HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-02-11, Page 29Apiirrriahwi
HONORED — For over 35 years, Joe Snider of Goderich served on -
the board of directors at Camp Menesetung, the summer camp at
the United Church located on the Lake Huron shoreline just north
of Goderich. Snider, now 91 years of age, began board duties in 1950
and served as treasurer from 1954 to 1986. Members of the board
honored Snider's service with the presentation of a commemorative
plaque that will hong in the camp's dining hall, a facility he was
responsible for building. Camp chairman, Howard Pym (kneeling) of
Centralia, property and finance chairman, Don Tow of Wingham,
secretory Muriel Coultes, Belgrave and Ruth Alton, Lucknow, made
the presentation to Snider (seated) and his wife.
(Photo by Dave Sykes)
Board gets report
on conduct codes
Codes of behaviour, physicai contact
guidelines, disciplinary measures and
contact with outside agencies are four
of the issues and area of address that
a -special committee -of-the Huron -
County Board of Education (HCBE)
has examined and made recommen-
dations-on.
ecommen-
dationson.
The recommendations come in the
form of a study and report entitled
Student -Teacher Relationships. The
report was presented to HCBE
trustees by director of education Bob
Allan at the February board meeting.
Allan reported that the study and
recommendations are the result 'of
several months of work and survey by
a special committee, comprised of
profession educators, from teachers,
principals, vice principals and the ex-
ecutive team for the HCBE.
While all secondary school in the'
HCBE system have established codes
of behavior, as well as many elemen-
tary schools, the report recommends
that all elementary schools should
complete the development of in-
dividual codes of behavior.
The general guidelines for student
behavior codes are based on the sug-
gestion that such policies should be
developed co-operatively with the
help of parents, students and staff in
each school. The code should em-
phasize self-worth and self-discipline
in studentsand should clearly outline
realistic and effective consequences
for failure to meet its standards.
The HCBE committee indentified
this as a "sensitive and complex
issue". The committee developed a
five point guideline in the matter of
physical contact. It was further noted
that the committee strongly recom-
mended -the -use -of -.common sense in
this area and in the applications of the
guidelines.
They include: "Physical interac-
tion between adults and children re-
quires common sense and thoughtful
intent; It is important not to lose sight
of the positive value, need and mean-
ing of physical contact; Controlling
the excitement and/or distress of a
child may require physical contact
such as a hand on the shoulder or a
pat on the back. These may also pro-
vide needed reassurance; Sometimes
physical restraint is required in a
crisis situation to provide safety, pro-
tection for intimidation, protection of
property or to protect class/school
proceedings; Defining the use of ap-
propriate physical force is a difficult
if not impossible task."
Regarding the physical contact
issue, the committee recommended
that no attempt should be made to
delineate in a written policy state-
ment what is acceptable and non -
acceptable physical contact with
students. School staffs must reach
common understandings, through
discussions organized by the prin-
cipal, to understand the differences
between acceptable and non -
acceptable physical contact with
students."
A further recommendation noted,
"That every effort be made to en-
courage teachers to accept the fact
thatphysical intervention may
sometimes be necessary:; It is further
recommended that senior ad-
ministrators, staff and principals
assure teachers that they will have
support in situations where the
teacher becomes involved in a
justifiable physical intervention."
Disciplinary interventions
The committee reported that it
spent considerable time discussing a
number of strategies regarding effec-
tive student management and ap-
propriate disciplinary actions by
teachers and school administrators.
The committee stressed that "the use
of corporal punishment be re-
confirmed as an inappropriate
disciplinary action. It is understood
that corporal punishment is not cur-
rently practised in any Huron Coun-
ty Board of Education school."
The committee suggested that
alternative disciplinary actions be
implemented, including suspensions,
home instruction alternatives, team
interventions in extreme cases, in-
volvement of peer counsellors and in-
volvement of outside agencies.
it was further suggested, "that one
secondary school be -identified to
establish, on a pilot basis, an alter-
na rre--educational-setting-for.disaL--
fected, alienated students."
Outside agencies
Support and contacts with outside
agencies was seen as an important
link in the procedure and understan-
ding of teacher -student relationships.
The committee said that the inter-
disciplinary approach involves pro-
fessionals from a variety of areas, in-
cluding social service, health and
judicial agencies. it was suggested
that joint efforts between these
groups will help in. the work to find
solutions to behavioral and
disciplinary concerns in the school
system.
"it is recommended that principals
take steps to raise the awareness
level of teaching staff of existing pro-
cedures and requirementsregarding
contact with community agencies."
Tuckersmith gets
drain reports read
Engineer Henry Centen of R. J.
Burnside and Associates Limited at-
tended the Tuckersmith Township
council meeting Tuesday afternoon to
read the Heyink Drainage Works
report and discuss it with ratepayers
involved,
The ratepayers included Ifirold
Parker, Murray Traquair, Ed
Roberts, Ross -Kercher, G. Heyink,
and George Parker. Harold Parker
questioned the engineer as to the
method of arriving at his assessment
schedule and felt that it was
somewhat high. Mr. Centen advised
him that the majority of the cost was
associated with the replacement of
the culvert on his property which he
had requested. Mr. Parker advised
council that he wanted to have (he
report referred back to the engineer
and a revision made to eliminate the
culvert.
Centen next react the report on the
Alderdice Drainage Works report.
Ratepayers present for this reading
were: Vern Alderdice,Bill Wallace.
Rill Kerslake, Alex Miller, IL Britain,
Roy Schwartz, Arnold Van Millen-
mtg. John Vanlltenburg. There were
no concerns expressed as Mr. Centen-
described the work to be carried out.
the assessment and the maintenance
schedule for the construction
proposed.
approved the bylaw for the
Alderdice drain and set March 3 as
the date for the Court of Revision, al
1
9 p.m.
Council will spend the minimum
necesstary to prepare a report on the
investigation on the landfill site for
presentation to the ministry of the en-
vironment in order to determine
whether or not the municipality
qualifies for a grant under the master
plan study program.
Council tentatively approved the
1987 proposed budget of the roads
department for submission to the
ministry of transportation and coM-
munications, including some propos-
ed construction projects.
Council submitted a supplementary
subsidy allocation request to the
ministry of transportation and com-
munications for ohe-half of the pro-
posed costo( the new township shed,
as well as the township will ask for a
subsidy allocation for the sand-
blasting and painting of the Broadfoot
bridge.
Council gave tentative approval for
the proposed 1987 budget of the Day
Care and Special Day Care at
Vanastra and fowarded it to the
ministry.
Council agreed to pay one-half of
the deductable rate of the insurance
claim for the Vanastra Curling Club,
but in the future the municipality will
not be responsible for any portion of
the costs.
Themeeting was adjourned at 10
p.m. it started at 1 p.m. with an hour
and half out for supper.
Times -Advocate, February 11, !987 Page 17A -
Veto 50 percent hike in fees,
•
plan budget hits 578,000 snag
A debate over who should be ex-
pected to pay for current fees
ultimately resulted in action that ef-
fectively removed more than $18,000
in anticipated revenue from the pro-
posed 1987 budget of Huron County's
department of plannidg and
development.
Huron County Council, at its
February meeting in Goderich, turn-
ed down a planning and development
committee recommendation to in-
crease the fees for consent applica-
tions to 8750, a 50 percent increase
over the 1986 fees, because the ma-
jority felt the price was too high for
applicants to pay.
The fees were increased to 8500 just
last year, council was told, following
several years at 8250. The commit-
tee's recommended increase for 1987
was based on the expected cost of pro-
cessing the number of consent ap-
plications expected this year.
Last year 85 applications cost a
total of 857,225 to process while
revenue from fees amounted to just
837,625. In order to cover the actual
costs of processing the applications,
the fee should have been approx-
imately $673.
While some members of council felt
the applicant should pay for the cost
of processing since that person was
the one to benefit most, the majority
felt $750 was too much to ask the ap-
plicant to pay.
The decision to refect the proposed
$250 increase was made, however,
before council was aware of the
ramifications of its action. Seconds
after the hands were counted to turn
down the recommendation increase,
council was then asked to give
preliminary approval to the depart-
ment's proposed 1987 budget before
referring it to the executive commit-
tee for review. The budget was for a
total of 8521,958 with the county's
share set at 8382,808, an increase of
four percent over 1986.
At this piont, the effect of the
previous decision was made clear as
some members of the planning and
development committee pointed out
the resulting loss of revenue which the
fee hike was expected to generate.
And, because of this, thecounty s-por--
tion of the budget would now be in-
creased to more than 8400,000, if the
department hoped to retain all of its
proposed programs.
As the impact of their action
became clear, members of council
rose one after another to suggest
possible methods of rectifying what
they were now beginning to consider
as a faux pas.
"Sometimes we vote before we
know the- repercussions of «hat we
are doing," Hullett Township Reeve
Tom Cunningham said. Erasing an-
ticipated. revenue from the budget
would not help members of council in
"holding our increases to a minimum
this year".
Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston said
the county's budget -setting procedure
was at fault, something he has been
attempting to change for a number of
years now. "Why can't the county set
aside one day to deal with the budget,
rather than have them (departmen-
tal proposed budgets) come in
piecemeal when we don't have the
facts before us to deal with them?" he
asked.
Under the current system, each
department budget goes through a
lengthy review process - at least twice
by council - before getting final ap-
proval and incorporation into the
overall Huron Count budget. Usually.
the departmental proposals are in-
cluded in reports of committees made
at council's regular monthly
meetings.
Usborne Township Reeve Gerry
Prout argued that all council needed
was to "use a little common sense'•.
It should be understood, he said. that
a committee recommending such a
fee hike "had done its homework".
Grey Township Reeve Leona Arm-
strong said that although council may
have acted hastily in refusing the in- .
crease, she hoped the planning
department could live within a four
percent increase while still absorbing
the loss in anticipated revenue.
Planning Director Gary Davidson
said it wouldn't be that simple. The
cost of processing consents comes off
the top and the department has no
control over them, he said. If people
want consents, the planning depart-
ment is bound by law to process them.
"There is not very much we can do •
to alter the costs and still process
them (consent --applications) the; -
same," he added.
Hay Township Reeve Lionel.
Wilder, 1986 planning committee
chairman and one of those supporting
the fee increase, called the debate a
waste of time since -the fee increase
issue had been dealt with. "Let's ac-
cept our mistake and get on with it."
It was also suggested that council
send the proposal on for management
committee review rather than back to
the planning and development com-
mittee since council would still have
at least "one more go at it". •
In a 21-10 recorded vote, council ap-
proved sending the proposal on for
management committee review: In
favor were: Mrs. Armstrong,
Goderich Township Deputy Reeve
Laurie Cox. -West Wawanosh t;eeve
Cecil .Cranston, Mr. Cunningham,
Howick Reeve Gerald D'Arcey, Hay
Deputy Reeve Claire Deichert, Towsp
of Goderich Deputy Reeve Allan Gib-
son.• Warden Brian McBurney,
Stephen Deputy Reeve Ken McCann,
Mr. Proud, Stanley Reeve Clarence
Rau. Hensal_I Reeve Jim Robinson,
Goderich Township Reeve Grant
Stirling, Brussels reeve Hank Ten -
Pas, Stephen Reeve Tom Tomes,
Blyth Reeve Albert Wassong Mr.
Wilder and Town of Goderich Reeve
Harry Worsell (two votes(:
in opposition were: Tuckersmith
Reeve Bob Bell, Seaforth Reeve.
William Bennett, Clinton Reeve Bee
Cooke, Zurich Reeve Bob Fisher. Ex-
eter Deputy -Reeve Lossy Fuller.
McKillop Reeve Marie Hicknell; Mr.
Johnston.--Wingham--Reeve- Bruce
Machan. Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle
and East Wawanosh Reeve Ernest
Snell. --
LIONESSES AID CRIPPLED CHILDREN -. At Tuesday's Exeter Lions
Sportsmen's dinner, Lioness president Joyce Eveland presented o che-
que to the Thames Valley Treatment Centre. It was accepted by Easter
Seals Society nurse Gaie Haydon. In the centre is local Timmy Jeff
Finkbeiner. T -A photo
Iv.•�r,t III
A UWO AUTOGRAPH — South Huron District High School senior
football coach Ron Bogart gets an autograph from UWO running back
Blake Marshall. T -A photo
Affirmative action
program continues
Providing diversification and oc-
cupational variety for women in the
education system in Huron County
has again been supported by trustees.
At their February meeting the
Huron County Board of Education
( HCBE ) trustees approved a motion
that calls for application to the
Ministry of Education's Affirmative
Action grant program. The board has
received funding from this program
for the past two years.
The Affirmative Action program in
Huron County was first established in
1985. At that time the board of
trustees adopted a policy statement
that read, "In demonstrating its com-
The readers Write
Dear Mr. Editor:
Thank you for publishing the fine
• letter from Asa Deeves regarding the
move toward bilingualism in Ontario.
it is very strange that in our province
of Ontario we are so "gung-ho" on bil-
ingualism - (or are we? - no one has
ever taken a vote or referendum to
find out our opinions) when in Quebec
it is regarded as a heinous crime in
some cases to'use English.
in Quebec they have already mov-
ed to unilingualism, E=rench being the
spoken word. in Ontario, where the
vast majority of us speak mainly
English, the politicians think we
should have bilingualism- at the tax-
payer's expense of around
$150,000,000.00.
Being as the taxpayers, you and i,
are the ones who will be paying for the
expense of extending 'the use of
French into the law courts for
he use
of less than one per cent of the popular
tion of Ontario, we the people of On-
tario should therefore be allowed the
opportunity to voice our opinions.
Hence the need for a referendum on
the subject of extending the funding
of the use of the French language and
the increased funding in our high
schools. .
The French language is not a
universally spoken language, being
well down on the list beldw English.
Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Jhpanese,
and so on. Bilingualism should not be
forced upon us. Are we living in a
democracy or not?
Maude Connon
Exeter
mitment to achieving employment
opportunity, the board hereby under-
takes a, program of Affirmative Ac-
tion for its women employees in order
to diversify their occupational.
distribution within the system and to
eliminate any identified barriers to
their employment opportunity."
As part of the establishment of the
program, a half-time Affirmative Ac-
tion Co-ordinator was employed.
HCBE director Bob Allan said that
since the program was initiated in
Huron. "The Huron County Board of
Education has taken a very positive
approach to etnployee affirmative ac-
tion. We have made steady progress
and avoided controversy."
At the board's February meeting.
i n, R�trsented �a report from the
minister of education Tor'-(heMr
vince, Sean Conway. Conway
reported, "The government is com-
mitted to the principle of employment
equity. Nowhere is it more important
that this principle be observed than
in the province's education system.
The role of education and the values
it reflects in both human resource
development and curriculum is
critical. Ministry of Education policy
requires that students have the oppor-
tunity to see men and women in a.
variety of roles. The school system
must be al the forefront in reflecting
the changing roles of women and men
by providing an environment that ex-
emplifies sex equity, both in the role
models it provjdes and the teaching
materials it uses."
Since Affirmative Action funding
was first provided in 1985 grant
monies have gone to 79 school boards
in the province. Mr. Conway said that
in order to sustain the existing pro-
gram, and to expand it, the ministry
will continue to offer financial support
. until 1989.
The minister of education reported
that by the end of 1989, "school boards.
should plan to demonstrate evidence
of significant progress towards the
achievement of an environment that
exemplifies sex equity. i am therefore
requesting school boards to adopt this
objective at all levels of the educa-
tional system, with the aim of raising
the number and diversifying the oc-
cupational.distribution of women to a
minimum of 30 percent in all occupa-
tional categories by the year 2000."
"This aim will require ongoing
comlflitment and study," Allan
remarked to HCBE trustees.
*mow
PLANNING AGENDA — Chairman .Brion Iliman and master of
ceremonies Cliff Maxwell are busy studying the agenda forTuesday's-
Sportsmen's dinner. T -A photo
SS board told of
renewal of science
Education Minister Sean Conway's
Man for the renewal of science educa-
tion in the primary and junior divi-
sions in both English and French
language schools was outlined to the
trustees of the Huron -Perth County
Roman ('atholic Separate School
Board meeting i'n Dublin Monday
night.
Superintendent of Education •
"-G-Matrtstane teinid•the.minist4�
will issue a first draft curriculum
document by March 1987. with the
final version expected to be publish-
ed early in 1988.
Ile said school boards will be ex-
pected to provide teachers with cur-
riculum support documents for the
program, and that the ministry will
develop a Science Unit Purchase Elan
in order to facilitate program
development al the school board
level. -
Special grants to school boards will
be provided by the ministry in support
of the development, testing and repor-
ting of innovative pilot projects in in-
service teacher education in primary
and junior science.
Blanchette said tbat more than half
of the renewal program's 83 million
budget will be provided to school
boards to support is implementation.
This 83 million is also expected to
stimulate the spending of an addi-
tional 83 to$5 million by hoards, other
organizations, and the private'sector.
"The goal of this renewal is to en-
sure that science is part of (he educa-
tional experience of every child in
every school in Ontario," Conway
said. "To ensure Rs success, 1 am
seeking the co-operation and support
of school hoards, teacher organiza-
tions, parent groups, and the public
at large in ensuring That our children
receive the best education that we can
give them.
"In issuing this statement," he con-
tinued, "1 want to reaffirm my belief
in the importance of primary and
junior education and in the need to
provide children at this level with a
balanced and integrated program".
•
In other business the board granted
.lust in Tomasulo's application for
postponement of his teachers' funded
leave plan Irnin 1987 to a later dale.
Peter Edwards, custodial helper al
Goderich has resigned and Caroline
Wilson has been hired to replace him.
The board will upgrade bus sizes on
existing bus routes where necessary
to accommodate the number of
--sllldenjs on these routes.
Superintcnc cnt o ,c uical(oti :Bilin '"'�'"
McCauley reported that loo students
are registered for the (rade 9 class
to start the fust of September this fall
at SL Michael Secondary School in
Stratford. This will be the second
Grade 9 class for this school -- the first
one started at this new school last
September.
McCauley said the projected enrol-
ment of 83 students is well surpassed.
Accommodation and transportation
must be planned for this increased
number.
The board will continue to support
the scholarship) fund of the Kiwanis
Music Festival of Stratford with a
donation of $125 for 1987.
The space allocation for a booth al
the 1988 Perth County Interational
Plowing Match from September 20.2.4
has been increased to 300 -600 square
feet al a cost of $2.00 per square foot.
The hoard will rent divider curtains
and a backdrop for this booth.
One of the board's consultants or
resource teachers will he appointed to
co-ordinate the board's planning and
efforts and provide this person will)
the necessary planning time.
McCauley said that along with the
provincial opening of Education Week
in late April. 1988 in which the Huron -
Perth Board Will be an, equal
organizational partner with the Perth
County Board of Education, the Plow-
ing Match will afford an excellent op-
portunity for the Board to
demonstrate to ratepayers and
others, various aspects of the quality
Catholic education which the Board
offers tbrouggh a variety of programs
and philastlplty.' '
1