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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-10-10, Page 6cau 1-800-5656 USC to pledge your support today' 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa ON KIP 581 rww.oc7conada.org, People Breaking the Pattern of Poverty A different way of banking.TM To all members of Clinton Community Credit Union Limited NOMINATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND CREDIT COMMITTEE QUALIFICATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. A member of the Credit Union who is at least 18 years old by September 30th. 2. A Canadian citizen or a person lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residency. 3. A member who is regarded in good standing on the records of the Credit Union. 4. Qualifies under the Act, Regulations or Bylaws of the Credit Union. 5. Complies with risk management policies of the Credit Union and Credit Union Central of Ontario. 6. Will read and become familiar with the current bylaws of Clinton Community Credit Union Limited. 7. Will participate in training programs as may be prescribed from time to time by Credit Union Central of Ontario and as may be prescribed by regulation. Nomination forms may be picked up at the head office in Clinton or branch office Exeter. Nominations close on Monday, November 26, 2001 at 5:00 p.m. and must be delivered to the head office in Clinton only to the Attention of Jim Lynn. There will be no nominations from the floor at the Annual Meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, January 9, 2002, beginning at 8:00 p.m. at the Town Hall, Clinton. For further information, about the Board of Director or Credit Committee positions or nominating procedures contact Jim Lynn, CEO 482-3466, Don Campbell 565-5293, Ron Merner 243-2028, Gary Jewitt 482-3231 or Larry Ament, Branch Manager (Exeter Office) 235-0640. Dated this 26th day of September, 2001 at Clinton, Ontario. Jim Hunter Peter McFalls Chairman Board Secretary Clinton Community Credit Union Limited 48 Ontario St. 118 Main St. CLINTON EXETER 482-3466 235-0640 SAFECUARDINC ONTARIO'S ELECTRICITY FUTURE Questions about Ontario's new electricity market? To receive your free information brochure which explains: • Why our electricity system is changing • How the new system will work • What competition will mean for consumers or visit our website at www.est.gov.on.ca PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10 2001 . Student transfers account for higher numbers at Catholic schools By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen Transfer of students from the Avon Maitland District School Board and the relocation of students from other districts accounted for a larger-than- expected enrolment this September at both secondary schools operated by the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board. In a report on school organization delivered to Huron-Perth trustees at a regular meeting Monday, Sept. 24, actual enrolment numbers are higher than last year's projections for both By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen By the end of October, the director of education for the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board expects to reach a three-year collec- tive agreement with the union repre- senting the board's secondary school teachers. Gaetan Blanchette made the pre- diction as the board's trustees unani- mously approved two pieces of col- lective agreement-related business at a regular meeting Monday, Sept. 24: The first was a "letter of agree- ment" with the local bargaining unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA), altering the maximum number of stu- dents in the average secondary school class from 21 to 22. Average teacher workload was also set at 6.25 credits taught gut of eight. The agreement was brought for- ward from closed session, and Blanchette noted that OECTA mem- bers ratified the letter Thursday, Sept. 20. The second piece of business was a board resolution explaining the terms of the letter of agreement. This had to Continued from page 1 The secondary school representa- tives, fearful such a change would diminish both the arts-related strengths already in evidence at Stratford Central and the technology focus at Northwestern, opposed the recommendation. Instead, they sug- gested placing Grades 7 and 8 stu- dents in the two high schools. On the issue of school closure, strong opposition to the notion was expressed in various reports and the South committee (in an over-all introduction presented prior to the separate regional submissions) stated all secondary schools should remain open. Only the St. Marys-area report, however, stood unequivocally against the closure of any school, suggesting instead that the board refer to the University of Guelph report on small schools. St. Michael's Catholic Secondary School in Stratford and St. Anne's Catholic Secondary School in Clinton. In both cases, their total enrolment was also higher than for the 2000-01 school year. Last year's projection for St. Mike's was 901, down three from the 2000-01 enrolment of 904. In fact, the school currently hosts 958 stu- dents. -At St. Anne's, the 2001-02 projected enrolment was 671, the same number as last year. But it actually jumped this September to 705. According to Director of be brought forward in open session, in accordance with the province's Stability and Excellence in Education Act, the piece of legisla- tion which allowed for the changes. The spirit of both pieces of busi- ness is in keeping with those brought forward by most school boards across the province this autumn. Essentially, the Stability and Excellence in Education Act was an attempt by the government to help school boards and teachers' unions resolve the workload issue, which prevented teachers across the province from being available for extracurricular activities last year. Blanchette says the Huron-Perth board was largely unaffected by such stoppages due to the commitment of teachers, but discussions with OECTA this fall indicated the union still wanted to clarify the workload issue in a similar fashion to other boards. "It took us a little time to get (the letter of agreement) done because we wanted to make sure we were fol- lowing all the regulations as we needed to," he explained. In August, the Avon Maitland District School Board was one of the first in the province to approve simi- The West Central committee rec- ommended that "high schools . . . should not be closed unless there is no other solution to the funding prob- lems of the board," thereby showing its distaste for the closure notion yet accepting it as a-possibility. A similar sentiment was expressed in the South committee's over-all introduction, with the recommendation that "deci- sions regarding any school closures must be student focused." The North committee's report, meanwhile, openly supports initiat- ing a process which could lead to school closure. "Consolidation plans should be established with urgency," the report states, and the second rec- ommendation is to "consolidate sec- ondary schools to attain benchmark size," referring to the provincial gov- ernment's formula for the minimum number of students required to oper- Education Gaetan Blanchette, the differences were the result of "unex- pected enrolment." For this, he cited a combination of two factors: stu- dents moving into the area from other districts and students transfer- ring from the co-terminous Avon Maitland District School Board. He couldn't give a break-down of how many students fit into each cat- egory, nor could he pinpoint which Avon Maitland schools lost students to transfer. The unexpectedly high secondary- level enrolments, however, weren't enough to offset the fact the Huron- lar changes. Huron-Perth, mean- while, by virtue of the lack of such an agreement until now, was even the subject of unfounded speculation in some media outlets, suggesting it could be one of a few Ontario school boards without extracurricular activ- ities this year. With its letter of agreement now in place, however, Huron-Perth sets itself apart from many other boards. That's because it was ratified for a period of three years., instead of only until the board negotiates a new col- lective agreement in the coming weeks and months. According to Blanchette, this was done because the provincial govern- ment also recently decreed, in an attempt to bring greater labour stabil- ity to the education system, that all collective agreements between school boards and teachers must now cover at least three years. So he expects these teacher work- load changes will be carried over into the board's upcoming secondary teachers' deal. And he expects that deal to come up for trustee ratification at the board's next regular meeting, Monday, Oct. 22. "I hope to have .a three-year deal by that time," he stated. ate a secondary school in the most cost-efficient manner. Follovying the Oct. 23 meeting, a final trustee vote on school closures could come as early as February, 2002. Perth board still faces the same chal- lenge as that faced by most rural Ontai-io school boards: a continued long-term • trend towards over-all enrolment decline. According to the school organiza,- tion report, full-time equivalent enrolment in the board's elementary schools now sits at 3,340, down just less than 20 froM last year. That's actually 5.5 full-time equivalent slots below what was projected. And trustee Mike Miller notes that 11 a further break-down of elementary grade levels shows there are fewer students starting into the board's schools than there have been in the past. "When you lay out the numbers for junior kindergarten to Grade 3, and then for the other grades, you can see that the numbers of our schoolchild- ren are definitely decreasing," Miller commented. Blanchette, however, was able to put a positive spin on what, from all appearances, will eventually be a sig- nificant enrolment decline. "The nice thing about it is that we've known for a number of years that we're going down." the director of education said. "We're able to project and we're able to plan accordingly." HPCDSB, teachers to reach agreement Reps strongly oppose closures