The Citizen, 2007-05-03, Page 12It started last year with a small
contingent from Elma Township
Public School in Atwood but if it
keeps growing like it did this year,
who knows . . . Toronto’s Rogers
Centre could one day be full of
singers and their supporters from
Huron and Perth Counties.
In a fundraising venture in co-
operation with the Toronto Blue Jays
baseball club, the Elma school
community sold tickets to a game
last year in exchange for the thrill of
having their school choir sing the
Canadian and American national
anthems prior to the first pitch. They
had to apply for the honour by way
of recording their versions of the
anthems and sending them to the
Blue Jays.
And they had to sell a minimum
number of tickets to secure their spot
on the field, with a portion of the
proceeds going back to the school.
This year, Elma expanded its
efforts by inviting other North Perth
schools to take part. And last Friday,
April 27, about 150 members of the
newly-created North Perth
Elementary School Choir took to the
Rogers Centre diamond prior to a
televised game to sing both national
anthems.
According to Avon Maitland
District School Board education
superintendent Marie Parsons
(whose husband, Phil, is principal at
Elma), there aren’t enough
microphones for every singer in the
choir.
So the pre-recorded versions of the
anthems are played for the crowd,
while the children are asked to lip-
synch during their actual
performance.
Nonetheless, she added, it was a
thrilling experience for the children
as well as their supporters.
Officials of the Avon Maitland
District School Board are “keeping
(their) fingers crossed” that the
federal government will follow
through on a $139,000 commitment
made by Perth-Wellington MP Gary
Schellenberger, despite indications
to the contrary from Revenue
Canada.
On March 29, Schellenberger’s
office sent a letter to Avon Maitland
chair Jenny Versteeg stating “the
Avon Maitland District School
Board, thanks to (a) measure in
Budget 2007, will receive a one-time
payment of $139,293.00. I trust that
this money will be put to good use
for the students you serve.”
The commitment stems from a
long-running judicial case
surrounding a 2001 decision toprevent numerous Ontario and
Quebec school boards from
receiving Goods and Services Tax
(GST) reimbursements for student
transportation. A 2003 ruling sided
with the school boards, declaring the
service should be GST exempt. And
the 2007 federal budget appeared to
act finally on that ruling, by
including $18 million to make up for
the lost reimbursements.
According to Schellenberger’s
letter, which was included in the
trustee information package at the
board’s regular meeting Tuesday,
April 24, “government policy
continues to recognize student
transportation provided by school
authorities as a GST-exempt
activity.”
But according to education
director Geoff Williams, a call to the
Revenue Canada ministry was metwith the response that no
reimbursement will be issued to the
Avon Maitland board.
“What tweaked us to the fact there
might be a problem is that, shortly
after we got (Schellenberger’s)
letter, we got a letter from Revenue
Canada saying this claim had been
denied,” Williams told trustees.
In a follow-up call to
Schellenberger’s office, a staff
member for the MP attempted to
offer reassurance, telling the board
that cheques would be issued in the
fall.
“We’re keeping our fingers
crossed,” Williams commented.
“Because it’s always a bit troubling
when one arm of the government
doesn’t seem to be aware of what’s
happening somewhere else in the
government.”
PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007.
For years, slow but steady
enrolment decline has caused
financial headaches for the Avon
Maitland District School Board.
One significant reason is that
revenue decreases on a student-by-
student basis while the cost of
providing for those students often
doesn’t decrease until enrolment has
declined by an entire classroom’s
worth of students.
It’s quite possible, however, that
2007-08 could be the year some of
those classrooms worth of students
start to materialize.
“We’ve gotten to the point where,
instead of going along level, we’re
finally going to be able to take that
step down in terms of our staffing
compliment,” said business
superintendent Janet Baird-Jackson
during a regular meeting, Tuesday,
April 24.
Baird-Jackson updated trustees on
the development of the board’s
2007-08 budget, which is expected
to up for approval at the end of June.
Her report detailed an already-
announced $4.1 million increase in
Education Ministry grants over the
previous year, including specific
envelopes to cover commitments in
collective labour agreements and the
board’s efforts to meet provincial
targets for primary class sizes.
Despite the increase, that still
leaves the board short. If trustees
hope to maintain the current level of
programming in all service areas,
Baird-Jackson said, preliminary
calculations show they’ll still need
to find approximately $2.5 million to
add to the 2007-08 budget.
Some savings may result from
finally being able to cut back on the
number of classroom teachers.
Baird-Jackson referred to it as “a
step-by-step” process which may
enable the board to realize some
savings in the coming year.
“We’re expecting that to help us
close the ($2.5 million) gap
substantially, but not fully,” she told
South Huron trustee Randy Wagler,
in response to his question.
Education director Geoff Williams
noted “the bulk of the savings” will
be in elementary schools because the
gradual school-aged population
decline in much of the board’s
territory (outside of growth areas
like Listowel and Stratford) hasn’t
yet caused significant effects in
secondary schools.
And he cautioned, “we’re going to
have to make some fairly hard
decisions about what it is we can
continue to do. If we decide we want
to keep providing some of these
things that have sometimes been
provided through specialized
funding envelopes, then something
else somewhere else might have to
stop.”
Enrolment decline
worries AM board
AM board crosses its fingersfor MP’s $100K commitment
Census at school
A representative from Statistics Canada dropped by
Brussels Public School last week all the way from Ottawa to
find out exactly who was occupying the school. Jennifer Hall
led the students through the survey, very similar to the
census taken by adults, but with several other factors
thrown in, like height, arm-span and shoe-size. Here,
Jeremy Ross measures Nathan Thompson’s height while
under the close watch of other students, eager to catch a
student on their tippy-toes. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
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-Trust the Professionals -
ACCREDITED
CORPORATION OF THE
TOWNSHIP OF
NORTH HURON
NOTICE OF BUDGET MEETING
PURSUANT TO BY-LAW #12 - 2003
Notice is hereby given that the Council of the Township of North Huron
will be considering the 2007 Budget with the intention to adopt/amend
the budget at a Public Meeting to be held on Monday, May 7, 2007 at
7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers located at 274 Josephine Street,
Wingham, ON.
Kriss Snell,
CAO/Clerk
Township of North Huron
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Elma choir sings at Jays game