street in an attempt to surcharge the Anne Street Drain and locate any possible connections to the sanitary system. This work also failed to reveal any cross-connection, but it is noted that the Anne Street Drain has such a gradient on it that only a short length of the drain can be surcharged by sand bagging at any one point. In order to complete the sur charging of this drain, it will be necessary to sandbag the structure at several other points; access to which will be very difficult. There is an old drain flowing South on Carling Street, at Victoria Street, and its outlet is not known. It is planned to determine this outlet either by flooding with the fire hose or by adding dye, and it may be that this drain is contributing con siderable water to the Carling Street sanitary sewer. This investigation will be completed in the near future. However, the drainage area for this old drain will now contribute water to the new Carling Street storm sewer which will be built this summer; thus, relieving the present outlet. We intend to continue with our program of isolating various sections and flooding the storm sewers as is done by nature during the heavy run-offs. The smoke tests conducted a year ago on your sanitary sewer system failed that banning books was a restriction of freedom and the board found itself caught in the middle. to reveal any cross- connection to the storm system, and I understand that the few roof water leaders that were connected to the sanitary sewers have since been redirected to either the ground surface or the storm water system. It is our belief that the smoke test may not have revealed a connection to the storm sewer, particularly if a water trap existed in any section of the connecting pipe. It would be very dif ficult to conduct an adequate smoke test on thestormsewer system due to the number of proper connections of catch basins, downspouts, etc. We, therefore, have adopted the program of surcharging the storm sewers, and its im plementation will involve a lot of time and effort before the desired results are ob tained. There is also the possibility that no serious cross-connections will be found, and that the flooding of sanitary sewers results from numerous weeping tile connections to the sanitary sewer system. I am advised by Glenn Kells that his crew of two to four men have worked four to five days on this flooding investigation. We intend to pursue this matter as quickly and as efficiently as possible, and hope to present a more adequate solution to the problem early this summer. Yours very truly, B. M. Ross and Associates Limited Plan open house, bike licence sale The youths responsible for a recent wave of vandalism in Exeter took this week off, giving the local police an op portunity to plan some special activities. The department will hold an open house to mark police week from May 13 to 19. The public is invited to visit the office between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. this Mon day to Friday. Police Chief Ted Day has issued a special invitation to parents to bring their children to visit. A police button will be given out and children may be finger printed if parents so desire. “Come in and get acquainted,”theChief said in his press release this week. On Saturday, the depart ment will also have the 1979 bicycle licence sale at the police office between the hours of 9:00 to 4:00. The fee is $1.00 and a licence is re quired for all own bicycles. Anxious to prevent a recurrence of those problems that board decided to establish policies that would not only support any material for classroom use but would provide an avenue for parents or students wishing to complain about that material. The aim of the board was to make teachers responsi ble for material they chose to use in the classrooms. Teachers must now be prepared to convince the board the books they want to use are beneficial and must also be prepared to defend their selections if parents don’t like the choices. The policy demands that teachers examine overall purpose, timeliness, impor tance, quality of writing and popular appeal, the reputa tion of the author, artist or composer and the price of the book before recommen ding it for board approval. Once the teachers and principals have selected books they want the board to approve the material will be taken to a superintendent of education. A meeting will be arranged between the teachers and the board’s education committee. If the educaiton com mittee agrees with the selec tions of the teachers a recommendation to approve the books will be sent to the board. If the committee doesn’t like a book its reasons for disapproving will be sent, in writing, to the teacher or department head requesting approval of the text. Complaints about texts will be handled in a similar fashion. Inquiries abouttext- books will be made to the principal of the school around which the objection is centered. A questionnaire will be given the complai nant for completion and a meeting set up with the prin cipal to discuss the matter. The principal, the depart ment head and the teacher will meet with the complai- nant to discuss, in "amicable fashion’’ the complainant’s point of view. Problems are to be handled "promptly, quietly and routinely”, if the student or parent is adamant about the text the offered another unit recrimination”. If no solution can be reached at this level the complaint will be sent to the student is to be another title or teacher directed “without Harold Mary better Lucan Friends of Mrs. Corbett and Mrs. Carter will make travelling time now as they have both been transferred to Craigholme Nursing Home. Chief Day urges parents to provide their offspring with serial numbers if they have new bicycles. Last year’s registration identification slip can be used by those renewing licences for bikes that have already been tagg ed. One theft One theft and one accident were investigated by the police this week, the theft being reported by Del Rob bins of 263 Main St. The premises had been entered on Wednesday night and a small amount of money was taken. Constable Jim Barnes is investigating. The accident occurred on Saturday when a vehicle driven by David Butler, Huron Park, collided with a parked vehicle owned by Eric Schwartzentruber, Ex eter. Damage in the accident, which happened on Main St., was listed at $400 Constable Kevin Short. education committee. The education committee can in clude the teacher, principal and department head in dis cussions with the complai nant or just talk with the complainant to try to solve the problem. The committee can then either make a recommendation to the board or send the matter on for the board to handle. The policy is aimed at providing equally for the judgement of educators in formulating programs to meet legitimate educational objectives which have been formulated in accordance with munistry of education guidelines and the legitimate moral concerns of parents and students as they may perceive them. Trustees had no objections to the policy but wanted to make every effort to keep parents informed about text book approvals. Goderich trustee Dorothy Wallace suggested the board post a list of approved texts in public libraries in the coun ty. She said putting the list in the public domain parents would be able to see what material will be used in classrooms and have an op portunity to read it. "We also can’t be accused of ever trying to teach something the public is not aware of,” said Wallace. Shirley Hazlitt, trustee for Goderich and Colborne townships, agreed with Wallace pointing out that libraries are "verv Dublic”. Burgerfest plans are well underway Plans for this year’s burgerfest weekend in Grand Bend are in full swing. The weekend, which is sponsored by the Grand Bend and Area Chamber of Commerce, will include the ever popular bed races, the art and craft show, canoe races, a chain sawing con test, foot races and many other activities designed for family enjoyment. About 20 chamber members attended a meeting last week at Gord and Jean’s hall to work on the burgerfest plans. Nick Carter, president of the chamber, says that the emphasis on family oriented activities will prove to be a drawing card. Carter hopes that the burgerfest will continue a trend towards Grand Bend again becoming the most popular family resort on Lake Huron. Burgerfest activities will take place June 15,16 and 17. Buffalo meat was dropped from this year’s menu because of its high cost. Huron Country Playhouse will take over the beach front facilities for a Sunday brunch. The Playhouse also plans to put on two matinee performances of "Beauty and the Beast” on Saturday June 16 and Sunday June 17. In other business, the chamber agreed to set up a committee to assist in the promotion of sprucing up privately owned property and buildings. Reeve Bob Sharen outlined these plans. The chamber also con Greenway By MANUEL CURTS Paul Schott, Centralia was guest speaker at the United Church service Sunday. The United Church Women held their May meeting Wednesday afternoon at the home of Mrs. Alice Hartle, Parkhill. Leading in the program were Mrs. Ken Rock and Mrs. Violet Brown. The Ladies Guild of Grace Anglican Church held their meeting on Wednesday evening. Manuel Curts reviewed for them, Godfrey Talbot’s book on Elizabeth, the Queen mother. Sympathy goes out to Mr. & Mrs. Wm. L. Woodburn owing to the death of Carolyn’s father, John Hall, Mt. Carmel. Mrs. Cecil Smithers, and her sisters, Mrs. Ross Pickering and Mrs. Ada Dietrich attended the marriage ceremonies of their cousin in Toronto Saturday. Mr. & Mrs, Earl Nephew, Woostock, were recent visitors with Mr. & Mrs. R. S. English. Dawson Woodburn was adjudicator at the Sarnia Music Festival during this past week. By the way: "Doesn’t that soprano have a large repertoire?” "Yes, and that dress she has on makes it look worse." She said parents probably frequent libraries more than the board offices or even the schools. She added that books would be in the libraries for parents and for students in the event they lost their own copy. Goderich trustee Dave Gower suggested that the posting of the list in public libraries was something that could be written into the policy. He said the policy could be expanded to be in clude anything the board wanted rather than passing additional policies. "We (the board) can just add a one liner rather than have just another piece of paper,” Gower suggested. Seperate school trustee Eugene Frayne asked the board how complaints from students would be handled if the students felt teachers were discriminating because that student was up set by a textbook. "The student has the right to go to the principal with the problem or come down here (the board offices in Clinton),” said board chair man John Elliott. Frayne wanted to know how alternative textbooks would be given the student if they objected to the ap proved material. He asked if the student would merely be given the book to read or if the book would be taught by the teacher. John Cochrane, director of education, said the teacher would spend time with the sidered dressing up the business area with Canadian flags for Canada Day, and sponsoring a fireworks display. The next meeting will be held at the Pineridge Zoo on June 5. Chamber members will tour the zoo, and have a barbeque. Burgers will be sampled in preparation for Burgerfest ’79. « TIGER TIMES By MARSHA CLARKE Parents were invited to visit the classrooms on April 24. Proceeding that there was a talent show. The primary choir sang Sneaky Snake, Do Ra Me, When Things Grow Up. The junior choir sang You Light up my Life - (with hand signs), Up, Up with People, Pussy Willows, Cat Tails. There were two duets by Marsha on guitar and Irene Brand. One was a very special song written by Kim Kipfer. Kim played the guitar while Kim and Michelle Vandeworp sang. The senior choir sang Georgie Girl, Country Roads, You Light Up My Life (in 3 parts), The Way We Were and finished off with a hymn "Oh Worship The King.” By ARLENE WALPER April 26, a movie was held at our school. The name of it was “The Computor Wore Tennis Shoes,” which was enjoyed by every member of the family. It was a good show and we thank everyone who came to see it. By DOUG WOODBURN ROXANNE WOODS and FAYEGAISER From April 23 to April 25 students from grades 5 to 8 had the chance to display their History Fair projects which ranged from "The History of Greenway United Church” to "The Future History of Canada.” In the intermediate division Steven Walper took first, Arlene Walper second and Susan McClure third. The following received honorable mentions; Faye Gaiser, David Gill, Kim Kipfer, Connie Schroeder, Marsha Clarke and Elaine Vincent. In the junior division winners were Ruth-Ann Martin and Lori Vincent. Next were Heather Rader and Eugene Glanville. Terry Acton, Trevor Johnston, Danny Mellin and Suzanne Finkbeiner received honorable mention. We hope many people will participate in next year’s history fair as they did this year. student taking the alter native text but pointed out that the board, and parents, "can’t expect one student to get the same amount of time as the other 29 in the class”. Cochrane added that situations where students or parents had demanded another text had already ac- curred and the alternative provided. He said the teacher was giving those students all the attention possible. "That’s the intention and is in fact being done,” said Cochrane. Walkathon is scheduled You know its the time of year to break out the track shoes when the "Run for Big Brothers” sponsored by the South Huron Big Brothers Association is just around the corner. Chairman of the walk Rob Grant said Saturday, June 9 has been set aside for the 10 mile walk which takes as its theme this year "A walk around Canada”. Participants in the walk will traverse a 2.5 mile cir cuit within Exeter with signs made by local school children indicating what part of Canada they’re now in. Grant said pledge sheets for the walk which starts at 9 a.m. from the South Huron Recreation Centre will soon by available from local elementary schools. In case of rain the walk will be held the following Saturday. An added feature of this year’s event will be a marathon with either six or seven marathon enthusiasts participating. Grant advised potential walkers and sponsors to see the ads for the event in up coming editions of the Times-Advocate. Funds raised from the walkathon will be used for general expenditures by the Big Brothers and may be used to hire a part-time staff person Grant said. from Stephen Central By ELAINE VINCENT Early in April Constable Wilson came to our school to talk about bicycle safety. First we were shown a film entitled "Bikes are Beautiful” and then we had a small quiz on the film. If you got 80 percent and above you are a safe enough driver to be on the road. Constable Wilson answered any questions we had. I think senior and primary learned a lot about bike safety. By RACHEL MELLECKE May 1, a block parent meeting was held at Stephen Central. What is the block parent program? Block parent homes display a sign, facing the street, which means that if a child is being bothered by a stranger, bullied or if they are sick or injured they can come to that house. The adults will contact the proper authorities. When they are not at home the sign will be taken down. Con stable Wilson of Goderich presented the details of this program to those interested parents in attendance. Room 8 have joined Project Canada. They are exchanging letters and in formation with a Grade 3 and 4 class at Farwell Elementary School at Revelstoke, B.C. They were excited to receive folders with a map of B.C. and the dogwood blossom containing a story about the city of Revelstoke made for individual children. The folders also held personal replies to our original letters. By PAULINE BRAND April 26 the basketball teams went to a tournament. The boys team went to J.A.D. McCurdy and the girls to Exeter Public School. The boys from our school tied for second with McCurdy. First was Usborne and third was Hensail. The girls from our school did very well. They came in first. Second was Exeter and third was Hensail. There were six different teams. They were Exeter, Zurich, Hensell, McCurdy, Usborne and ourselves. I think everyone had a good time competing against each other,