Times Advocate, 1999-10-13, Page 5Wednesday, October 13, 1999 Exeter Tknss-Advocate
In the News
5
Meetings scheduled about potential school closures
By Stew Slater
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -
ADVOCATE
The public's
involvement in the latest
round of discussions
about school closures in
the Avon Maitland District
School Board has been, so
far, limited.
At an information
session Oct. 5, nearly all
of about 40 chairs
provided for members of
the public were filled but
the public was, as is the
practice in regular board
meetings, given no chance
to voice concerns.
Instead, they were
asked to write down any
questions and submit
them after the meeting, to
be dealt with later by staff
or trustees.
"I think they could have
faxed us some of (the
information which was
contained in the
information session)
beforehand," said Exeter -
area resident Carolyn
Johns, who attended the
meeting as a member of
the public.
"Then we could have
had a look at it and
maybe faxed them back
with any questions we
'had. And they could have
dealt with them tonight.",
Such lack of public
involvement -- whether
'perceived ' or real -- flies
in the face of the findings
of the provincial
government's recent
Education Improvement
`Commission study of the
Avon Maitland board,
which noted the issue of
school closures was
eventually shelved last
year largely because the
public felt it wasn't
allowed to become
adequately involved in the
process.
Board officials pledged
to address this concern as
the 1999-2000 school
year began: "We want to
try to give reasons for the
decisions instead of just
making them," said
director of education
Lorne Rachlis at an
earlier meeting.
There were hints at last
Tuesday's meeting that
the process is beginning
to open.
Not only did elected
trustees provide
numerous insightful
questions following the
presentation, the public
was a't-o invited to ask
questions of staff or
trustees on a one-on-one
basis.
And Rachlis all but
guaranteed there would
be formal question -and -
answer periods as board
staff takes its
accommodation
presentation on the road
to five regional meetings
planned in late October
and early November.
"We should have people
at the mics asking
questions, in an
atmosphere outside the
formal confines of a board
meeting like thi e
said.
"We'll have to have
some kind of a limit to
keep things under
control, but I expect we'll
have something like that."
That would please
Johns, who thought there
should have been such a
session following last
Tuesday's meeting.
"We would have had a
chance to ask about
some of the things that
weren't clear from the
presentation," she said.
The first of the regional
meetings, with staff
essentially giving the
same presentation as it
delivered last Tuesday, is
scheduled for Thurs. Oct.
14, 6:30 p.m., at Seaforth
District High School.
Board officials hope to
have members of the
public from the Mitchell
and Seaforth regions
attend that meeting.
Next is Mon., Oct. 18, 7
p.m. at St. Marys DCVI
(Exeter and St. Marys -
area schools), followed by
Thurs., Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.
at FE Madill High School
in Wingham (Wingham
and Listowel -area
schools), Wed., Oct. 27, 7
p.m. at Stratford Central
Secondary School Membership on that
(Stratford and area) and task force will be split
Mon., Nov. 1 at Central equally between Avon
Huron Secondary School Maitland staff,
in Clinton (Clinton and representatives from
Goderich area). various school councils
"We're hoping that the (parent and community -
trustees who represent based organizations
the schools in that area which represent each
will chair the meetings," school on the board), and
Rachlis said: �. businesspeople drawn
The director of from Huron and Perth
education also announced cpunties.
plans for a 15 -member "We'll be looking for
Directors Task Force, people with an
which could begin understanding of finances
meeting by the end of and business
October and will tackle organizations — people
the issue of school who have had to balance
closures.
a budget,
Rachlis
explained, adding he
expects to finalize details
on the task force soon and
publish advertisements
seeking interested
businesspeople.
"The task force will not
be a decision-making
body but will provide
another point of view for
administration to consider
when formulating its
recommendations to the
board and when
implementing board
decisions," stated the
information distributed at
Tuesday's meeting.
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