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THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2002. PAGE 7 .
`Weighty' issues get minimal attention at school bd.
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
In a meeting dominated by
liscussions about desemestering at
vlitchell District High School, and
)y a staff report about early literacy,
.oine' of the particularly weighty
ssues facing the Avon Maitland
)istrict School Board received
ninimal attention on Tuesday, April
).
The meeting came the day after the
anceilation of what would have
seen the first step in a community-
iased and municipal government-
lased legal challenge of the board's
7eb. 27 decision to close Seaforth
)istrict High School (SDHS).
According to Avon Maitland
onimunicatioris officer Steve Howe,
awyers for both sides agreed to skip
he examination for discovery
iortion of the challenge, and proceed
lirectly to a judicial hearing in
ltratford on Thursday, April 18. At
hat time, a decision is expected
bout whether or not the challenge
an be heard in court.
The legal challenge wasn't
mentioned until the dying stages of
he meeting, when Stratford trustee
ileg Westley wondered if the board
vould follow through on a pre-
.ecision plan to conduct a "post-
mortem" on its so-called
"accommodation review , pro-
cess."
Education Director Lorne Rachlis
urged .trustees to write down any of
their reactions — or those of their
constituents — to the recently-
completed process, which ultimately
led to the SDHS closure vote. But he
advised that any official post-
mortem "should probably be
addressed subsequent to any legal
action."
Fellow Stratford trustee Rod
Brown, acting chair in the absence of
Colleen Schenk, agreed with
Rachlis.
The closure issue also was raised
by vocal SDHS supporter Maureen
Agar in a public delegation. Agar
criticized the board for not
responding to a request from SDHS
students to meet with trustees in the
wake of the closure vote.
Following the meeting, both
Brown and Rachlis said trustees and
administration had been told about
the possibility of a request during the
board's previous regular meeting in
late March.
But no date was indicated at that
time, and no formal request has been
made since.
Perceived budgetary threats to the
board's Tech 21 program was
another weighty issue which was
mentioned only in passing at the
April 9 meeting.
North Perth trustee Don Brillinger,
participating by telephone as he
attended a family function
somewhere near the Quebec-
/Labrador border, again showed he
may be the strongest proponent of
the program, which provides career-
building, team-oriented learning
opportunities for all the board's
Grades 7s and 8s. During lengthy
discussions about the board's early
literacy initiatives, Brillinger's voice
suddenly came over the speaker,
asking "is there a resolution before
the board on this issue?
"I can't support this program if it's
at the expense of Tech 21," he
continued, before being told by
Rachlis that all budgetary
deliberations will take place at the
same time, probably next month.
Both Brown and East Perth trustee
Wendy Anderson expressed support
for expanding the early literacy
initiatives, but were careful not to
suggest such an expansion would
come at the expense of Tech
21.
"We've paid a lot of lip service to
literacy and numeracy over the past
couple of years, and I think now we
have to put our money where our
mouths are," Brown said. "I guess
we'll have to find (the money)
somewhere."
Helping hands
Child abuse can be a scary topic for young children to talk
and hear about. Rural Response for Healthy Children
visited East Wawanosh Public School last week with a
puppet presentation designed to inform children without
frightening them. (David Blaney photo)
MDHS students lose semestering battle
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
About 15 Mitchell District High
school (MDHS) students went home
Disappointed, Tuesday. April 9, from
meeting of the Avon Maitland
District School Board. Following a
niblic delegation from two students
seeking the retention of some degree
)f semestered programming in
3rades 12 and OAC, and a
lissenting report from the school's
)rincipal and vice-principal, trustees
lecided to allow the full
iesemestering to continue as
Manned.
The board decided to return to. the
raditional "desemestered"
;econdary school programming in
999, but some schools opted to
thase in the change, running two
.ystems at once so students who
iegan their high school career with a
.emestered timetable would be
illowed to continue under that
ystem. '
As the number of semestered
:lasses dwindled, however, that
iecame increasingly difficult, with
inly MDHS and two other high
chools retaining a split timetable
• his year.
In his presentation, Principal Dave
Turley described two recent
neetings with MDHS department'
leads, one before and one after a
iublic delegation by the school's
tudent trustee, John Nater, before
he board on March 26. At each
meeting, Hurely related, there was
onsensus that operating a timetable
mder the two systems was
becoming unworkable."
The principal displayed the
umber of students expected to enrol
n their fourth and fifth years at
,IDHS next year, but also explained
iat a significant number plan not to
ake a full complement of Grade 12
OAC courses.
He also _described the dilemma
aced by those creating next year's
imetable in what he called two
fragile areas," French and music. In
ach subject, the only way to justify
ffering a senior-level class is by
,ombining students from two or
iree grades, and if the rest of the
ourses in those grades operate
under different systems, a problem is
created.
"I would need additional staff in
order to have (two different classes
in two different timetable systems),
or else I just cancel my music
program," the principal said.
As one of two student trustees
seated at the regular board table for
the evening, Nater was able to ask
questions of Hurley and Vice-
Principal Sheila Jankowski, He
pointed out that exceptions had
already been made in this year's
MDHS timetable for the semestering
of senior-level courses in both
French and music, and wondered
why that couldn't happen again.
Hurley hinted that a greater
number of such exceptions would be
necessary next year. Even this year,
he said, a total of 27 classes in
Grades 9-11 were forced to switch
teachers in the middle of the course
because the teacher was required to
teach a second-term semestered
course in Grade 12 or OAC.
Interviewed following the
meeting, MDHS English, math and
guidance teacher Paula Bentley took
issue with Hurley's presentation.
Bentley appeared with Nater when
he addressed the board on March 26,
and observed the April 9 meeting
alongside high school teachers'
union local president Bill Huzar. The
union has repeatedly registered its
displeaSure with desemestering since
the decision was made in 1999.
Bentley said Hurley's suggestion
that all MDHS staff support a single
timetable was misleading. She noted
the meetings he referred to only
involved department heads, and even
among those people, there was not
complete consensus.
Indeed, contacted the next day, co-
operative education, social sciences
and humanities chair Mary Butt — a
department head — confirmed that
"I know, for myself, I feel (a split
timetable) is workable."
Butt explained that co-op students
are particularly difficult to work into
a desemestered timetable ,because
most prospective employers in this
type of program would prefer to only
have a co-op student for half the
year.
Huzar, as well, disagreed ',with
Hurley's presentation, stating there's
evidence that having a teacher
replaced half-way through a course
can be beneficial to students. "It has
been encouraged that students
experience a variety of teaching
styles," the local union president
said.
The proponents of retaining the
split system also took issue with
Jankowski's portion of the
presentation. The vice-principal
attempted to rebuke some of the
arguments made on March 26 by
Nater and Bentley, as well as by two
more MDHS students — Hedy Ng
and Adam Wolfe — in a subsequent
public delegation earlier in the April
9 meeting.
Responding to student concerns
that post-secondary institutions
won't have access to final marks,
from. which to determine admissions
eligibility, Jankowski said she had
contacted six universities and two
colleges to ask about their needs. "In
every case, they said there was
absolutely no disadvantage to
students coming from a
desemestered program as opposed to
those coming from a semestered
program."
She was told admissions
departments make no distinctions
between mid-term marks and final
marks when considering prospective
students in late winter or early
spring. In fact, she suggested,
desemestered students may be at
some advantage because they will be
able to provide seven or eight mid-
term marks instead of just the three
or four final marks which would be
available from semestered students.
Huzar, however, was particularly
angered by Jankowski's response to
students' concerns that they will be
forced to study for six or seven final
exams at once, instead of having a
split of three or four finals in January
and June. The vice-principal
countered that concern by saying the
exam period wit be sufficiently
lengthened to allow for adequate
study time.
"(Students) are concerned about
the stress," Huzar said. "Yet (Hurley
and Jankowski) poo-poo that
concern. Bti‘rwhen they're facing
straight.competition against students
in other schools for final marks, how
are they going to react to that
pressure?"
Trustees, however, were unmoved,
and no motion came - forward to
retain desemestering in the senior
grades. The only real reaction came
after Nater claimed he had surveyed
three-quarters of MDHS staff
members without garnering any
opposition to a split 2002-03
Honorary
Marching Mother
Jane Callwood (left)
with volunteer
Wendy Brandi
timetable. In response, East Perth
representative Wendy Anderson
stated, "I suggest that, in the face of
an enthusiastic student like you,
(staff members) would have
difficulty being opposed."
Bentley, however, said in an
interview that she felt students had
been "silenced."
"I happen to think (Nater) was
right," she commented.
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