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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2004-02-04, Page 66 Exeter Times–Advocate Wednesday, February 4, 2004 Opinion Forum News School closures are simply precaution Dear Editor: I am a grade 10 student at South Huron District High School and I can speak for many students when saying some unnecessary school closures are simply due to precaution and that our safety is just being looked out for. If I can remember correctly, last Tuesday was calling for bad weather so principals all over Huron County and Huron Perth took the liberty to cancel the school buses and close the schools rather than have the chance of students being stuck at school or harmed due to the weather. I would much rather enjoy being in my warm, cozy house than freezing in a vehicle that has gone into the ditch, which many vehicles have done in the past few weeks. This past Monday's weather was the beginning of another storm coming our way and we were sent off to school, in worse conditions than the Tuesday before. My bus pulled over two times due to the poor visibility and slippery conditions but we were still sent to school? So it works both ways. We are sent to school when we shouldn't be and we aren't sent when we should. So if some parents feel it is such an inconvenience that your children's safety is being looked after, shame on you. I'm sorry that you have to make a few phone calls to find a babysitter, and honestly who are the people really facing the inconveniences? Not the par- ents but the students who are falling behind in their classes due to the snow days. So, don't look disapprovingly at the principals of our area who are simply just looking out for the safety of your children. JULIE BIBBY, Crediton. An issue of personal safety Dear Editor: In reply to Mr. Cottrell: I went to Exeter Public School when Jim Chapman was there and yes, the school was hardly ever closed but those were different times. With the school boards closing schools, there are now students being bused further, including to Exeter Public School. The closures are based on road and weather condi- tions and these decisions are made quickly and early in the morning. We put the responsibility of the safety of our children in the hands of the bus companies and the school boards and if they don't think it's safe out there, then they have the right to call the shots to cancel buses and close schools. As far as that "Tuesday" that he commented on "when the weather was excellent," some areas were worse than others and the potential for bad weather was there. The call to close the schools was right. I mean, come on, we live in the snow belt, think about it, according to the weather forecasters, it's the hardest region to predict the weather. As far as the teachers getting a paid day off, I am told Panther Profile EXETER — The senior boys' basketball team won the consolation final at a tournament in Parkhill Saturday. Today, the basketball teams will host F.E. Madill. Today, during first period, iFluRtz question- naires will be handed out. This is a fun survey stu- dents can complete that will show them with whom in the school they are most compatible. Students involved with the for- mal committee's fashion show have been busy planning for the event. It will be held March 3 and is sure to be a great show! Coming events Feb. 4 — Boys' basketball at SHDHS Feb. 5 — Curling team to St. Marys — leave at 7:45 a.m. — Girls' hockey in Listowel — leave at 12 p.m., return at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 7 — Curling tournament Feb. 9 — Boys' basketball at St. Anne's Feb. 10 — Girls' volleyball teams host St. Anne's and Central Huron Feb. 12 — Girls' volleyball teams host Listowel and St. Mike's ASHLEY ERB by a vice principal friend of mine that if the school is open, they have to try to get to work, if they cannot make it in, there is a deduction in sick credit. If it's not open, then so be it—it is an issue of personal safety. Finally, referring to Mr. Cottrell's comment, and I'm sure there are many others who feel this way, of work- ing parents having a hard time making daycare arrangements, when schools are closed, TOUGH! You should have a plan for this, or just stay home and be responsible for your own children. The school is not a daycare or a babysitting service. DANNY L. SMITH, Exeter. It's not only the cost of repair Dear Editor: Feb. 1, 2004-A beautiful, sunny Sunday morning until a visitor comes to tell us that we've been hit again: mailbox smashed and all the windows in the boys' bus hut smashed out. Only living here three years, it's the third time we've had this happen. To the person or persons responsible for this not so very nice thing you've done to us: I ask you to please think about how you would feel if this was your bus hut and your family mailbox. Even better, if you would look into your future, and if this was your mailbox and your children's bus hut, how would you feel and how do you think your children would feel? It's not only the cost of the repair work but the hurt and scared feelings that children have not knowing Volunteering should be a choice, not forced I just want to start by saying that I don't dis- agree with the Ontario requirement for students to complete 40 hours of community service in order to get their high school diploma, but I do feel that students aren't really getting anything from the experiences. I think that students accepted rather quickly that if they wanted to graduate, they would have to do their part to help the community, but I think the actual purpose of the idea has been over- looked. Now, instead of volunteering being something that a person did out of the goodness of their hearts, it's become more of a sentence that has to be completed, no matter what. Students for the most part are concerned about getting their hours done and recorded so that they'll never have to worry about it again. When I think of it, making the volunteer service mandatory does make some sense. When it was discovered the double cohort would occur after the deletion of the OAC grade stu- dents were warned that post -sec- ondary schools would be weighing marks more heavily than usual due to higher numbers of appli- cants. Therefore, the amount of volunteer service would drop if students felt it wouldn't help them get into a school. However, the whole idea could backfire once the double cohort years are worked out. Sure, at one point many hours of volunteer service would look good on a school or job application, but now that it is mandatory it would hardly look as impressive. By forcing students to complete the required hours by threatening to withhold their diploma from them diminishes the whole volunteer idea. Students would only do it because they HAVE to, not because they WANT to. What can students learn from that? Chances are a lot of them will be done with any form of volunteer work once those hours are all recorded. From personal experience, I know how reward- ing volunteering can be. It's not just knowing you helped someone else out, but it's the feeling that you actually did something to make a difference, big or small, in a person's life. Though I still need to update my hours book, I have surpassed the 40 hour requirement. Even though many of the hours I served cannot be counted because they were not completed in the community, I'm okay with that, the experience was more than worth it. I hope that students continue their volunteer work after their hours are completed, because the life lessons can be more rewarding than getting a few hours out of the way. DEBRA TOONK why someone would do such an awful thing. If you have a lot of anger and frustration, try hitting a brick or cement wall with a part of your body, this way you are only hurting yourself and not someone else's prop- erty. There are two little boys who are very upset and scared now, not knowing why anyone would do this awful thing to their bus hut and family mailbox. Maybe you could answer this in next week's paper better than I. JAYNE GLENN, Crediton Principal's message EXETER — The weather in January was unbe- lievable, and if the number of school days lost to snow days was not a record for one month, it was certainly the greatest number in recent memory. With several weeks of winter left and high snow banks along our roads, we have probably not seen the last of the bad weather. But let's hope we at least get a few full weeks of school in between now and the arrival of spring. On snow days it is important we have effective communication about the status of the buses and of schools, but sometimes this seems to be a real challenge. There are many sources of infor- mation and perhaps that adds to the confusion. We need to get the word out quickly when we have bus cancellations, for example, and so we cannot possibly call all the radio stations in the area. We call CFPL 980 and CKNX FM 102 and we hope students, parents and staff will tune into either of these stations to get the most accurate information. But even if they do, there is still the possibility of confusion. One day recently, for instance, the bus contractor decided it was necessary to cancel the vans and small buses that pick up our special needs students because many lane ways were not plowed out and there was a great risk of these smaller vehi- cles getting stuck. When the radio stations announced it, many listeners thought all the buses had been cancelled. To compound the problem, some other radio sta- tions began reporting that all the buses were can- celled and that some of the schools were closed. Where these other stations got that information remains a mystery. We also post the weather-related information on our board Web site: www.avonmaitland.on.ca. However, even with this communications tool, there can be problems. I had phone calls last week from parents concerned the information was not there, and yet I knew I had posted it. One parent informed me that the information had been there and was gone later. When I checked into it, it turned out there were so many cancellations across the board that day, that our information was pushed to a sec- ond page of cancellations. The arrow indicating there was a second page was so far to the right it did not appear on the screen unless the viewer scrolled to the right. There is now a visual cue on the screen advising viewers of the need to scroll right. On stormy days when we have run the buses, we often get calls from parents wondering if we are sending the buses home early. Please remember this is seldom done. If the roads are in bad shape and visibility is bad, the last place we want students to be is on the road. The plow operators know what time to expect the buses to be on the roads and they plow accordingly. If we dismiss early, then we run the risk of sending buses down unplowed roads. Our policy is to keep the students at school where they are safe until the bus contractors are confident we can get the students home safely. There has been considerable controversy about the number of school days we have lost and there are some rumours circulating about how we will make up for the lost time. At this point, rumours are exactly what they are! Principals have been asked to provide suggestions and board office personnel will be meeting this week to discuss the issue. But no decisions have yet been made and after the situation has been dis- cussed, the director of education will be the one to announce any actions that may be taken. In the meantime, let's hope February is a much better month and that we can finally hold our Grade 8 Information Night and get on with course selection for next year. JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE