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They're oft'
Students from the Central Huron schools participated in the annual cross-country meet at
Hullett Central Public School last Wednesday. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
Good news, bad news for bd.
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2002. PAGE 7.
United Church
decorated for tour
Continued from page 1
Just a few decades have passed
since the home now owned by Pierre
and Marie Rammeloo was built at 72
Krauter Court. A unique structure
with a partial half-storey the home
has been recently remodelled and
decorated by the owners.
With an eye for design and colour,
Marie has created an open-concept
with a traditional decor. It will be
decorated for the home tour by Nifty
Korners, Seaforth.
There will be refreshments served
at the Brussels Utiited Church,
located next door to the manse. The
church will be decorated • for the
occasion by Just For You, Brussels.
There will also be an opportunity
to win many door prizes donated by
local businesses.
Tickets are $10 and are available
by calling 887-9340 or 887-9051.
The tour runs from 7-9 p.m. on the
Friday and from 1-4 pi m. Saturday
and Sunday.
By. Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
An easing of restrictions on the
way school boards provide space for
special education students could put
as much as $107,000 back into the
2002-03 budget' of the Avon
Maitland District School Board.
But the change could also create
— on paper, at least — more so-
called "empty pupil spaces," thereby
decreasing the amount of money the
board is eligible for under the
province's per-pupil educational
funding formula.
The board's administrator of
planning and accommodation, Phil
McCotter, says he learned about the
change at a meeting with education
ministry staff in early October. At
the time, school board officials were
informed that they no longer had to
provide paperwork showing they
had a dedicated special education
teaching space in each school with
10 or more classrooms.
In compliance with the previous
MADD elects
new exec
The MADD Huron/Bruce board
of directors announced the new
executive.
Laurie Dinning of Wingham
assumed the president's position;
Jim Dore, also of Wingham, is the
new vice-president.
Dinning has been involved with
the local chapter since its inception
in 1995 and Dore has been a board
director since 1999. Brenda Carey
of Blyth was elected as the chapter's
secretary and Barb Rintoul of
Lucknow was reinstalled as the
treasurer.
The MADD Huron/Bruce Chapter
would also like to thank Sandra J.
Lee and Dwayne Evans, Past Co-
Presidents, for their leadership over
the past two years. They
implemented many new ideas to
achieve MADD Canada's mission
"to stop impaired driving and
support victims of this violent
crime".
,
Both will continue as active board
members.
The MADD Huron/Bruce chapter
can be reached by calling 519-357-
4552 or visiting the website at
www.hurontel.on.ca/—maddhb
requirement, McCotter explained,
the capacity rating for those
dedicated classrooms was for only
nine students, which is the number
mandated by the government for
special education rooms.
But several of those schools don't
house any special education classes,
and the room — with an official
capacity of nine — actually
contained a full compliment of 24 or
more students.
This artificially pushed the
school's official overall capacity
downwards. And, with the actual
enrolment taken into account, it
created the impression the school
was closer to 100 per cent capacity
than was actually the case.
A small number of other Avon
Maitland schools, meanwhile,
contain more than one special
education class, but the overall
capacity of those schools only
reflected one of those classrooms. In
these cases, because the special
education classes housed
significantly fewer students than the
provincially-mandated total of 24.5,
the previous arrangement meant the
school's overall capacity rating was
artificially inflated.
With the change, every special
education classroom will be rated
for nine students, while schools
without any such classes won't be
required to artificially include one.
According to McCotter, the Avon
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Concern was expressed about the
ability of a construction company to
meet its own financial estimate
while conducting masonry work at
Goderich District High School
(GDCI), but trustees of the Avon
Maitland District School Board
eventually approved a bid from
Smith Construction.
The company provided the lowest
of four estimates for the repair of
exterior walls on GDCI's cafeteria
and music room, which were
originally the gymnasium in the
building's 1954 wing.
"We've had significant
deterioration over the past few
years," explained the board's
Business Superintendent, Janet
Maitland board's $107,000 windfall
comes from the fact that schools will
now be eligible for a greater amount
of money under the ministry's so-
called "top-up" program. The top-up
is provided to schools which aren't
at 100 per cent capacity, to replace
the money for ,maintenance which
would come on a per-pupil basis if
the school was full.
The further downward the
school's enrolment slips away from
100 per.cent capacity, the more top-
up is made available. Therefore,
with the capacity rating of schools
no longer being artificially deflated,
more top-up money comes to the
board.
The flip side, however, is that top-
up funding stops increasing when
enrolment falls to 80 per cent of
capacity.- Thereafter, any costs
associated with maintaining empty
pupil spaces must be taken from
elsewhere in the budget.
A report from board staff,
delivered at' a regular Oct. 22
meeting, includes the statement that
"approximately 40 per cent of the
board's schools (were) occupied at
less than 80 per cent in September,
2002." And McCotter admitted
others may slip below 80 per cent
threshold as a result of the change.
"So we gain top-up funding, but
we also gain a whole lot of empty
pupil spaces," commented Stratford
trustee Rod Brown, after asking
Baird-Jackson, while delivering a
report on the tendering process
during a regular meeting, Tuesday,
Oct. 22.
East Perth trustee Wendy
Anderson wondered why the Smith
Construction bid of $140,438 was
about $35,000 less than the second
lowest bid, and more than $75,000
less than the highest offer.
"Are we sure that we can get this
done at this pricing'?" she
asked.
Baird-Jackson responded that
board officials revisited the offer
with Smith Construction, and were
assured that the work could be
completed at that price.
She noted the company employs a
couple of Goderich residents, and
their proximity to the job site was a
factor in the bid. may..
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Central Huron
NOTICE OF PASSING
OF BYLAW 45-2002
TO CHANGE THE WARD
BOUNDARIES OF THE
MUNICIPALITY OF CENTRAL HURON
TAKE NOTICE that the Council of the Corporation of the
Municipality of Central Huron has passed Bylaw 45-2002 on the
21st day of October, 2002 pursuant to Section 13 of the Municipal
Act; RSO, 1990 as amended. The purpose of the bylaw is to change
the ward boundaries for the Municipality of Central Huron for the
next term of Council.
AND TAKE NOTICE that any person may appeal to the Ontario
Municipal Board in respect of the bylaw by filing with the Clerk of
the Municipality of Central Huron, not later than 4:30 p.m. on the
19th day of NoVember, 2002; a notice of appeal setting out the
objection to the bylaw and the reasons in support of the objection,
accompanied by payment of the fee prescribed under the Ontario
Municipal Board Act. The amount of the fee payable is $125.00.
AN EXPLANATION of the purpose and effect of the bylaw is
described below. The complete bylaw is available for inspection at
the Municipal Office during regular office hours.
Dated at the Municipality of Central Huron this 23rd day of
October, 2002.
Richard Harding,
Clerk Administrator
Municipality of Central Huron
23 Albert Street, Box 400
CLINTON, ON NOM 1L0
Ph: (519) 482-3997 Fax: (519) 482-9183
PURPOSE AND EFFECT:
1. That Wards Two (former Hullett Township) and Ward Three
(former Town of Clinton) be merged in their entirety to create a
new ward. This ward will be known as the East Ward.
2. That Ward 1 (former Goderich Township) remain in its entirety
and be renamed and be known as the West Ward.
3. The total number of members of Council, in addition to the Reeve
and Deputy Reeve shall be six.
4. The distribution of the members of Council among the Wards of
the Municipality shall be as follows:
East Ward - 3 Councillors
West Ward - 3 Councillors
5. The Reeve and Deputy Reeve shall continue to be elected at large.
Trustees approve bid