HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2006-10-18, Page 9The Huron Expositor • October 18, 2006 Page 9
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Avon Maitland creates 10 -year capitaI:pIan
Closing elementary schools, moving Grades 7 and 8 Into high schools possible
Stew Slater
Officials of the Avon Maitland
District School Board were careful
to ,emphasize the non -decision-mak-
ing role of a provincially -mandated
10 -year capital plan, approved by
trustees at a regular meeting
Tuesday, Oct. 10.
"(Approving the plan) does not
mean everything in this document
will come to be," clarified Huron
East/Central Huron . trustee Shelley
Kaastra, prior to the unanimous.
vote.
The plan hints at such possibili-
ties as relocating Grades 7 and 8
students into high schools in
Mitchell, Listowel, Goderich and St.
Marys, closing one of two in -town
elementary schools in Mitchell and
Goderich, and constructing a new
school in St. Marys to replace two
existing elementary facilities.
"This is a tool to help plan the
capital costs that the board may
face," explained education director
Geoff Williams, as an introduction
to the portion of the meeting deal-
ing with the 10 -year document.
"This is not an accommodation
review ... We see it, and the educa-
tion ministry sees it, as an attempt
to capture all the potential things
that might happen within the
board."
Business superintendent Janet
Baird -Jackson reviewed the process
by which the plan came into being,
including a decree from the provin-
cial government for board staff to
submit a first draft by January,
2006, and a subsequent request to
have some sort of public consulta-
tion.
In the Avon Maitland board, that
took the farm of meetings over the
spring and summer of 2006, orga-
nized mainly through communica-
tion with school councils.
"It is intended to be a living data-
base," Baird -Jackson explained,
adding the lines of communication
will remain open for school commu-
nities to have further input.
Trustees Jenny Versteeg and Tina
Traschel each raised concerns about
the most recent version of the 10 -
year plan. Versteeg, representing
North Perth, wondered why the
plan hinted at the construction of a
new cafeteria within what is now an
outdoor "quad" portion of Listowel
District Secondary School, even
though feedback from the school
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community suggested a desire to
retain the quad.
And her Perth East counterpart
asked why no additions are suggest-
ed for Sprucedale elementary school
in Shakespeare, even though enrol-
ment projections point to a possible
space crunch.
Minor amendments were made to
the plan to address each trustee's
concern.
Goderich/Northwest Huron repre-
sentative Emily Miley, meanwhile,
raised the more controversial issue
of whether the feedback from school
councils represented the entire
school community.
"I've received some calls, since the
story about this plan appeared in
the newspaper, and people are say-
ing that not all school councils are
elected, and that they don't repre-
sent all the parents," Milley said.
In response, Williams reiterated
that the 10 -year plan is meant only
to enable the board and education
ministry to plan for possible long-
term capital needs.
"It is not a full accommodation
review. As conversations get broad-
er around accommodation issues,
the community will be engaged as a
whole.
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