Huron Expositor, 1999-12-01, Page 10News
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, Decemb.r 1, 1999-9
Teachers' Federation opposes de-semestering of high schools
By Tim Cumming
Mitchell Advocate Staff -
High schools in Perth and
Huron counties are run on the
semester system where four
courses can be taken for half
the school year and four
different subjects taken for
the other half.
Principals • and
administration of the Avon
Maitland District School
Board are planning to change
that system and -District 8 of
the Ontario Secondary School
Teachers' Federation wants to
know why.
"As far as I know there's
been no public discussion,"
said Bill Huzar, President of
District 8. "It appears senior
administration has decided
this is the route they've
wanted to go."
Principals in Avon
Maitland high schools are
preparing timetables for year-
long courses for Grade 9's
and 10's next school year,
starting in September of
2000. The semestered system
for senior grades will stay the
same.
"We're very cognizant of
the senior kids and their need
to stay semestered,". said
Marjatta Longston.
Superintendent of Education.
The decision to adopt year-
long courses was made by
principals and the
administration in response to
literacy tests and the new
Ontario high school
curriculum, she said.
There arc proponents of
both semestered and non-
semestered systems. said
Huzar, but the teacher's
federation has identified at
least five possible negative
effects to de-semestering.
The federation's concerns
include a negative effect an
co-operative education
programs; additional costs for
text books and supplies; a
possible decline in enrolment
by students. who favor
semestered schools;
difficulties for students
transferring to, or from, a
year-long system and the fact
that "there is no indication
that other boards are planning
to de -semester any of their
semestered schools."
Longston says the move to
the traditional full -year
system is being made for
educational reasons in.
response to the new Ontario
curriculum which she calls
"the biggest change. we've
seen in the history of high
school." Under a year-long
system students will have
half a year longer to prepare
for the mandatory Ontario
Reading and Writing
Readiness literacy test than
students in .semestered
schools. •
Also, important' core
courses like 'English. Math
and Sciences can he taught
more successfully -if there is
'uninterrupted learning. She
- points to the example of a
student taking an advanced
math class at the beginning of
one school year and at the
end of the next school year.
Potentially, a student could
have an entire year without
taking that subject.
"It's the maths and
Englishes that we're really
looking at," said Longston.
"If they don't pass that
(literacy) test they don't get
the diploma."
The new curriculum takes
many concepts previously
taught in Grade 9 and pushes
them down to the seventh and
eighth grades. There appears
to be a gap between what is
called for in the curriculum
and what Grade 9 students
actually know when they
enter Grade 9, said Longston.,
A year-long school year will
provide high school teachers
the chance to spend all year,
not just six months, making
sure the students know the
concepts they are required to
know.
The semestered system is
the one everyone, including
thestudent body, is used to,
said Hut:ir. They current
system essentially has "two
starting dates," he said.
A student transferring in
the middle of the year from a
Penh or Huron high school to
an outside board would lose
their first four months of
work if the system were de-
semestered, he said.
In the co-op program a
'student working the entire
Students in. Wes Brennan's Grade 3 class at St. Patrick's School in Dublin toured the Millennium
projects each class prepare'd Last Thursday to show parents. Each class, looked at a different
part of history creating displays like this one about endangered animals of the .post
millennium. Brennan's class prepared a video of composers from post ages to.the present.
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morning or entire afternoon
would be absent for halt' of
their entire credits for hall' the
year, said Huzar.
Also, instead of Writing
four exams at one time hig
school students would write
eight final exams at one time
under a de-semestered.
system. Those are the exams,
said Huzar, which are
compared with result's from
other high schools creating a
competitive disadvantage for
Perth and Huron students.
They would have to write
twice as many exams at one
time as students in other parts
of the province.
The board's Superintendent
of Education says individual
principals will 'decide upon
;timetables. Non-semestered •
programs have been criticized
by teachers for the short
length of. classes but
Longston says the timetahlcs
could have longer classes on
alternate days. The timetables
can also be designed to.
accommodate co-op
programs,'she said.
"We're looking at a whole
myriad of timetable options,”
she'said "We looked at a lot
of timetables that would
allow for co-op." •
Only about 10 students a
year, board -wide, transfer to a
different system. said
Longston. and they can he
accommodated by local
principals and through the
board's enhanced Distance
Education programs; she said.
Coin box stolen
A coin box ss ith an
undetermined amount of
money and some pop were
taken from :( .Pepsi
machine at the Shell Ga.
Station on,Nov. 19.
Between 'closing at
10:30 p.m. ''the ni�!ht
before and 6:30 a.m. that
morning. someone opened
the pop machine but there
were no signs of forced..
entry. !
OPP•are investigating '
two I5 -year-olds
regarding the incident.
When asked why the board
'is moving away from
semesters, at a time some
schools are moving to
semesters, Longston said the.
hoard is being proactive to
address the new curriculum.
There is also provincial
government money to cover
the cost of extra textbooks for
students in a year-long
system.
Longston said the decision
to change back to year-long
courses grew out of
discussions about struggles
implementing the new
Ontario curriculum. The
decision was made for
educational reasons, not
financial ones, she said.
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There %%ere good reason. to
44) ell .eI11eslcring Ne oral
years ago. she said, hut %kith
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curriculum "we're in a whole
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Principals are meeting to
'discuss the change on Dec.
13.
The local district of the
Teachers' Federation has scnl
letters to the hoard
administration and trustees
asking for answers on the de-.
semestering. issue. The
federation may also appear as
a delegation before the public
school hoard at one of its
December meetings.
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