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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2004-02-04, Page 3News School boards looking at impact of snow days on Huron schools By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Editor After three more snow days last week have upped the total to eight at both St. James and Seaforth Public School, both systems are beginning to look at the impact on students. "The number of snow days is being discussed at the central office and there's already been a request for feedback from the schools," said Steve Howe, media relations officer for the Avon Maitland District School Board. "The scary thing," he said Friday, "is that it's still only January. We still have potentially two more months of winter weather to deal with." While schools in Stratford have only had to close once compared to 12 snow days in some Avon Maitland schools, Howe said the situation varies across the system. "Parents can reasonably expect larger homework assignments than usual and some optional things may have to be put off," he added. Seaforth Public School principal Kim Black said teachers are already consolidating the curriculum to determine what work can be completed in a shorter time. "Some teachers have been sending extra homework home and most kids are working on their speeches right now," she said. "A lot of kids have accessed the board's Getting Students Connected website and have worked from that during the snow days." She added that teachers continued to work at home during last week's three snow days using the board's First Class e- mail system. "We are concerned about the number of snow days and teachers are putting plans in place. We also hope the weather will give us a break soon," she said. St. James principal Fran Craig said the same sort of planning is occurring in the Catholic system with the board reviewing all scheduled events in the remaining school year to determine which non-essential things, such as field trips, might be cut for the current school year. She said she expects some guidelines from the board office within the week. "Everyone is really aware of the number of snow days that are accumulating," she said. In a newsletter home to parents, Craig suggested parents can help with snow days by ensuring daily homework is done, encouraging "snow day assignments" teachers are sending home be done if there's no school, looking ahead to future assignments and encouraging work be done on those and helping younger students work on their reading and math skills during a snow day. "We're not trying to overload the students but we're hoping we can make each day a day of learning, even if it's a snow day," said Craig. St. James' Grade 8 students can now access their homework assignments -both short-term and long-term - by going to their school's website. Blue boxes coming to Tuckersmith By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Editor A blue box program will be implemented in Tuckersmith "as soon as possible," Huron East council decided at its Jan. 20 meeting. Blue boxes will be delivered to the just over 1,000 households in Tuckersmith by Huron East staff and the recycling program is expected to begin sometime in May, said Clerk - Administrator Jack McLachlan after the meeting. "It's going ahead. I have talked with Bluewater Recycling and when it begins depends on their schedule," he said during a phone interview. While Tuckersmith councillors Larry McGrath and Bill De Jong asked council about including a questionaire in the municipal tax bill about whether or not Tuckersmith ratepayers are in favour of a blue box program, council decided to go ahead with the program. "If we don't do something today, paying for garbage is going to be more expensive than water," said Mayor Joe Seili. Grey Coun.. Mark Beaven pointed to a recent article in the London Free Press that showed Huron East tied with West Perth as the top municipalities in Southwestern Ontario for diverting waste from landfills by recycling. Tuckersmith is currently the only ward of Huron East that does not have a blue box recycling program. "Without Tuckersmith, we were featured in the Free Press as the best in Southwestern Ontario. I imagine with Tuckersmith, we'll be even better," he said. New provincial rules, introduced in December, will see waste -generating industries paying a 50 per cent share of blue box operating costs. Under the new program, Tuckersmith residents will pay $20 per household for the blue box program, half of the cost before the new government program but double the cost of the $10,000 annually paid for the current recycling depot just outside Seaforth. But, abuse of the recycling bins in Tuckersmith, where cardboard bins have grown from one before amalgamation to four currently, has added costs to the system. McKillop Coun. Ferg Kelly said recyclables from Tuckersmith haven't been accepted by Bluewater for the past year because the bins have been so contaminated by garbage. "It's starting to cost Huron East a lot of money for the amount of clean-up at the yards and there's no better time to start looking.at a blue box program," said Deputy - Mayor Bernie MacLellan. "We all need to consider ourselves better stewards. It's a necessity that we move towards doing this," he said, adding he believes Tuckersmith residents are in favour of recycling. "No one in Tuckersmith has ever said they don't want it," he said. Both Seili and Kelly said the blue box program is helping to extend the lives of the local landfill sites both at Walton and at the MidHuron Landfill near Holmesville. Kelly said 150 metric tonnes a year are being diverted each year from the landfill in Walton "When I first went on the Walton landfill board in 1994, its lifespan was until 2002 but we started to recycle and pay for garbage and it was extended to 2017 and its probably far beyond that now. Recycling is really working - it's amazing how much less garbage there is," said Kelly. The London Free Press article(said Huron East is recovenng 63 per cent or 330 tonnes of recyclables a year. It also points out that the user pay system for garbage increases the recovery rate for recyclables. Susan Hundertmark photo Montel Hills, a Kindergarten student at Seaforth Public School, doesn't look too happy to learn there's six more weeks of winter on Groundhog Day Monday. He and his classmates made groundhogs at school after three days of snow days last week. "We determined that all but one student in Grade 8 had internet access at home and the one who doesn't has a buddy system set up to get the assignments. That way, if they're home, they can work ahead," she said. Craig said she's also visited each class and asked students to do their best to work at home during snow days. A professional development day was also cancelled in the Catholic system Friday because of the growing number of snow days. "I think parents understood that safety was the issue with three snow days in a row last week and that it was a good decision. It's all part of the wonder of winter in Huron County," she said. THE HURON EXPOSITOR, FEBRUARY 4, 2004-5 Michelle L. Henderson RMT Registered Massage Therapist NOW OFFERING Hot Stone Massage at Seaforth Chiropractic Centre 527-1242 Mon - Thurs V Gift;Certificates Available r Remember your Sweetheart this Valentine's Day Want FREE oil chang Join the TMP Oil Change Club! 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