No preview available
HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 1999-12-08, Page 17• December 8, 1999 Si (includes GST) Local weather Wednesday --Sunny with cloudy periods. High 5 Thursday --Mainly cloudy, rain devloping late in day. High 10 Low 3. Friday --Rain ending, gradual clearing. Windy and cooler. High 7. Low 5. Saturday --Sunny, cloudy periods. High 4. Low 0 From Environment Canada Air A -- Parents hoping Walton School will live through crisis Because Walton Public School has survived being listed for possible closure in the past, school council chair Dianne Van Vliet says parents are hoping the school will again live through the current crisis. "We're not looking at this as a fight. We're • looking at it as a challlenge and there's always hope." she says. Van Vliet says a community meeting last. week in Walton informed parents about Walton Public School being listed recently by the Avon Maitland District School Board' for possible closure, along with Seaforth's high , school and public school and four other district schools. "Parents are going to write letters to the board and the ministry of education questioning if this is the best thing to be doing. Parents definitely want to keep the school open," says Van Vliet. • She says some of the parents are in the unique position of having children in each of the three Seaforth-area schools being studied for . possible closure. "Our firstpriority is keeping all three schools open," she says. She adds that since Walton Public School only. needs $140,000 in repairs over the next 10. years, its main concern is increasing enrolment. Walton`s capacity is 100 students and its current enrolment is 67.5. The school also lacks a gymnasium. Van Vliet says parents have suggested adding Grade 5 to the junior kindergarten to Grade 4 school to improve enrolment. Walton currently - feeds into Seaforth Public School after Grade 4. By Susan Hundertmark Community taking action Lawn signs, petitions and protests lead town's fight to keep its schools . By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor Lawn signs across from the hoard office are asking people -to honk in support of the school. Yellow ribbons are appearing on trees, poles and homes for blocks around the high school. More signs are sprouting each day across from the offices where residents have been Offering their lawns to the community to send messages to- board administration whose windows face the signs. Students set up a picket line at the board office before school on Tuesday morning. All this has happenned since a community meeting. was held last week to rally support in a growing fight against possible- school closures in Seaforth: The three schools in the Seaforth and area Fluster have all been fisted for possible closure by the board. with a final decision coming in Nlarch. "Be present at board meetings." urged Maureen Agar. at a community Scott Hilgendorff photo Karen Taylor adds her name to a petition that was posted at a community meeting held last Wednesday at Seaforth and District Community Centres to find out from the community what direction to take in a struggle to keep Seaforth schools'open. meeting last Wednesday. She is chair of the high school's school advisory council and one of a handful of people leading the crusade to keep the schools open. "Take a book. They're real boring, but just be there." Agar and Charles Smith, chair of the Student Success Foundation which is spearheading a potential legal fight with the board, suggested a letter writing campaign and provided addresses and a form letter for the public that could be sent to board and provincial government officials. Agar also suggested picketing.. in front of the board office. "The students , will probably join you. Then you'll see what good kids they are," she said. The board office is located inside the high school and student support was offered if there • was anything the community wanted them to do. "We could talk to them [the board employees in the school) or take up their parking spaces," said one student at the meeting. A giant petition with the ,words. "Save Our Schools" was signed by most of the approximately 300 people at the meeting- and the agenda of two special board meetings scheduled to hear concerns this week were already packed with delegations on Friday. - Suggestions from the public included approaching other municipalities for support. One resident said the upcoming "amalgamation of Seaforth with.Tuckersmith, McKillop and - Grey Township and Brussels will see those taxpayers coming into one municipality and those students should come in as well. Smith also encouraged the community to donate to the Student Success Foundation to give the community a budget for which legal action could be pursued. - Quoting Star Trek, Smith said, "Our motto has to be that resistance is not futile." Public tells town leaders it wants all schools kept open By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Staff - Closing any schools is, not an option if Seaforth residents have their way. That was the response Maureen Agar got to a small survey given to parents at the end of a community nfeeting held at Seaforth and District Community Centres Dec. 1. "We can't have conflict in the area," said Maureen Agar, chair of Seaforth District High School's school advisory council and one of,a small group of community leaders who organized the meeting in response to a cluster of three Seaforth and area schools listed for possible closure by the public school board. She asked everyone to, look at a few possible scenarios to see which Huron Expositor prepares to show "A Day in the Life" of this community As the century draws to a close this month, The Huron Expositor is preparing to take a last look at this community before it forges ahead into the next. - Issues and projects from this century, like municipal - restructunrig and the BiTsinie""ss Reteiitron and Expansion Committee will carry us into the next. They make the news on a daily basis. As do the regular events that attract crowds and become news in the community, like the fall fair, Christmas parade and this past week's toy and doll show. Because of their significance bydrawing crowds of people, they become as important in news coverage as the isy. . 's of school closure and how big this municipality will be in the next year as restructuring takes place. • . And the newsmakers of the end of this century will continue to be the newsmakers of the next. These are the people like the mayor or the service club members who are actively involved in the community in leadership roles that bring them into the news on a regular basis, commenting on those events and issues which have to be covered, The role of the newspaper is to keep people informed but the focal points and focal people remain predominantly the same. School boards and town council meetings have to be See MOMENTS, Page 12 ones the public supported as they prepare to,fight the possible closure of the schools, _ --- The community has until February to offer solutions to the board which will decide on Feb. 23 which schools will close in June. Because that's not much time, Agar said they may have to offer the. board some compromises that at least let them keep some of the schools open. She doesn't believe that in the - short -term -they can keep -all of the - schools open, although that is one thrust of the growing battle being planned against the Avon Maitland District School Board and the Ministry of Education. "If you close the high schoolnow, you'll never get it back. l guarantee Site PLAN, Page 3 Scott Hilgendorff photo Toying with an idea There were Tots of ideas for Christmas gifts at Seaforth Agricultural Society's annual farm toy, gift and doll show. Jim Kelly of Goderich checks out some old form toys owned by Linda and Dole Davidson of Brussels. Your:Community newspaper since 1880 34,