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Huron Expositor, 2001-08-29, Page 5PAY FOR NEXT YEAR'S MEMBERSHIP NOW AT 2001 RATES & F THE REST OP THE YEAR! Returning members who purchase their 2002 membership at 2001 prices by December 31 RECEIVE A COUPON BOOK WORTH $500 - FREE! SEAFORTH GOLF CLUB 2002 RATES EFFECTIVE JAN. 1 "LAIRD" Adult anyday $650 Couples $1100 "HIGHLANDER" Adult Weekdays $525 Couples $975 ;PIPER" Student $285 "BAIRN" Junior $205 "CLAN" Family Packages Available Scott & Wee Scott 10 Play Packages Available All Fees Plus GST SEAFORTH GOLF CLUB www.seaforthgolf.com RR#2 Seaforth 527-0985 TMa SftMON 1JXPOsitTOO , Asst 10, 2001-1 Becky Campbell RegisterRegisteral Mugs NON WON., TUES., WED. 9 am do 9 prix Fridays 9amt+o5pm Acta a regular massage b your resolution lot better health in 2001! 527-2058 'It only hurts, 11 you don't cell' LAWN QUESTIONS? 524-2424 dir We have a large selection of FALL MUMS It's The Perfect Time To Plant •trees & shrubs •perennials • BULBS ARRIVING SHORTLY FALL HOURS Thursday - 9-6; Friday 9.6 Saturday 9.5 CLOSED Sunday -Wednesday Stewart Acres GREENHOUSES & GARDEN CENTRE I1/4 East of Seaforth, just off Hwy.#8 522-0495 Co-op9 qr,` 's NOW ACCEPTING REGISTRATIONS FOR EARLY YEARS PROGRAMS Over 36 years of experience working with children and their families. Shirley Brooker, Paula Stackhouse, Sherry Hugill, Jill Wood, Cindy Nigh Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. NEW ... Outdoor Playgrounds for both preschool and toddlers NEW ... Bus transportation from St. James to the After School Program NEW ... Music Box Program PROGRAMS AVAILABLE • 1/2 day (up to 5 hours) • Full day • Before & After School Care • Nursery School Program 9-11:30 a.m. or 1:30-4 p.m. Call 527-0682 for more information on program curriculum, daily routines, or fees. 4'e invite you to drop in for a tour of the facility. Meet the staff and join our early learning programs! "Uncommonly friendly & beautiful" Micarak..1r. News YrY • 4 x. • Susan Hundertmark photo • Making waves Kelly Coleman, ofSeaforth, does the back crawl in a race for 11 and 12 -year-old girls at the final swim meet of the season at the Mitchell Lions Pool on Saturday. Communities exchanges barbs with school closure consultants By Stew Slater Special to The Huron Expositor Partners in a consultant's group hired to analyze enrolment projections for the Avon Maitland District School Board spent significant portions of a meeting Monday evening trading tit-for-tat barbs with municipally -appointed and community-based representatives looking into the same issue. However, despite the fact the consultants were being paid an additional fee for the meeting, on top of the fee already paid for their report, Avon Maitland officials expressed confidence the meeting was worthwhile. "The very fact that we held the meeting was useful," argued superintendent Bill Gerth, the man coordinating the board's current round of so-called Community Accommodation Study Committee (CASC) meetings, aimed at gathering information prior to looming decisions about tackling declining enrolment. A study by the London- based consultant's group, Urban Analysis Group, presents a series of long-term projections for Avon Maitland enrolment, then offers a wide range of possible remedies. Those remedies include many possible school closures, but board officials have repeatedly stated these represent just one of the many factors to be considered by trustees. "The fact that (the consultants) explained their methodology was very important," Gerth said. "Because, despite what some people suggested tonight, the methods used by the consultants is a very complex process and we need a lot of thought to work through it." Concerns about the complexity of those methods formed the basis of just one of the barbs fired during the meeting, which was called by Gerth to provide equal opportunity for members of all four regional CASCs to address the consultants, following a special request early in the summer from the Central/West region. "This (method) can be accomplished quickly by a first-year university student in geography. Why wasn't a more sophisticated approach taken?" asks a written submission, distributed as information at the meeting, from Allan Stewart, who was identified as the "alternate" of two municipally -appointed South region CASC members present from St. Marys. St. Marys councillor Kerry Campbell was the other St. Marys municipal representative. Previous to that question among a list of five queries, Stewart asks, "What are the qualifications of the Urban Analysis Group? Either they are demographic consultants or education consultants. I doubt that they are both - and maybe neither." Principle Urban Analysis Group partner Harry Taylor, asked by Gerth to respond to the two written submissions before taking questions from the floor, referred to the five - question list as "Mr. Stewart's missive." He also made reference to a document prepared by Stewart, which was not made available to the general public but was circulated among members of the South region CASC, and suggested Stewart had accused Urban Analysis Group of conducting "unconscionable" and "duplicitous" work. Then, when addressed by the only other person to submit written questions, Seaforth lawyer Fred Leitch, Harphurhey's Korvette Hanover trots fastest mile of year Korvette Hanover, trained and owned by Phil Bisback of Harpurhey, finished sixth in a field of 10 trotters in the $838,500 Maple Lcaf Trot -Open -Final at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronton on Aug. 25. While no money is earned for sixth place, Korvette did trot his fastest mile of the season at 1:54 4/5 against the best aged horses in North America. That speed is just 2/5 of a second off his lifetime best. Taylor said Stewart's questions "weren't very intelligent." Leitch, who acted in provincial court on behalf of the group which successfully challenged the 1999 Avon Maitland decision to close Seaforth District High School, was much more successful at eliciting reasoned responses from Taylor and his partner, Bill Code. His list of 12 questions included concerns about the group's use of 1991-96 Canadian census data - instead of numbers from a broader time period - and the level of consultation undertaken with the region's planners. Taylor responded point -by - point to Leitch's submission, arguing that the trend towards migration of younger adults out of the area means enrolment decline will continue. "What we would argue is that Huron and Perth are not going to experience the kind of growth that was experienced; as a composite, between 1985 and 1995," Taylor said. Probed by Leitch about the group's concentration on one particular growth scenario, Code commented, "the problem is if you take the highest rate we gave you, you're still closing schools." To this, Leitch responded, "Yes, but not as many." F.E. Madill Secondary School council representative Bob Pike, from Wingham, sided with the consultants, suggesting CASC members should keep the quality of a student's education as the top priority and think less about saving particular buildings. "The real problem isn't the validity of the projections. 1 think we already have an (enrolment) problem that exists today," Pike argued, before suggesting the board must decide how it can put as much money as possible into the programs inside each of its schools. Pike was eventually cut short, however, after trustee Charlie Smith observed that he seemed not to be working towards the formulation of a question. Later, Pike was challenged by Campbell. "Every town should have every opportunity to have its own school," the St. Marys councillor said. Campbell and Leitch also both challenged the consultants about the comprehensiveness of their list of closure recommendations. Leitch noted there was no mention of sending Grades 7 and 8 students from Seaforth Public School to Seaforth high school, nor of converting Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton to a Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 institution. And, Campbell wondered about the possibility of closing Stratford Central Secondary School and sending students to Stratford Northwestern and high schools in Mitchell and St. Marys. It was Gerth who responded, saying, "you're making the assumption that, because it wasn't considered by the Urban Analysis Group, that it isn't going to be considered by the board. And that's not necessarily the case." LASI 4 DAYS EVERYTHING MUST 60 Store Closing Saturday, Sept. 1 at 4 pm WUERTH'S SHOES Main St., Seaforth 527-1506 Seaforth Location Only! HUGE PIANO SALE AUG 30, 31 & SEPT 1 Grey Svund Mall information. 0-2 S 1 -- Seaforth Chiropractic Centre • 5274242 for ari appointment AR pans ars inspected and regulated by a registered Piano TecAAlOen.