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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2006-04-26, Page 12IMMW 111111111111.1110 • Page 12 April 26, 2006 • The Huron Expositor LAWN QUESTIONS? ,o Organic Programs Available 43) ACCREDITED -Trust the Professionals -'5524-2424 McTaggart Wettlaufer INSURANCE BROKERS INC. • AUTO • HOME • FARM • TRAVEL • COMMERCIAL • LIFE INSURANCE BROKERS Paul Wettlaufer • Amy Siemon Suzanne Zehr • Leigh Crawford Ken Hutchison • Bill Siemon 68 Ontario Rd. 348-9150 Mitchell 1-800-561-0183 —NOTICE -- WILL TAKE PLACE during the daytime in Vanastra the week of MAY 1st, 2006 Thank -you AMERICAN 'WATER SERVICES Phone: (519) 527-1004 News Susan Hundertmark photos Jessica Jeffrey, a Lambton College ECE student visited Seaforth Public School Friday where she helped four -year- olds Jack Campbell and Bessy MacDonald plant some seeds as part of local Earth Day activities. HPCDSB seeks public's input through website Stew Slater The future enrolment and con- struction projections of the Huron - Perth Catholic District School Board, as well as an opportunity to comment on those projections, is now as close for the public as the click of a computer mouse. The board's Draft Capital Plan, a document which is now required to meet specific parameters of Ontario's Education ministry, has "been placed on the Huron -Perth website. Business superintendent Gerry Thuss provided a short demonstra- tion of how it might look to online visitors, during a regular meeting Monday, April 24. Included on the site are multi- year enrolment projections for each school, as well as for the board as a whole. Floor plans of each facility are provided. In the draft plan, schools are grouped into different clusters, and possiblefuture changes are list- ed for some of those clusters. There are also tentative financing details for some of the proposed changes. - If people want, they can fill out an online questionnaire seeking input into the board's plans. "We're asking whether or not they support the plan for their review area," Thuss explained. "They also might comment in terms of the overall plan of the board itself." The Draft Capital Plan is not brand new; it has been available to the public for a couple of months. But according to Thuss, placing it online will make it much easier for the public to find it, and much easi- er for the board to fulfill one of the other requirements of the Education ministry: that the Draft Capital Plan be, subject to public consulta- tion. One key route to consultation will be through school principals, Thuss said, adding they'll take the plan to the school councils and ask for sug- gestions about how to get the school community involved. It will also be promoted through school newslet- ters. But Thuss is hoping for a strong response to the online questionnaire as well, since it's often hard to get people to attend public consultation meetings. Engine Crash Guard VTC Velvet Touch Controls (Lucas Oily (OCDC) Operator Controlled Discharge Chut 4lulcher Plate 34", 44", 50", 60", 72" mower decks Lifetime Warranty on Front -Forks Against Breakage Lif•tlnw Warranty on Front Caster Bearing Assembly Gas, Diesel and Propane Models Availbale availablo. SEAFORTH • LONDON (519) 527-0303 Former teacher takes over OCSTA presidency Stew Slater Bernard Murray, represen- tative for Perth South and St. Marys on the Huron -Perth Catholic District School Board, has taken over the presidency of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association (OCSTA). Murray was acclaimed at the province -wide organiza- tion's Annual General Meeting in Toronto on April 21. The OCSTA serves as a col- lective lobbying voice for Ontario's Catholic school boards, taking in over 600,000 students between Kindergarten and Grade 12. "It's an opportunity to bring the good news of Catholic education to the (Ontario Education) ministry," Murray said following a regular Huron -Perth board meeting Monday, April 24. "Because that's what (the OCSTA) does, essentially." Murray, a retired dairy farmer and one-time sec- ondary school teacher, has been with the Huron -Perth board since 1985 and became involved as a regional direc- tor with the OCSTA in the 1990s. • The organization is gov- erned by a board of 13 region- al directors, with Huron and Perth falling in the same region as Grey, Bruce, Wellington and Waterloo Counties. He said he has been encour- aged to seek the presidency in recent years, particularly since being named OCSTA vice-president two years ago. "Bernard is committed to working with the government and partners in education to enhance learning opportuni- ties and outcomes for stu- dents in Ontario," stated a news release distributed by the OCSTA. Fellow trustees on the Huron -Perth board had more heartfelt praise, however. Vice -chair Mary -Catherine McKeon read a passage which she claimed occurred to her as she drove to the April 24 meeting, and she had to pull over and write it down. "I consider him a very wor- thy choice," McKeon said, before describing a recent event at which Murray arrived to meet. family mem- bers. "If you had seen him when he picked up his grand- children ... he sure couldn't mask his feelings. He's a won- derful family man and he'll be a great president." At the OCSTA annual meeting, the chair of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board was acclaimed to replace Murray as vice- president.