HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-09-22, Page 19Page 20-'Citzzens NtWs; September 22, 1976
Secondary school enrollment up
After a seemingly short and
not -so -hot summer vacation
period, approximately 640 tea-
chers greeted some 12,350
students on Tuesday, the 7th,
While secondary and trainable
retarded enrolments are up
slightly, we experienced a
decrease of some 130 element-
ary students.
Throughout the county, how-
ever, we greeted some 840
very special young people—the
kindergarten pupils. While not
so numerous, the teachers new
to the county, 46 in all, were in
turn welcomed to the team on
Thursday evening, the 9th of
September at the Administra-
tion Centre, Clinton. Mr. Short -
reed, a former Board chairman,
greeted them on behalf of the
Board and introduced the Board
members able to be with
them. D.J. Cochrane, Director
of Education, added his per-
sonal welcome and introduced
the Superintendents with whom
these teachers will be working.
Individual principals present-
ed their new staff members,
making appropriate comments
about their qualifications and
experience. The comments
most often heard that evening
had to do with the high calibre
of our newcomers—Board
members and Superintendents
alike were most impressed.
Less formal in nature, tours
of the centre were then conduct-
ed by the Superintendents.
Special thanks go to Dave
Bieman of the Media Centre
and his secretary, Anne Jonk-
man, as well as to Ila Kayes of
Student Services, all of whom
made themselves available to
outline the resources available
to the schools from these
departments. Best wishes to
all for a successful year.
During the August meeting
of the Board authorization was
Ch i ldrens'
Aid gets
supervisor
Mr. John V. Penn, M.S.W.,
A.A.M.F.C., formerly associat-
ed with the Niagara Region
Family and Children's Services,
has joined the staff of the
Children's Aid Society of Huron
County, assuming the position
of Supervisor effective Septem-
ber 1, 1976.
Born and raised in Great
Britain, Mr. Penn was a Social
Worker in London, England and
emigrated to Canada in 1968
where he began his professional
career in child welfare in the
Niagara Region agency.
Mr. Penn, his wife Maureen,
and two children, have taken up
residence in Goderich.
COME & ENJOY
GUY
LOMBARDO
DANCE
This Popular Performer and his
famous group will make this
event a night to remember.
Why not make up a party of
friends and go to the
Playing 8 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.
Huron Park Rec Hall
SEPTEMBER 27
Tickets can Be Purchased At
• Exeter Flowers
• Exeter Pharmacy
• Dinney Furniture
• Hopper -Hockey Furniture
• N. T. Monteith ltd.
Or Call 235-2416
or 235-0685
Or any member of the Exeter
and District Heritage
Foundation
Tickets Available At The Door
$20 Per Couple
given the Heritage Administra-
tion Branch of the Ministry of
Culture and Recreation to
erect a plaque honouring Dr.
Robert Coats, a Clinton native
who became Canada's first
Dominion Statistician. The pla-
que is now being erected on
the grounds of Central Huron
Secondary School close to the
site of the old Clinton Collegiate
Institute which Dr. Coats
attended.
As a result of another August
decision, Huron County will be
co-operating with the Child-
ren's Psychiatric Research Ins-
titute (C.P.R.I.) in a testing
programme to develop local
norms for the public school
version of the Adaptive Behavi-
our Scale.
This scale is designed for
use in the assessment and
placement of children, especial- ,
ly where mental retardation is
suspected. The students to
be tested will be in the age
range from 6-0 to 11-11. In all,
only sixty classrooms will be
selected randomly from the
lists provided by participating
Boards.
While only a few classes
from our Board's jurisdiction
are likely to be selected, the
Board considers this testing
programme as being quite
important.
Don Young, our attendance
counsellor, received Board
approval recently to invite the
Ontario Association for Coun-
selling and Attendance Services
to hold its 1977 annual con-
ference in Huron County.
With the information of early
school leaving committees, the
duties of these counsellors are
increasing. As a consequence,
the exchange of ideas between
them is having greater local
impact. Should the conference
be here in 1977, our Board
will be hosting a luncheon or
banquet during the three-day
convention.
There will be a ratepayers'
meeting in the Huron Centen-
nial School on Wednesday,
September 29th at 8:00 p.m.
to discuss a proposed boundary
change for Tuckersmith and
Stanley Townships. Overcrowd-
ing in some schools, coupled
with declining enrolments in
others, has led to this meeting.
It would seem likely that in
the future we can look for simi-
lar meetings in other townships.
At any rate the local citizen
will be involved then and now.
STUDENTS COUNCIL CHOSEN—The Zurich public school has
already elected their students council members for this year.
They are, back, left to right, Karen Steinbach, room 6 class
representative; Sandra Datars, room 8 class representative; and
Janice Luther, room 7 class representative. Front are, left to
right, Connie Neeb, Treasurer; Bob Hay, vice-president;
Brenda Riddell, president and Robert Willert, secretary.
Photo by McKinley
Drivers at heart of traffic problems
The Select Committee on
Highway Safety of the Ontario
Legislature was appointed this
year to study all a'44:tects of
highway safety and to examine
and consider proposals design-
ed to reduce the number of
highway accidents. The Com-
mittee has been holding public
meetings throughout the pro-
vince in order to hear the com-
ments of the public.
As with past similar com-
mittees and studies, the Ontario
Safety League presented a
number of proposals and recom-
mendations. Whereas great
strides have been made in
highway design, vehicle de-
sign and safety features, and
legislation—safety belts, speed
limits, motorcycle helmets, etc.
—little attention has been paid
to the driver. This is the heart
of the problem: driver educa-
tion.
While it is true that high
quality driver education is
available to the general public
—and the League has been a
leader for more than sixty
years in this aspect—little has
been done by law makers to
foster and promote a better
class of driver. In the League's
opinion, licenses are still too
easy to obtain, the license it-
self can readily be illegally
used by someone other than the
licensee, there is no control
over the quality of commercial-
ly offered driver education, and
driver retraining has been given
only lip service.
The Ontario Safety League
therefore made the following
recommendations:
(1) That the Licensing exam-
ination as it currently stands be
re-evaluated. It should provide
a diagnostic and remedial func-
tion. That is, it should be of
sufficient scope that the applic-
ant could be evaluated to
determine his or her areas of
weakness. Should the appli-
cant fail, he could be shown
where he needs to improve and
programs would be available to
help the prospective driver
remedy his or her deficiencies.
Such a procedure would, of
necessity, than
that now in
expensive,
the increased
take
use
but
longer
would
and
we
believe
be
that
expenditure
would be offset by a correspon-
ding reduction in unsafe driv-
ing.
Such a procedure would also
have the effect of making the
public seek professional driver
education at the outset.
'(2) That driver's licenses
include a photograph of the
licensee in order to provide
better indentification and to
prevent theft, transfer or other
misuse.
(3) That teaching standards
be regulated for Commercial
Driving Schools. While the
majority of professional driv-
ing schools have proven that
they are necessary, capable and
concerned with the safety of
the public, due to the rapid
growth of the driving school
industry and the wide range of
methods used to train drivers,
the high standards necessary to
train a competent driver for
today's traffic problems are
not always applied.
(4) That drivers who reach a
specific number of demerit
points be required to take a
Defensive Driving Course. A
network of DDC Instructors is
available throughout the pro-
vince through the Ontario
Safety League, an more instruc-
tors could be trained as re-
quired.
The Huron County
Board of Education
Invities The Ratepayers of
Tuckersmith & Stanley Townships
To A Meeting
In Huron Centennial School
On Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1976 at 8 p.m.
For the purpose of discussing proposed school boundary changes.
D.J. Cochrane
Director of Education
H. Turkheim
Chairman