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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-05-18, Page 61+1 Government Gouvernement of Canada du Canada Canada's New Government BUDGET 2006 Focusing on priorities Tax Relief. Focused Spending. Debt Paydown. • Tax relief for all Canadians including 1 percentage point off the GST and 28 other tax cuts. • Focused spending to help families including child care spaces and the $1,200 per year Universal Child Care Benefit. • Balanced budget and plan to reduce debt by $3 billion per year. Find out what Budget 2006 does for you, click www.fin.gc.ca or call 1 800 0-Canada (1 800 622-6232) TTY 1 800 926-9105 (telecommunications device for the speech and hearing impaired/deaf) or visit a Service Canada centre near you. Canadi PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2006. Stacked like kindling Late last week, picnic tables were broken and pieces cut into kindling in an atOmpt to start a fire in the Blyth Lions Park pavilion. Citizens are asked to report suspicious activities at the park. (Carol Burns photo) Dangerous vandalism Picnic tables organized into a rip over the Blyth Lions Park pavilion create a potentially dangerous situation. (Carol Burns photo) CHSS gym upgrade getting complicated By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen What began as a community's desire for gym floor upgrades has now developed into that plus much more, including outdoor masonry repair and bolstering the Avon Maitland District School Board's emergency preparedness. And now, executing a just- approved major renovation at Central Huron Secondary School (CHSS) in Clinton could be quite complicated, with funding coming from various sources and work being done in a variety of technical disciplines. At a regular meeting Tuesday, May 9, trustees By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen Top administrators and trustees have just wrapped up a series of meetings with school council representatives across the district, in the Ayon Maitland District School Board's version of public consultation into its draft capital plan. In what is a new requirement this year, Ontano's education ministry asked school boards to create a 10-year plan for accommodating students, submit it for approval, and seek public input. The Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board chose - to put its plan on its website and seek on-line feedback. But according to Avon Maitland business superintendent Janet Baird Jackson, the board's top brass decided instead to use in- person discussions with school community leaders. "In a sense, it's really good to have the dialogue now because we've already said we're not going to be in an accommodation review for a accepted the low bid for the project from Henderson Builders, for just over $1.74 million. The project will include tearing out the gymnasium stage to make room for a larger, hardwood floor (the existing floor is not hardwood), replacing the bleachers, and constructing storage space connected to the gym but occupying ground which is currently outside the CHSS building footprint, in a courtyard. This space is necessary to replace the storage area currently beneath the stage. "When we first looked at the project, we knew the school just wanted a new floor," explained business couple of years," she said in an interview. There is some urgency, however. The board is asking to receive any input by the end of June, so staff can present trustees with. a final 10-year plan in September. It won't necessarily make recommendations for possible school Closures or construction 10 years. from now, but it may provide some insight into how each community would like to see issues of declining enrolment and , aging buildings addressed. "As we've closed schools in the past, people have wanted to see from us that we have a long-range plan," said Baird- Jackson. "I think this process has allowed us to come up with that long-range plan." Background information distributed at the meetings stated board leaders "are interested in getting the community's reaction to the assumptions used by staff to create the preliminary plan." With attendance sought from school council representatives from each school in the area, meetings superintendent Janet Baird- Jackson in an interview. "But we knew we needed to do some upgrades in the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and electrical, and it eventually took on a much larger scope." The CHSS gym is the only one in the district which is not regulation size, and that will be rectified by this summer's renovation. Baird-Jackson says the school community is not concerned about losing the stage, because recent tradition has been to hold events like high school commencement on the gym floor, with seating in the bleachers. A highly-respected annual student-created film were held through late April and early May in Stratford, Mitchell, St. Marys, South Huron, Listowel, Wingham and the Central Huron/Goderich area. Information provided at the meetings included enrolment projections, a database called RECAPP that predicts when structural work might be necessary on each of the board's facilities, and the draft capital plan. "We're leaving it up to the various communities as to how far they want to take the community input," Baird- Jackson said. School council leaders in some communities plan on having follow-up meetings with their area counterparts before the June deadline for feedback to the board. That includes the St.' Marys area, where Pat Weir- is chair of the Arthur Meighen elementary schdol council. According to Weir, the information provided at their meeting about enrolment, necessary repairs, and the 10- year plan wasn't surprising, since parents generally know Continued on page 7 festival called IMAGO is held under the same configuration. "Their feeling is that (using the floor instead of the stage) is more intimate and gets people closer to the action," Baird-Jackson said. Some electrical work is due to begin almost immediately in the Learning Resource Centre portion of the building, which is occupied not by students but by Avon Maitland staff and computer capabilities. According to Baird-Jack- son, the board considered renting a transformer to efficiently supply electricity to contractors during the gymnasium project, but eventually decided to purchase one instead. In the future, it will act as a back-up power supply for the board-wide computer net- work, in case of emer-gency. A portion of the rest of the building's wiring will also be updated. And the original portion of the school, dating to 1926, will get an exterior facelift. This includes repointing brick, nes -Copper flashings, and some new steps and windows. Funding for the project is coming from various sources. The CHSS school community has committed to raising $100,000 towards the gym floor, and is already well past the half-way mark in its campaign. Masonry, electrical, HVAC and windows work will be covered by a special provincial government grant called Good Places to Learn. Other work falls under the Facilities Renewal port- ion of the Avon Maitland budget. AMDSB, school councils discuss draft capital plan