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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-04-02, Page 8.Page 8 Tines -Advocate, April 2, 1997 COMM lJ1\I[TY A number of top notch speakers attended the March 26 Outlook '97 at the. South Huron Rec Centre sponsored by the Hensall District Co-operative. At the left, board of directors president Cliff Hicks welcomes Harry Cleberg, president of .Farmland industries Limited and Curt Walther, .Farmland's Region 5 vice-president. At theright is Hensall .Co-op's sales manager. Larry Shapton. Outlook '97 Farmland Industries president and chief executive officer Harry Cleberg makes a point during the March 26 Hensall and District Co-operative Outlook -'97.. From the left are Cleber, Hensall's -bean marketing manager Gord Pryde, Maple Leaf Foods president Michael McCain, Cal Whewell,-a commercial grain specialist from Ohio and Hensall's manager Earl Wagner. Coalition. feels HelenJohns is more parochial and pro -Huron By Willi Laurie, HWTA .AII in all this was a very positive meeting with Mrs. Johns,' It would seem that she is much more paro- chial and pro -Huron than she -ap- peared io. he in earlier months of her mandate. Party Zinc is ntiw tak- ing second place to the needs of her constituents. • The teachers' coalition first dis- cussed whether there was any movement in the area of curricu- Iwit.'and when the new curricultim could he expected. Of course,•con- cerns -were raised that students cur- rentls in the .system in Grades 1 to 7 would he irihpacted by curriculums down loading. and that nothing to date has been handed .down from the ministry 10 aiddress this. , . Johns felt that Ontario is some- what behind' other jurisdictions in the area of curriculum. The .new, curriculum cooling from the Minis-. my .would not he totally made ib Ontario. They mai look into.huy- ing-some curriculum materials from elsewhere. Australia was, one area Johns mentioned W hich 'might pro- vide suitable materials. A•concern was raised about purchasing curric- ulum -and testing •materials disc- . where - that there not he a "cultural sellout" occurring through such a curriculum purchase. Johns is aWarc of this concern and also be-- heves evlours she, as a parent .wishes her child to he raised as a Canadian, -therefore she will be on the lookout for any concerns in this arca. -Terry Wilhelm of OECTA also raised the specific concern that regionalizing of curriculum production has al ways Ahmed us to Make curricu lupi more relevant and meaningful to our students. However. Johns claimed that teachers would still he able to adapt the new Ministry cur- riculum ur riculum to Ionil needs and realities. It was mentioned that with the down loading of curriculum, JK was even more vital and full fund- ing should be restored. Also, he - cause curriculum change. can be an, expensive. proposition, . where • would the financial support for cur- riculum -change be coming from? Our current resources, texts, etc: may not fit the new curriculum and new resources would need to be purchased. On the financial front, Johns also, noted that Hurons transportation budget amounts to something about the 50 per cent percentile. she is hoping to make a strong • case for additional funding for Huron based on transportation and distances;- while the Minister's original propo- sal- was to support only Northern and 6'ilatc hoards. With respect to out _sourcing, Johns said that Bill 104 asked "That research- and evaluation be done with regards to out sourcing; and that recommendations will he made to the ministry." The Bill won't even pass before March 31, 1997. so Johns didn't want to really discuss its implications .yet: She claims that ,some of our custodial 'jobs_ arc already out sourced or con- tract jobs and that she does notcon- sidcr that many changes will occur , in Huron. Schools with respect to . this anyway. She would support that county people he working in county jobs - and feels it is highly unlikely that major cleaning com- panies would drive the distances around Huron county to maintain school contracts.. Johns was told that even many of our Ideal 'con- - tract" people arc • availahlc for - ethergency services throughout the day. and become part of the "team" within the school community: This would not occur with outside or- .ganizatiOns completing cleaning contracts. - A question was • raised about .-school -boards:'paying provincial sales tax. It was rioted that.the pro vincial sales tax on -school supplies , takes a huge sum out of the monies availahlc - to spend within the schools: The -government collects Feeling good about yourself It's a state of mind. How we feel about ourselves impacts on how • others see us. Be positive. feel good about yourself. take pride in your accomplishments and treat yourself well! Variety truly is the slice of '; life —we conic in all sizes and shapes. A good weight is a healthy Wright. not just a low weight. Strive to reach and maintain a healthy - weight by eating well and staying active; and remember to treat yourself well! . Eating well means choosing from a wide variety of foods that you enjoy. Emphasize fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads and other grain products. Also include lower fat dairy prd ducts, leaner meats and foods prepared with little or no fat. You can also enjoy a • highcrdat,food too! Just remember to balance it by staying active and enjoying a wide variety of foods the rest of the day. A hectic schedule may mean you don't have much time to spend on eating. No problem! There arc solutions that will help you cat healthy- throughout ealthythroughout the day without sacrificing the goodness of food. Experiment at breakfast time! Mix lower fat yogurt with pieces of banana, pears, strawberries or starfruit and a little of your favourite granola. Great snack idea,,too. Lunch on the go! Have an "all in one" salad meal: mix shredded romaine, cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts. Swiss cheese dices, cooked chicken pieces and your choice of low-fat salad dressing. Replace the chicken with cooked chick peas and try another variety of lettuce for a brand new salad. Enjoy convenience! Prepackaged salads available in your supermarket arc also ready -to -eat healthy options when you are on the run. Salsa Old! Prepare a tomato, peach or watermelon salsa and dip in warm pita pieces for a tangy snack. The salsa can be made in advance and kept refrigerated up to four days. • Refresh yourself with a flavourful drink! Blend together 75 ml (1/4 cup) fruit juice (pineapple, grape or orange), 500 ml (2 c.) fruit pieces (melon. berries and nectarines), 250 ml (1 c.) low fat yogurt and 15 ml (1 tbsp.) honey. Makes four Yummy! servings. Wok your dinner! Stir -fry a package of fresh -cut vegetable mix (or make your own broccoli, cauliflower. carrot, snowpeas mix), lean strips of loin beef with fresh grated ginger and garlic. Serve with rice or couscous on the side—a quick and tasty treat. taxes from every one's -.property tax; and these tax dollars go hack to the system. When the' school hoard Nuys paper and other supplies, it ef- fectively pays a second tax on the sank monies. Johns claimed she would look into the possibility of not charging provincial sales tax on school hoard purchase items. Other government agencies do not 'have to pay provincial sales tax, and per- haps this •could- he extended .to sschool systems. • , In' a short discussion around teachers claiming computers as, pro- fessional expenses, Johns referred to our Liberal, federal MP, as in-- conic n=cone tax. is a federal jurisdiction. A discussion centred on what Johns' concept of a- classroom is.. She agreed that special education, library, music phys cd programs etc. are all considered "classroom" and that her definition of classroom ends at -the school doors. Any ser- vices offered within the school; in-' eluding testing, and special seryic- . es, are part of her definition of a._. •classroom. . - - Johns has difficulty dealing with the concept• of a full-time pay for teaching principals. She , felt that PAR members should act as"princi- pals on a full time basis and not he - paid as Principals while doing teachers' work. „ She is in .favor of twinning .schools. When she mentioned that she had polled principals on this question, she neglected to say how many, in which systcln, - and in which panel. She mentioned- that she expressed their answers would he well informed and - that most principals would have thought of the repercussions of such an expec- tation. However, • many principals have only come to.realize the reper- cussions of something such as the Paraoian report in the past month or so. Johns did not mention when she had, polled the principals, either. Certainly the secondary principals would no doubt answer differently than the' principals in elementary positions. • We -explained our: difficulties with the Paraoian report, the fact that Principals who are not teaching - would not necessarily require teaching papers. We described dif- -ficultics with Principals as CEO's or business managers' who would not be able to effectively conduct th.. main job of curriculum facilita- tor or innovator within the school. This is very important given the fact that - the government, is con- stantly handing down curriculum modifications, and intends to revise curriculum on a province wide ba- sis over the next fcw years! Princi- pals without some in -class experi- ences in the school would not be as empathetic or supportive of their teachers, nor could they problem solve•.or act as lead teachers model- ling the new curriculum without some teaching experiences. Also, how- can a CEO with no academic background be able to conduct.su- pervision and evaluation models of our teaching staff. Our current Su- perintendent of Business is not al- lowed to do so - because she tacks academic teaching credentials! The enormous contact with the children in counselling and disci- pline would require that each prin- cipal have some background train- ing in dealing with children, also. There arc now some major diffi- culties being faced .in jurisdictions where Principals have been taken • out of the bargaining unit, as Para- oian suggests. • in British Columbia principals arc being highly sued because they are teaching and management. Re- dundant teachers are grieving the loss of their jobs if PAR members are teaching. The lack of protection' for PAR members outside of the bargaining unit, and the increased burden of their_ jobs has led many New Zealand principals to leave the position. Hiring new principds. in these jurisdictions has .heeri ex- iremcly difficult' Another important fact to note is, that Principals have the same num- her of reports and'assignmcnts to complete 'or the Board regardless of the size of their school assign- ment, and regardless of the amount of teaching time they have- each day. . In order to make a Principal af- fordable in John's scenario, princi- pals would have to be twinned with two schools. so that.theycould act as fulltimc managers. A concept of twinning principals • to schools would be problematic as principals ,night not' be availahlc for emergencies, and a designate would need to he paid a responsi- bility allowance to take responsihil-, ity for the school in the Principals' absence. - .Another possible scenario would •reduce the number, of VP's•and in- -crease the principals' -administra- tion thine, but this would remove the training ground -tor potential PAR candidate` and cause more "leapfrogging" directly.from teach- er to principal. This has proved in the past to. he more difficult and problematic than training princi- pals- for some time in a VP posi- tion. - Johns had no comment on-Col- lectivc bargaining as -of yet. Shc does sec difficulties with both Pro- vincial and local bargaining... She agreed that fundraising, in the end. becomes a user fee, and - can be somewhat all intrusive... With respect to the municipalities -potentially taking care of the school buildings, it was mentioned that this is a return to the system of the 1950s and early 60s. Johns agrees that huge savings can be made if municipalities and school hoards work together to save more monies on maintenance and fuels. But she said her government is mandating other hoards to act more cooperatively, in a fashion similar to the one in which Huron has long been operating. At one point she said it did not matter to her wheth- er' the school hoard took care Of these areas, or whether the munici- palities did. or whether the two school hoards, public and private, worked together under an umbrella authority to save funds. This latter suggestion was interesting. Did Johns let something .slip? Docs the Ontario government plan to imple- ment the concept of school authori- tics at some date in the future? is this why public and separate district school boards had relatively the same borders? - A concern came up about whether the funds for maintenance and up- keep of buildings would be ade- quate. Johns claims that Huron is able to maintain its buildings quite nicely at approximately $5,500 per students. Should education finance reform come in, Huron would likely benefit, so the monies for plant maintenance should continue nicely as it always has. When Education Finance reform was discussed, Johns said she fought for this in the Legislature, and couldn't understand why the Boards arc now reluctant to accept this. Imentioned that the flexibility of the Board to negotiate was One while they were on an "allowance" from the government, and the Boards now had no power to raise any money from. taxation. In Alber- ta the local 'hoards still ability to raise 5 per cent of their revenues from property tax dollars. Johns seemed relieved to hear that such a 5 per. cent cushion would probably satisfy the people in Hu- ron. and agreed to take this hack to have the, -foiontu Lines from Lucan Lanes By Audrey Watt . LUCAN - An Ontario Y.B.C. Provincial Family Twosome house round was recently held at Lucan lanes. Four divisions were involved - and the winners of each category arc as follows: Peewee - Caitlyn Hill and -mother Noreen; Bantam - Katie Beaudoin -and her uncle Mar- ty: Junior - Myary Beaudgin with aunt Debbie: and Senior Chad 'Rodgers. with. brother Desmond. These four teams will now advance - to a. zone round on April 27 5t Bowl -a -Rama Lancs in London. The winning teams from this zone ' round will howl and attend a Blue Jays game. - ., The fifteenth -annual Shamrock tournament was held on Easter Sat- urday at Lucan Lanes. All 35 par- ticipants that took part in this five game, pins over average tourna- ment. received a cash prize or mer-- chandise donated by local and area businesses..Clairhing the top prize, this year was Scott Smith from Lu - can, who bowled 1338, which was 233 pins over his 221 league aver- age. Coming" in second was Tyler Graham. 'also from Lucan, with a . plus 206. Third place went to Linda McKillop from the Grand Bend area with plus 169. -Rounding out the top five finishers were Russel Jensen of Stratford at plus 133 and Doug Lee from Brinslcy with plus 132. Bill McDonald from Exeter, rolled: the highest Single of the day, 374. ilitt#11 t it A well prepared resume will help you get the job, you are looking for! A resume detailing an applicant's work history and education is extremely helpful to an employer who is seeking a person for a specific job vacancy. Your personal resume should accompany your letter of application. Here are some guidelines to follow in preparing your resume: 0 Make it clear, concise and easy to read - and no longer than two pages , O The resume should be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" white paper with enough white space to prevent a cluttered look ❑ Start with your name, address and phone number O Next under a sub -heading "Work History" detail the previous jobs you've held - in reverse date order - that is, last job first. • - , ❑ Use a separate paragraph for each position and precede it with the dates you held that position. ❑ State the job title, a brief description of the responsibilities - and the results you achieved. ❑ The next section of your resume should.come under the . sub -heading of "Education". Start with the highest degree,obtained'or grade completed, followed by the name of the institution at which you studied. Follow this with previous education attainments. At the end, list any specific instructional'courses you have attended in conjunction with your work. - • 0 Under.the sub -heading "Affiliations", list memberships and/or offices held in professional or industry . . associations. 0 Under the sub-heading"Personal Interests" list any activities which you feel will be of interest to the employer ;such as volunteer work, etc. •' Your letter of application and your resume will be the factors that make the employer decide whether to short Ilst you for an Interview. So make it as Impressive as you can - but stick to the facts. We can help you get an impressive and professional -looking resume . Call Debbie Lord at - "°°es Ad' 0 Go►fo r�l---- 424 Main St. Exeter (519) 235-1331