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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-03-01, Page 1News Feature f’s Scouts honour Sm1, couple Seniors entertain seniors See page 3 See page 6 Recognition Top citizen receives award See page 20 The North HuronCt J • itizeu Trustees vote to close schools Playground play time Luke McCallum, Dalton Becker and Lindsey Keys spent a little time prior to the start of school Monday morning playing on the playground equipment at Walton Public School. With the weather decidedly nippier to start the week, the children were bundled up for a slide down the pole or a game of tag as they ran around the yard. Grey takes protest to ROMA By Bonnie Gropp Citizen staff Grey Twp. council took its protest to Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman and found it a less than satisfying experience. Reeve Robin Dunbar, Deputy- Reeve Alvin McLellan and Councillors Lyle Martin and Graeme MacDonald along with representa­ tives from the Rural Ontario Municipal Association met with Hardeman, Feb. 21 at ROMA’s annual conference. The purpose was to formally present a resolution in protest of the ministry’s decision to close OMAFRA offices. While the ministry feels informa­ tion can be obtained through tech­ nology, Grey’s greatest concern is the gaps between the technology programs and the actual farmer. “Will they be able to access it and for many it is not suitable to access information through call centres, etc.,” the resolutions states. Attention was drawn to the fact that the updating and maintenance of OMAFRA’s own websites has not been a practice in the past. “Before the government abandons the OMAFRA offices, it might be better to proceed cautiously with the imple­ mentation of your proposed system,” said Dunbar. Hardeman’s response, the reeve said in a telephone interview this week, was that essentially staff moved from other jobs will be able to make these changes now. “Basically he indicated that he wants to save OMAFRA by reducing the staff in offices,” said Dunbar. Hardeman was also told that “the farming community has viewed OMAFRA staff as an impartial source of information which is rein-' forced by personal contact. Informed decision making is critical to the success of our farmers and often they must decide between contending claims of suppliers. The speed of change necessitates that a neutral party be available which the farmers can trust.” Martin, a dairy farmer backed this up with several personal examples. Dunbar went on to say that it was his council’s belief that the ministry was placing too much reliance on electronic means such as the inter­ net. “The internet is often a function of family income, and rural areas with historically lower incomes have not seen the penetration of comput- ers/internet to the extent of urban areas. Other factors limiting the extent of the internet include phone service quality and the average age of our farming population.” Despite the fact that he felt Hardeman did not fully address this concern, Dunbar expressed frustra­ tion that the ministry is “making change before the people are ready,” said Dunbar. Continued on page 7 By Susan Hundertmark Special to The Citizen Trustees of the Avon Maitland District School Board have voted in favor of closing five Huron County schools, and one irt Perth County. During a highly-charged meeting that packed the Seaforth District High School gym, stage and bal­ conies with close to 500 people, trustees closed each of the Six schools recommended for closure by Education Director Lome Rachlis. Goderich-area trustee Vickie Culbert was the only dissenting vote in otherwise unanimous recorded decisions to close Seaforth District High School and Seaforth Public School. “I will not be able to support this motion. I’ll be voting to put the Grades 7s and 8s into the high school if I have the chance,” she said to an explosion of applause. Culbert, however joined the rest of the trustees in unanimous decisions to close Vanastra, McCurdy, Walton and Falstaff public schools. Parents were equally demonstra­ tive of their displeasure with con­ stantjeering and heckling of trustees who explained why they thought they had no choice but to vote in favour of the closures. A quarter flipped down from the balcony in front of the trustees as they voted to close one of the schools. Stratford-area trustee Atje Tuyten was jeered when she tried to explain how difficult the decision to vote “yes” had been to make, until she finally snarled, "This is my turn,” at the constant interruptions by the audience. When Tuyten explained how her decision to close Walton Public School was putting her sister-in-law out of a job, an audience member shouted, “Why not just get her a job in the board office?” Trustee Abby Armstrong railed against the provincial pressures forc­ ing the Avon Maitland board to close schools, pointing out how large urban boards in Toronto and Ottawa are being given five years to adjust to new provincial funding formulas when they were the boards whose overspending caused the new fund­ ing formulas to come about. “Their trustees made $50,000 a year and had secretaries. How can the government have the gall to say my kids are worth less than those of schools who were throwing money away like spaghetti on a windy day,” she said. But, after voting to close all six district schools, Armstrong was shouted down by the audience at the meeting’s end when she tried to encourage them to continue their fight for rural Ontario. “You have two choices now. You can go home and be mad or you can go home and cry but get up tomor­ row and realize there’s a whole lot at stake here and fight for rural Ontario,” she yelled over cries of rage and despair made by departing audience members. Board chair Wendy Anderson told the audience she doesn’t believe the Avon Maitland board will ever get full rural and remote funding, which could add close to $1 million to the board’s annual budget. “I’ve met with the minister of edu­ cation twice and when she looks you in the eye and says funding won’t be forthcoming, you know it won’t,” said Armstrong. St. Marys-area trustee Maggie Laprade said the board may no longer be able to afford the luxury of small, underfunded schools. "I’ve heard of many parents who are in favour of the closures but fear reprisals from the community if they speak openly,” she said. Tuyten tried to make the point that without any school closures many necessary but non-mandatory pro­ grams would have to be cut, includ­ ing school budgets for books and supplies, all busing, school secre­ taries, computer labs, social workers and public health nurses and all extra-curricular activities. "Busing is not mandatory. There could be no busing anywhere and maybe triple grades. If we don’t cut any schools, what do we do? You laugh but this is not funny,” she snapped at hecklers. Rachlis added that the only cuts large enough to cover the $2.25 mil­ lion shortfall anticipated in next year’s budget, are school closures. Trustee Colleen Schenk said she believes all students will suffer if the board continues to operate all schools in the district. "If Atje and I did vote without hearts, we’d be voting don’t close Walton but we have to take all the students into account across the sys­ tem,” she said before the vote to close Walton Public School was made. Schenk added that “it’s no one Continued on page 7 Reporter gets 0CNA nod The North Huron Citizen is pleased to announce a nomination in the Ontario Community Newspaper Association (OCNA) competition. Janice Becker’s feature story on education, which ran in the Sept. 29 edition as one in a series of stones looking back at changes in the last century of the millennium, was nom­ inated in the education category. The story included the experiences of two former teachers, Eluned McNair and Jeanne Ireland of Brussels as they taught from the 1930s through to 1981 as well as an interview with Blyth Public School Principal Willie Laurie and the changes she witnessed in the final three decades of the century. Becker will be competing against reporters from Elmira and Tillsonburg for top honours in the category. The winners in all categories of the OCNA competition will be announced April 8 at the awards banquet, held in conjunction with the annual convention.