HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-12-17, Page 69Page 36
Times -Advocate, December 24, 1997
COMMUNITY
Abby Armstrong elected to Avon Maitland top job
By Kate Monk
T A geporter
•
• .CLINTON - Students come first.
according to. Abby Armstrong of
Stanley Township. Armstrong was
elected by the trustees to chair the
newly -formed Avon MaitlandDis-
Irict School Board at the inaugural
.meeting. in Clinton last Tuesday
night.
"The. trick to keep foremost.. in
our minds is to provide students
with the best education we can,"
Armstrong said.
She also stressed the role. of
school hoard trustees is to set poi-
,. icy f.,r the staff implement.
"You don't hire a man to plow
the field and then ride' in the cab
with him all week," she illustrated.
Armstrong 'represents Huron
Central comprised of Clinton, Sea -
forth. Hullett Township, McKiticip
Township. . Stanley Township;
Blyth and Bayfield and was a trus-
tee Of. the Huron County Board of
• Education for one full term.
The • following trustees were
elected to other offices: vice -chair -
tion over the last three or four years.
Even there, you're looking at
$600.000 to $750,000 in reduced
administration costs."
Carroll doesn't rule out reductions
in the number of staff in the future.
"As opportunities come up in the
new administration where we have
dual positions. when there is a re-
tirement or someone leaves through•
the normal attrition process, we'll.
look very- carefully at how we re-
structure with an eye on the costs
and what the work load actually is."
There are•currently two or three
vacant positions that will likely not
be filled, according to Carroll.
Another funding concern is the
bridge funding for the period 9f Jan-
uary to August, 1998. Ase part of ed-
ucation reform, the province, is ad-
justing'the new fiscal year of the
school districts to coincide with the
school year of Sept, -1 to Aug. 3I. In
October;' Carroll said he expected a
' S3.6 million revenue shortfall dur-
ing the year of. implementation:
"We have a general idea .of the
level of funding that will he pro-
vided from January to the end of
Ray Ford (representing the City of 1 August but that has 'not been. an- .
Stratford); member -at -large • .Atje . ,nounced'and is not final. It's a coq
Tuyton; delegate to the Otario . :cern because if we need 'to deal
Public'School Boards' Association with a shortfall, we.do not have ac-
- Colleen Schenk. cess to the iak base. Therefore the
The public will see few changes '-
on Jan. 1, w.hcn the Huron and
• path hoards officially amatgainatc.i
according to Patti Carroll: Director
of Education Designate and Sec- '
- rotary -Treasurer of the new board.
.One of the few.visihle changes will
be the absence of the , former
boards' flags and logos. •. '
, "We'll complete the school year
with a transition that has no inter-
ruptron and essentially, no ;change.
, There will he no change even in the
Processes used in the existing
1 boards fdr matters in special educa-
u n. for -example, As the year un-
folds, they will 'begin to plan for
some' changes in September but
even there it isn't a sure thing that
Program equity will be in place for
September -1998. It isn't feasible to
, do that." Carrgll explained. '.
• The Perth • •ancj • Huron' board's
were, the two lowest, , spending
school- boards in the province and
once amalgamated; the new Avon
Maitland board will be'the lowest
spending in -the province. Carroll
said it is not yet known show much
money will be saved through the
amalgamation; the board is still
waiting" for figures from the prov-
ince.
"Over the longer term you will'
see savings as we consolidate but in
terms of immediate dollar savings -
fhere aren'.t going to be any. The
only reduction there will be is in.the
cost of supporting the trustees in
their honoraria and that may be off-
set by increased travel costs," Car-
roll said. •
Any reductions in board staff will
take place through retirements and
attritions. according to Carroll.
"Both the Huron and Perth boards
have come, through significant re-
ductions in senior staff. In 1993
there were four academic super-
intendents. There is now' one left
. , who is retiring. In Perth. they had
four and. now only have two,"' he.
said. "If you're looking at savings.
you need to look at the preparations
that were taken for the amalgams
1 ,1
only way it can .he made up is
through changes in the way we are
operating. I hesitate to say what
that means at this time. It may vary
• for the two jurisdictions." . •
A decision has not yet been made
on whether the new hoard will
move into one office building.
"Certain functions will have to
' he moved into one office," Carroll
said, including accounting, payroll
and human resources support• sys-
tems.
The. board can complete the cur-
rent school year in'the Clinton and
Stratford , administration offices.
The location decision will need to
he made by September with a re=
port'submitted to the Education Im-
provement',Commission in To-
ronto. •
The location of future meetings
is 'also still up in the air. The Jan-
uary meeting wilt .he in Stratford
.but future meeting sites have not
been. identified. - •
', "The current planrecommended
by the Local Education Improve-
ment Committee is to have the
meetings alternate. Some e'of . the
trustees are thinking about moving
the meetings around •the district to
get to know it. That will be a de-
cision• they will make in January,
Carroll said. , •
The Avon Maitland District School Board, unveiled its new Togo and motto at the inaugural
meeting last Tuesday night in Clinton. Parsons Associates Limited designed the logo using
concepts from student's within the jurisdiction of the two boards, arid essentially, the elements
from both logos have been incorporated. Logo design winner Katrina Johnson, left, of Downie
Central School; unveiled -the logo with Chris Parsons of Parsons Associates- Ltd. and AMDSB
chair AbbyAr{nstrang. ,
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