HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-03-25, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 --- Seaforth, Ontario
HPCDSB
School changes
are on the way
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
SSP Staff
Next year's March break
might not be as long as this
year's for area students.
Under recent provincial
government policy changes,
aimed at maximizing instruc-
tional days. perhaps the only
way the. annual break might
last two weeks is if the
school year started before
Labour Day. which could be'
a hard sell here in rural
Ontario.
That's a busy time of year
on area farms.
Superintendent of education
John McCauley told the
Huron -Perth Catholic District
School Board's Feb. 23 meet-
ing that a decision hasn't
been made yet, hut an adviso-
ry committee has been,
formed, along with the Avon -
Maitland District School
Board. to study the issue and
advise the respective boards.
Another committee of .10
has been established by this
area's Catholic school board
to work on implementation of
other recently mandated poli-
cy changes by the Ontario
government.
NO DEBATE
Superintendent McCauley
told trustees the board met
with education ministry offi-
cials the week before, and
"there is no room for debate
within these new policies...
just how we can make it
work."
Optional subjects will
become somewhat limited in
specific . circumstance's:
Grade 9 will become
streamed, and subjects that
certain students have tried
again to get higher marks
will he disclosed on their
transcripts under the new sys-
tem, among other changes.
McCauley reported to
trustees.
The new Tour -year -system
becomes effective in Ontario
as of September 1999. he
said. with thc "lead cl.,,,"
being this year's Grade 7s.
Grade 9 will be "streamed"
despite conflicting views as
to its merits. Ontario's Royal
Commission on Learning, for
instance. advised against it.
Thirty credits, each of
approximately 110 hours
(although there is some flexi-
bility in'this area) will' be
required for a diploma. Of
these 18 will be mandatory.
FEWER OPTIONS
• That leaves 12 options, but
the Catholic community
requires four religious cduca-,.
tion credits, which reduces
this number further for stu-
dents. Options could be as
few as two for all of high
school in French immersion,
the superintendent of educa-
tion warned.
"This is a bit of an alert for
us," he told trustees.
McCauley also said "sci-
ence and mathematics"
appears to have more value
under the new system, at the
expense of "arts and social
science."
He added every course each
student takes will be recorded
on Grade 1 1 and 1.2 tran-
scripts as part of the provin-
cial government's new "full
.disclosure" policy.
"This board will have to
decide what is viable in terms
of what, you can offer." the'
superintendent concluded.
Flu victims take precautions
With schools reporting high
numbers of absentees due to
influenza the Huron District
Health Unit is advising peo-
ple to take the necessary pre-
cautions.
Public health nurse Shirley
Chalmers, on the health pro-
tection team says people need
to take care and stay home if
they're feeling sick
'She outlined the three sur-
veillance processes the unit
uses to monitor the out-
breaks.
"What we try to do with our
influenza surveillance pro-
gram is try to track what's
happening."
One of the ways is 10 track
school absenteeism, then the
unit monitors activity within
nursing homes.
Chalmers said influenza is a
reportable disease and physi-
cians are required to report it.
She said the county school
absenteeism rate has been
higher this year than it has
been for the last couple of
years. "It;s to early to tell
with the nursing homes.
Last year we had five or six
outbreaks of influenza which
started mid-December and
ended in February.
"This ycar it's just starting
now and may go on for
another month."
She said this ycar the
schools have been hit hard
with high absenteeism rates.
When the schools first
began reporting absenteeism
a couple of weeks ago,
swabs were taken from ill
students which confirmed i
nfluenza A was present. •
"if you're ill stay al home
and try not to expose other
people."
As a precautionary measure
Chalmers says frequent hand
washing is a necessity..
For those in high risk
groups a flu shot is available,
adding it's still not to late fair
people to be vaccinated.
Huron County is not on its
own with the outbreak. other
counties arc also experienc-
ing high numbers of people
with influenza, Chalmers
,•stated. • '
Peter Burtch administrator
at the Seaforth Manor says it
was closed to the public as a
precaution. "We're pretty
cautious and we stop public
groups coming in as a safety
measure."
Tracy Nash administrator at
the Maplewood Manor says
they haven't been afflicted
with the flu bug .yet, although
she did say there is a sign in
the lobby of the home stat-
ing: as a precaution visitors
who aren't feeling well must
respect the residents and
schedule another visiting
appointment.
March 4, 1998 $1.00 includes GST
The 1st Seaforth Beaver Pack toured the Seaforth Clinton Ambulance Service Tuesday. Beavers From left. Grant Bolton. Brandon,
Prior. Tanya Fordo and Nicole Steep are shown some of the emergency equipment carried on the ambulances by Blaine Lucas, opera-
tions manager for Zurich, Scaforth-Clinton Ambulance Services; The Beavers also viewed the inside of the ambulances. ` '
Local pastor leaving for Belize.
BYJACKIE FITTON '
Expositor Editor
Pastor Rick Lucas preached
his last sermon as minister of
the Bethel Bible Church last
Sunday.
He now prepares himself,
along with his wife Wendy,
and children Tyler. Hope and
Nathan, fora two-year mis-
sionary term in Belize train-
ing other pastors.
Missionary work is the
completibn of something he
has always wanted to partici-
pate in. Belizb - being thc
ideal location. '
"It's Latin American and
it's also English speaking,"
he said.
While being an exciting
venture for tate family, it's
also the experience of a dif-
ferent culture
"It'll be a culture shock,"
he admits, "hut we're excit-
ed, and we do have concerns
about things like spiders and
snakes."
But living in the capital city
of Belmopan, Pastor Lucas
says wildlife may not tend to
be a problem.
He has been the minister of
Bethel Bible Church since
the ,fall of 1990. Prior to that
he worked with young
offenders in the London area.
It's a job he will return to
for a few more months until
the family has raised the rest
of their financial support.
"In our association we -are
involved in the Faith Mission
which is not a denomination-
al mission. We are going with
the Gospel Missionary Union
and have to raise our own
financial support to 'go," he
said.
Following the two-year
position the family will
return to Canada although it
may not be to Scaforth.
"We're coming hack to
Canada and back into the
pastoral missionary in
Canada somewhere."
A search committee by the
church is presently .up and
running to find a predeces=
sox.
Pastor Lucas admits it will.
•he quite a culture shock. from
' Scaforth to Belize. They will
arrive in April to 105 degree
weather.
"It will be quite a shock to
our systems. but I think we'll
adjust pretty well."
Due to lack of space at the
church, which was the former
Egmondvillc Public School.
the more than 110 -strong
congregation hold Sunday
services at the Seaforth
District High School.
"We moved out of this
building two years ago. The
church itself is used for a
meeting place for the youth
groups. worshipping practice
and bible study groups. •
In the future, he said. the-
church will he looking to
build a new church which he
says is exciting for the con-
gregation'
The church has seen quite a
bit of growth during his near-
ly eight-year. tenure
He said there arc lots of
young people anda lot of
young families with children.
"This is a terrific congrega-
tion. they won't have any
trouble attracting a new pas-
tor and I know the church
will continue to grow."
Although the family is
excited about' the move.
"We'll miss our friends.
because we've enjoyed our
time in Scaforth."
Positive financial news for school board
Positive financial news for
the Avon Maitland District
School Board was presented
last Tuesday that, according
to their press telease, "virtu-
ally eliminates the need to
reduce, operating expendi-
'tures further than the previ-
•
ously announced $2.4 -mil-
lion reduction to the capital
plan" for this short or "stub"
fiscal year.
The recently amalgamated
new board, the lowest spend-
ing public board in the
province, says "it looks for -
Correction, apologies to Clinton
A front-page story in the Feb. 25 issue of this paper head-
lined "School board staff oppose town location incorrectly stat-
ed in the first paragraph that Clinton board staff oppose a move
to Scaforth. This is not true. Only the Stratford office of the
Avon -Maitland District School Board has gone on record .nit ,in
opposition to a Seaforth location for a proposed new adttrinii-
tration centre.
'the complete text of the Clinton presentation to the board is
on Page 5 of this week's edition.
The Homo Expositor regrets the error.
Stub year reviewed by separate board
Trustees reviewed a prelim-
inary stub year (Jan. I to
Aug. 31) budget for 1998 at
the Feb. 16 meeting of the
Humn-Perth Catholic District
School Board.
"We have no large concerns
of being grossly underfunded
for the short year," superin-
tendent of finance Gerald
Thugs says. "It looks pretty
good "
"The actual regulations
'have yet to be provided, how-
ever the revenue estimates
are based on the 1997 revised
estimates filed with the
Ministry of Education and
Training," management com-
mittee chair Mike Miller's
report states.
He says the preliminary fig-
ures involve a lot of "guessti-
mating."
4
ward to thc promise of equi-
table funding for its students
when the government
announces its new education
funding model to be effective
for the (next) school year"
that starts this Sept. I.
Preliminary 1997 okrating
results for the former Huron
and Perth boards were pre-
sented to the Avon -Maitland
at last Tuesday's meeting.
"Although all items have
not yet been finalized, it
appears that the former
Huron board will be in a
break-even position," accord-
ing to the press release.
"However, the former Perth
board is anticipating a sur-
plus of approximately $1.6
million.
"Some of this can be attrib-
uted to the net savings from
the teachers' withdrawal of
services in the fall ($.2). In
addition, retirements were
fewer than expected resulting
in an excess of $.2' million
.savings in gratuity payments.
"Lower salary expenditures
and non -replacement of staff
save $.3 million.
"The balance can he attrib-
uted to a concentrated and
continued effort to reduce
expenses." , the Avon -
Maitland board press release
continues. "in the early fall,
the former Perth board was
aware of thc possibility of a
shortfall in funding for the
1998 short year period and
every attempt was made to
mitigate the loss."
The new executive for 1998 elected during the Scaforth Agriculture Society's annual meeting were
front, Icft, Lynda Vincent, 2nd vice-president; Jim Floyd president; Marie Hickncll, Homecraft
president; hack, left, Andrew McBride, 3rd vice prdsident; Paul Dodds, outgoing president and
Gord Caen, 1st vice president. (Fitton photo)