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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2004-09-23, Page 7!Les J IVES INSURANCE BROKERS LTD. - BLYTH OFFICE • WINW.IVESINSURANCE.COM 184 Dinsley St. W. Box 428 Blyth, ON NOM 1H0 Tel: (519) 523-9655 Fax: (519) 523-9793 All Classes of Insurance DOUG GOUGH, RIB. (ONT.) CA IB, Manager Challenge: Conflicting schedules leave no time to enjoy meals together as a family Solution: Studies show that eating family meals together is associated with healthy eating patterns, such as eating more fruits and vegetables, more fibre and less fat. Eating together also helps develop healthy food habits in children particularly when parents are good role models. While it's hard to make family meals happen all the time — the ideas below will help your family eat well together as often as possible. • Be flexible — Try to schedule activities so you have some time everyday to eat together. You might have to be more flexible with your main meal and vary it according to daily activities. For example, dinner might be at 5:00 p.m. one night and 7:00 p.m. another night. • Make nutritious snacks available — Not everyone-can wait for the family meal Healthy snacks can contribute to daily nutrient intakes. Prepare raw vegetables or fruit plates ahead of time and keep in the fridge for after school or after work snacks. Keep snacks in the car or in your bag to avoid the vending machines and fast food stops. Handy snacks include: trail mix made with dry cereal, nuts, and dried fruit; whole-grain or graham crackers; yogurt and cheese; individual containers of fruit; water bottles and juice boxes. • Keep track of winning meals. Mark up your cookbooks with comments like, "too much work" or "tastes amazing!" or any additions/substitutions that worked for a recipe. Make notes on every recipe you try so you know what you and yo.ir family's reaction to it was. 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PANASONIC 354 COMPACT CAMCORDER - 2.5" LCD display, 700 Xdigital zooms, Play $36 Save $30. Pack included Reg. $399.99 999 15" SHARP LCD FLAT SCREEN TV $79999 44' THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2004. PAGE 7. AMDSB senior staff defend recommendations By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen Senior staff from the Avon Maitland District School Board spent a good portion of the board's first regular meeting of the 2004-05 school calendar defending their recommendations to first create, and then spend, an approximately $700,000 special education reserve fund. Considerable meeting time was also taken by both trustees and staff, criticizing the provincial government for what appears to be, effectively, a potentially damaging punishment for doing exactly those things. "We're in a critical, critical position," said education superintendent Marie Parsons, after joining with director of education Geoff Williams and business superintendent Janet Baird-Jackson in explaining to trustees the possible effects of a government decision to seek repayment of funds granted by the province for special education purposes, but not immediately spent in that fashion. According to Parsons, the decision to create the $700,000 reserve came following a series of snap announcements from the government, in the wake of the December. 2002 release of a report from the Rozanski Commission about educational funding. One of those announcements immediately released money to support the so- called "Cycle 4" group of students identified as needing Special Education assistance. Up to that point, Parsons explained, school boards across the province had been led to believe Cycle 4 money would not flow until the following year. The Avon Maitland board, along with several others, had already decided to shore up their 2002-03 special education budgets with money from other areas of expenditure, to allow for full service to Cycle 4 students. As a result, the newly-announced money wasn't necessary in that fiscal year, so it was placed on reserve with an aim of using it for Special Education in subsequent years. And that's exactly what happened last June, when Avon Maitland trustees approved a plan to spend the $700,000 to boost the board's 2004- 05 special education budget to just under $18.8 million -- a level which still demanded the cutting of about $400,000 in Educational Assistant positions. Now, however, according to a memorandum issued by assistant deputy education minister Kevin Kobus on July 28, the existence of this reserve at the 2003-04 fiscal year-end is being construed as "underspending" in special education. The memorandum goes on to state the 2004-05 special education allocation will be decreased — the term used by the ministry is "repatriation" of reserved funds — to reflect this perceived underspending. The memorandum does include about $242,000 in new special education funding for the Avon Maitland board, but the elimination of the reserve funds now leaves the board with an approximate $377,000 projected deficit for 2004-05. Without any new government initiatives in the coming months, Parsons suggests that special education deficit could jump to over $1.1 million by 2005-06. "Right now, I don't know where 1 would ever find ($1.1 million)," the education superintendent said, in response to a question from student trustee Will Petker of Stratford Central Secondary School. According to director of education Williams, the "one silver lining" is that some of the money "repatriated" by the government will go into what's being called an "Effectiveness and Equity Fund" for special education, which will flow back to school boards based on yet- to-be-explained criteria. His confidence in that fund seemed guarded, however, and he offered no rebuttal when Central Huron trustee Shelley Kaastra argued, "we never seem to get as much as what we hope to get. So I wouldn't suggest we count on anything from this Equity Fund." "It does raise the broader issue of whether or not the minister understands the concept of reserves," Willliams commented, adding he believes the approach taken by the Avon Maitland board "is, fiscally, very sound." He wondered whether other school board reserve funds could be threatened, and noted that big governments don't use reserves, opting instead for a big flurry of attempts to spend government money at the end of March as bureaucrats seek to insure they receive the same level of funding in subsequent years. "That. I don't think, is a sensible way to operate," Williams argued. Trustees resolved to send a letter to the education ministry about the issue, and are also arranging a meeting with the district's MPPs. Williams noted the Catholic school board in Windsor has sought legal advice on fighting to keep funds it believes to be property of the board, and both the Ontario Public School Board's Association and the Council of Supervisory Business Offi cials have expressed displeasure with the province's approach.