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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-12-13, Page 6$-TMF HURON poor 13, fele Education Selling education centre could save $30,000 the Education Centre functions be subject to review by the Management Committee for consideration by the board." A previous report to the board showed that annual provincial revenues for the Junior Kindergarten program exceeded the cost of the operation of the program. But provincial funding for the program may change and the board passed a recommen- dation to prepare a statement on the financial effect o. th property taxpayer should the program be removed from the schools. Other recommendations to the board include the establish- ment of an early retirement program to avoid mandatory layoffs of staff and ' the en- couragement of all schools and work sites to pursue alternative sources of revenue. On Dec. 18, the board will be holding a special meeting to explore alternatives and decisions to enact cost savings. The meeting will be held at the Education Centre at 7 p.m. BY AMY NEILANDS SSP New; Staff payments, they take into con- sideration the difficulties of low property tax assessment boards who spend below the provincial average level while having pursued cost reduction' measures. The board passed several other recommendations for cost reductions. The board recommended, after some debate, that senior administration be downsized by one academic supervis �ry officer, to be done through attrition or reassignment. "I have never been ashamed of the size of senior ad- ministration," said Trustee Norman Pickett. "Their job is vital and important." "By eliminating one senior administrator, in reality it would be a disservice to , the system as a whole and to the students we serve," .airl Trus- tee Joan Van den Btue.k. "We have no choice but to proceed with the changes and to devise a plan to downsize senior administration," said Garniss, who agreed with Trus - With an estimated cut of $3 million in transfer payments in 1996 from the provincial gov- ernment, the Huron County Board of Eduo�tion (HCBE) is taking further cost -cueing action. The board has already agreed to a list of reductions totalling $1 million and is looking for further reductions totalling a minimum of $3 million for 1996 and the same for 1997. "It's not a pleasant. story at all," said HCBE Director Paul Carroll at the Dec. 4 regular board meeting. "1 must reiterate this com- ment," said Trustee Doug Garniss. "We're spending less and tax high or higher than other municipalities. This is unfair and something must be done." This comment came upon the passing of the recom- mendation to appeal to the Minister, of Education and the Provincial Treasurer that upon reviewing reductions in transfer tees Pcikell and Van den Broeck but added, "We have to look at the plan to sec what is of the best interest of the sys- tem." Listing the Education Centre for sale would save $30,000 annually in operating costs, the management committee stated, as this was another recommen- dation passed by the board. The committee noted that only emergency repairs would be done to the centre but concern was raised . that emergency repairs may become too large. Another concern was raised of the possibility of the amal- gamation of boards. "We don't know if we are going to be amalgamated," said Pickett. "We don't want to move into temporary quarters and have to move again." "We're just going to play the market," said Trustee Bea Dawson. The recommendation stated that upon sale, rental or lease of the centre, "recomme- ndations related to the use of the building or alternate arran- gements for the operation of Brown returns to chair Huron Board of Education Roxanne Brown was the "unanimous choice" to sit as Chair of the Huron County Board of Education for another year. The board's annual inaugural meeting was held on Dec. 4 and Brown was elected by her fellow trustees to chair the board once again. Brown, trustee for the Town of Clin- ton, first took the position last December and will be chair for the next term until Nov. 30, 1996. Returning to the position of vice -chair for another year is Allan Carter, trustee for Tuck- ersmith Township and the Village of Hensall. Chairs for the committees of the board were also chosen. Doug Garniss, trustee for Mor- ris and Turnberry Townships, will sit as chair of the Education Committee for the third year in a row. Bob Heywood, trustee for the Township of Stephen, will return to the chair of the Zurich area man elected new chairperson o for the position. "Being a parent and a ratepayer, I was curious about how things ran as well as criti- cal," he said. Before his term as trustee, Millet was one of several par- ents who fought the closure of Ecole Ste. Marie, near St. Joseph. Miller, who operates a land- scape business, is married to wife Dianne and they have five children. One child attends St. Michael Catholic Secondary Schon in Stratford, another attends St. Anne's Catholic Secondary School in Clinton,_ two are students at St. Bonifice School, Zurich and one remains at home. Students of Sacred Hearth School, Wingham attended the meeting and sang for the trustees. BY MICHELE GRE ENE SSP News Staff The new chairperson of the Huron -Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board expects many challenges from the provincial government in the upcoming year. Michael Miller, of St. Joseph, was elected the new chairperson at Monday night's inaugural meeting. He takes the place of former Chairperson Louise Martin, who held the position for three years. Martin nominated Miller, who repre- sents ratepayers in the Zurich area, for the position of chair- person. Stratford T; ustee Michael Dack was elected vice -chair- person. "Everything the provincial government sends us will be a Seaforth teacher receives award A Seaforth Public School Teacher earned a director's recognition award for November. Julie Holmes is helping to set new directions in new times that require new ways of communicating, notes an information bulletin from Huron County Board of Education Director Paul Carroll. She spearheaded " a high- ly successful, cost -recovery - plus -a -profit video year- book" at SPS, and helped establish the school's com- munity cable TV channel. Fundraiser for Bruce The Bruce County Board of Education has agreed in prin- ciple to hire a professional fundraiser for a 52.2 -million building project at the Outdoor Education Centre near Wiarton. The centre is in an "advanced state of decay" according to its principal. Trustees have been told the province won't help replace the 4uildings, leaving fundraising as an only alter- native. challenge. We have to come up with ways to make the'cuts effective without affecting the classroom," he said. Miller said the social con- tract expires during his term. The board's staff has been on a salary freeze for three years under the NDP cost-saving ini- tiative. Miller said the board will have to cope with post - social contract negotiations with teachers. "We have an excellent work- ing partnership with our teach- ers. I'm confident we can work together to reach an agreement that meets both of our needs," he said. Miller has been a trustee for five years and the board's vice - chairperson for the last two years. He saidhis interest and curiosity about how the board operated motivated him to run School board expands local school boundaries , BY AMY NEILANDS The Huron County Board of Education moved to expand three boundary areas for some local schools. The Central Huron Secondary School (CHSS) boundary was expanded to include Lot 34, Concession 2 and Lots 28-35, Concession 1 of East Wawanosh and Lots 36-44, Concession 14 of Hullett Township. This area was within the boundaries of Goderich District Collegiate Institute (GDCI) and included students who already attended CHSS, noted Superintendent df Operations Gino Gianuandrea. The superintendent said that the CHSS bus already travelled down County 'Road 25, the affected area, and the new boundary will include this area in the CHSS boundaries. "The Village of Auburn will continue to go to GDCI," said Giannandrea, adding that the new CHSS boundary will not go into Auburn but touch the outskirts of the village. It was noted that this change will have little impact on the residents as many already attend CHSS. The boundary area in Hay Township for Hensall Public School will be expanded to include Lots 22-28, Concession 4 and Lots 6 and 7 north boun- dary. Giannandrea noted that some students in the Zurich Public School catchment areas already attended Hensall Public School, therefore this will have no great impact on these residents. The final boundary expansion included the F.E. Madill Secondary School and Seaforth District High School catchment areas. The Madill boundary will be expanded to include the Village of Brussels, Lots 1-10, Concession 11 in Grey Township as well as the area known as the Graham Survey. Cuts to hospitals could start in urban areas Continued from page 4 house hack in order and these cuts will help accomplish this end. They arc necessary. But please Mr. Harris, start to spread the burden around the way former governments spread benefits --fairly to all. You could start hospital cuts in the large urban centers and regional municipalities by eliminating redundant services offered at several facilities when all arc located in a rela- tively small geographic area. The rural areas, where one hospital may serve patients from an area extending over the hundreds of square miles, the hospitals must be able to offer a wider variety of ser- vices to adequately cover their patients needs. Perhaps Mr. Harris could adopt a system similar to that used by many religions --a tithe. Everyone over a certain base income level would con- tribute a set percentage of net income to a fund pool. The $lmillion a year per- son would contribute $2,000. While the more affluent indi- vidual would pay more in dol- lars, he would be contributing a relative equivalent as the lower income individual. Poor fella would have to make do with a meagre $900,000 a year. Of course contributions to the fund would be non-tax- able and deductible on the income tax form To close Mr. Harris be a little --no darn it --a lot fairer in your application of Draconian measures. i would also like to congratulate our local councils for the tremendous job they are doing in working to mini- mize the impact of infrastruc- ture funding cuts. They exem- plify what a politician should be --more concerned for people who elected them than with re-election. Maurice Byers Port Elgin Management Committee, a position he has held for the past two years. A trustee with the board since 1969, Don McDonald was elected as chair of the Human Resources Com- mittee and Trustee Bea Daw- son was selected as the mem- ber -at -large for the Executive Committee. 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