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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2002-04-17, Page 7IVES INSURANCE BROKERS LTD. Visit us at: WWW IVESP.SURAN .7f COM "All Classes of Insurance" DOUG GOUGH, Broker 184 Dinsley St. W., Blyth Tel.: (519) 523-9655 Fax: (519) 523-9793 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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