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NOT ONLY DOES IT BOOST VOCABULARY, IT KEEPS READERS ON TOP OF CURRENT EVENTS. erry St., 7- PAUL COOK ELECTRIC Home, Farm & Commercial Wiring BELGRAVE 357-1537 omething fqrl e kit !t one! ••• C izi pdfa .r4541 Tur Queen t. 4.018 ll•Alt.t' Moo THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2006. PAGE 33. AMDSB trustees, staff 'look into the future' By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen Trustees and senior administrative staff of the Avon Maitland District School Board "look(ed) into the future" of secondary school- programming on Tuesday, Oct. 10, as part of a new meeting format aimed at promoting free-ranging public discussion. In what's referred to as "committee of the whole, public open session," the board originally planned to meet at 5 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month, to discuss weighty issues about which no decisions are imminent. Other activities precluded a kick-off for the meeting format in September, and chair Meg Westley — a driving force behind initiating the meetings — admitted it may not be possible for trustees to gather in committee of the whole every month. But on Oct. 10, time was set aside and trustees invited senior staff from the board's Seaforth headquarters as well as principals from South Huron District High School,. Mitchell District High School and Stratford Northwestern Secondary School. "We were just looking into the future and saying we'll continue to have declining enrolment in a lot of locations," Westley explained, following the meeting. She said the board recognizes There already are some schools which have trouble providing some specialized programming. And if trustees hope. to retain the interest of students who are looking for something other than the core subjects, such discussion is necessary. Specifically, according to Westley, Mitchell high school's principal . informed trustees about a very limited interest in senior math courses designed for university- bound students. She noted the school currently accommodates less than 400 students, and such difficulties in providing key courses are expected to increase as enrolment declines further. During the committee of the whole meeting, participants were encouraged to bring forward creative suggestions, even if they seemed far- fetched. According to Westley, suggestions included establishing specialized centres of excellence in different schools across the district and busing in students from other communities, and allowing students to split their semesters between two different schools. "Of course, this may all be prohibitively expensive, but we wanted to have the suggestions on the table," she explained. "Because you never know, perhaps there would be enough savings to pay for those buses, from not making capital investments to build programming in each school." The public is welcome to attend the meetings, as well as the regular committee of the whole, every second Tuesday of the month at 8 p.m. in Seaforth. Source water protection website gets interactive The Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Water Protection Project has launched a new interactive website devoted to source water protection efforts in the Ausable, Bayfield, Maitland, Nine Mile and Lake Huron Shoreline watersheds. Staff of the -project, which is a partnership of the Ausable Bayfield and Maitland Valley Conservation. Authorities, worked with-Resolution Interactive Media, of London, in developing the website, which. can be viewed at www.sourcewaterinfo.on.ca "We're very excited about what this site can add to the source protection planning process," said Cathie Brown, project manager. "In addition to providing plenty of information about source water protection and our planning region, the site functions as a venue for sharing of new research, and discussion and exchange of ideas about source water protection efforts in our watersheds." An around-the-clock internet presence is especially important in a rural area, said Brown. "The beauty of the web is that to be part of a discussion, it doesn't mgtter if you're in Amberley or Arkona." The new website goes beyond providing information: its interactive features include a public forum, member news and forum sites for proposed committees and working groups and a public calendar. Sourcewaterinfo.on.ca is set up to allow members of the public to register for a discussion forum in which they can exchange views on how best to protect local drinking water sources and find out how to participate in upcoming planning efforts. Members of stakeholder organizations will be able to ask questions of staff, source protection committee and working group members. Maps, reports and other documents are available in a downloads section. A public calendar allows users to keep tabs on coming events related to source water protection. Staff, source protection committee and working group members will have their own sections in which they can discuss the planning process and exchange files. Committees and working groups won't be formed until the proposed Clean Water Act is passed, according to Brown, but in anticipation of that, this website will be ready to help facilitate Source Protection. Planning as soon as it's officially underway. In the meantime, the public will be able to find out information about the local. project and watershed initiatives. The Honourable Laurel Broten, Minister of the Environment, introduced the Clean Water Act in December, 2005. If passed, the Act will call upon committees of local stakeholders to develop source protection plans to protect the Continued from page 32 represent all the parents," Milley said. In response, Williams reiterated that the 10-year plan is meant only to enable the board and education ministry to plan for possible long- quality and quantity of municipal surface and groundwater sources in their watersheds. Ontario's 36 conservation authorities, often in partnerships such as that of ABCA and MVCA, will facilitate the process and provide the technical expertise and resource knowledge to ensure that source protection plans are science- based. term capital needs. "It is not a full accommod- ation review. As conversations get broader around accommod- ation issues, the community will be engaged as a whole." Williams says plan only enables board to plan for capital needs Business Directory