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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2004-10-20, Page 66 Exeter Times–Advocate Wednesday, October 20, 2004 Opinion Forum News Seniors' perspective Continued from page 5 Directive) is a document that allows you to appoint someone to make personal and health care decisions on your behalf should you not be able to make these deci- sions yourself due to an incapacitating illness or acci- dent. Most provinces now recognize some form of a liv- ing will. When selecting a decision -maker and an alternate, choose someone in whom you have absolute trust, out- lining health care decisions that you want under certain circumstances and personal care directions that relate to your day-to-day life such as shelter, food, safety and personal hygiene. Another question to consider is whether the living will should be effective only after you have been found to be mentally incompetent of making the decision yourself. In some situations, this results in added delays at a time when prompt action is crucial. If you do not have a living will you might experience delays in medical treatment and your health and per- sonal care decisions might be made for you by a govern- ment representative, rather than someone you would have chosen. Remember...you should discuss your living will with your family, doctor, clergy and lawyer. Having a living will is important because it will spare your loved ones from making difficult decisions by dis- cussing your wishes in advance. For more detailed information on living wills, you should consult your lawyer or legal counsel and your medical practitioner and your financial advisor. These professionals have the expertise to properly advise you on your specific needs and situation. Senior discounts: Fall is the perfect time for seniors to travel in Canada. The southern regions don't have too much snow yet and those with young families are not travelling as their chil- dren return to school. There is much less traffic on the highways and the airport congestion is considerably less than in September. The National Parks Parks Canada Agency is responsi- ble for national parks, national historic sites and canals. Those over 65 years of age receive 25 per cent off the entry fees. Please contact individual parks for more information. Through the Via Rail Qualified Seniors program, you can bring a friend for free! From now until Feb. 28, 2005, buy a ticket at the regular senior's fare and get a free ticket in comfort class (economy) for the significant other, friend or child accompanying you! In first class, the program offers you up to 75 per cent off your travel companion's fare! Greyhound Seniors (62+) receive a 10 per cent savings. Greyhound prides itself on its professional, courteous and safe drivers whose friendly, helpful assistance is always there for you. Bus travel offers frequent depar- tures to most destinations, and by travelling mid -week, you can avoid the crowds. Board the bus, enjoy the scenery through wide, panoramic windows, and per- haps meet a fellow senior who also appreciates the com- fort of travelling by bus. In addition, with Companion Fares, if you purchase your ticket three days in advance of your date of travel, a second person can travel with you on that trip for just $15 each way (plus GST)! Or bring a grandchild or niece/nephew for free (one child under 16 rides for free with every senior ticket pur- chased). What a great way to travel together and see the countryside. Principal's message EXETER — On Oct. 14 a brief progress report was mailed home to provide parents with information on their son or daughter's progress in school. The reports do not contain marks, but rather a quick indication from teachers whether or not they have any concerns with students' progress so far this year. We recognize this style of report pro- vides a limited amount of information for parents and students, and so, we encourage you to attend our first set of parent/teacher interviews Thursday Interviews will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Parent -teacher interviews provide an excellent opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss the educational needs of students, and we find these interviews to be extremely helpful and informative. The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test will be written Wed., Oct. 27, and Thurs., Oct. 28, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Students who entered Grade 9 last year and students who have been previously unsuccessful on the Literacy Test are required to write the test this year. Successful completion of the test is a diploma requirement; so, it is JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE important all students required to take the test be in attendance on both days and do their best. The literacy requirement can also be fulfilled through a literacy course in Grade 12, (OLC 40), that we are offering in second semester. Students who have written the literacy test and been unsuccessful are eligible to take this course, but we encourage students who were unsuccessful previously to try the test again anyway so they have two chances this year to meet the literacy requirement. On Oct. 27 and 28, only Grade 9 students and students writing the OSSLT will be required to attend school in the morning. We will be doing a second bus run late in the morning to bring Grade 11 and 12 students in for the afternoon. Students are asked to listen to announce- ments at school, or talk to their bus drivers to get an approximate pick-up time for the second bus run on these two days. The Huron County Parent Education Resources Committee (PERC) will be holding a series of workshops for parents in the library at SHDHS on Wednesday nights, starting Oct. 20. The first session is called "Surviving Your Adolescents," and it focuses on improv- ing relationships with teenagers. The subsequent ses- sions deal with drugs and alcohol, sexuality, and eating disorders and mental health. The sessions are free and will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in the library at the high school. Similar sessions were held last year in Goderich and they were well received by parents. We encourage you to attend. Winter is not too far away and it is time for our annual reminder about snow days and school cancellations. Delays and/or cancellations for SHDHS and our feeder schools will be made on CFPL 980 and CKNX FM 102. We will try to ensure this information is available by 7 a.m., but we cannot guarantee how often the radio sta- tions will announce it. The cancellation notices will also be posted on our school and board Web sites: www.amdsb.ca/SHDHS/current/ and www.avonmait- land.on.ca/. Communication with parents is important to us, but despite all the technology available to us, it remains a challenge. High school students are not always reliable when it comes to sharing information with their parents. An example of this came to light recently when we called a parent about a student's absence from school one morning. The parent responded that she had been told by her son that there were no classes that morning because of an assembly. While we had, in fact, had an assembly, there had been an hour-long class before it and an hour-long class following it; the student missed two classes. Assemblies are generally an hour or less in length and are usually held between the morning class- es; so, if you're told by your son or daughter there are no classes because of an assembly, you might want to check with us before permitting him/her to sleep in. A good source of information about what is going on at SHDHS is our school Web page, the address of which is listed previously in this column But parents should feel free to call us to clarify or verify any information. Direct contact remains the best form of communication. Panther Profile EXETER — Last week was only a four-day week for the students of South Huron, but it was a busy one. Relay for Life had an information meeting for anyone wishing to help organize this year's Relay. Last year's event raised plenty of money for cancer research, and we're going to hold it again this year. If you want to help organize this event, see Ms. Park, Ms. Dougall or Ms. Strano. A special invita- tion goes out to music students who were at Nationals in Montreal last year and didn't get the chance to participate in the Relay. Students' Council will have a Haunted House at South Huron on Halloween. Students' Council is looking for students who wish to help organize and run this event, including peo- ple to help decorate, set up, stand at the doors during the event and anything else that might come up. If you want to help out with this, please see a member of Students' Council. The cast list for "The Return to Eden," this year's school show, is now posted. Check outside the drama room for rehearsal times, especially if you are a dancer in the show. If you were not able to attend commencement, please pick up your diploma in the office. Upcoming events: Oct. 20: Field hockey at South Huron, girls excused at 1:30 p.m. Girls basketball at Mitchell, bus leaves at 1:30 p.m. Parenting workshop in the library from 7-9 p.m. Saga Bound Book Fair in the library from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 21: Reading Day! Don't forget to bring a book to read. University of Windsor presentation, 10:30 a.m. AMANDA ZEHR PANTHER PROFILE Boys volleyball at South Huron, students excused at 1:20 p.m. Saga Bound Book Fair in the library from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Parent -teacher interviews from 3:30-5 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 22: Fleming College presentation, 9 a.m. Girls bas- ketball tournament in Mitchell (all day Oct. 23 as well). Oct. 25: Girls basketball to Central Huron, bus leaves at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 26: WOSSA field hockey. WOSSA cross country. Oct. 27: Royal Military University College and Canadian Armed Forces presentation, 12:45 p.m. Parenting seminar in the library from 7-9 p.m. Literacy Test. Oct. 28: Halloween dance. Education Matters Randy Wagler,Trustee, Huron Area 4 - South AVON MAITLAND DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD How is the provincial government doing in making education one of it's top priorities? It's been over a year now since the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty has been in power, and I thought it would be good to reflect on the impact of this govern- ment on education in our district. Led by the Minister of Education, the Honourable Gerard Kennedy, this government has made education and health care their top pri- orities. How have they done this past year for the students of the Avon Maitland District School Board? Here are some highlights. In the run-up to the election, there was a promise of a hard cap of a maxi- RANDY mum of 20 students in primary grades (Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3). WAGLER Our board gave input to the govern- EDUCATION ment that while we agree with smaller MATTERS classes, an absolute cap of 20 students would require a significant number of new classrooms to be built, and we would prefer some flexibility in the use of the money. In response, the government is giving our board some $800,000 to help where large primary classes exist and where student success is struggling. Over the past six years, our board has consistently lob- bied the government years for more transportation dol- lars to address the fact that we spend almost a million dollars more on transportation than we receive from the government. Starting this fall, the government has implemented a new transportation funding formula that is being phased in and will eventually result in a project- ed increase in transportation funding of over $2 million. The final funding increase is unknown because the for- mula is being reviewed this year. Recently, the government announced new rural fund- ing that designates many more schools as rural, and is aimed at ensuring boards have the funding to provide for a full-time principal and secretary in every rural school, no matter how large or small. For our board, this funding was more than $700,000 and can be used as the board determines in order to improve education in our rural schools. These funding improvements are welcomed by our board, however there is one area that remains a signifi- cant issue — special education funding. In July of this year, the Ministry of Education indicated our board would need to pay back to the government over $600,000 in reserves that had been received in 2003 for special education, but was planned to be spent in the current year. The result is a budget deficit of over $300,000 which will need to be met using other reserves that the board has. The Ministry of Education has indi- cated that the money that is paid back, along with simi- lar reserves from other boards, will be pooled together in a fund that will be redistributed to boards after appropriate application has been made. We are quite certain we will receive a significant portion of this money back, however this has made the board's fiscal situation very challenging for this school year. Finally, on a positive note, I do believe the current gov- ernment is really listening to our concerns about educa- tion. At a recent meeting with around 40 people from both the public and Catholic boards in our area, the Minister of Education indicated the government's plan is a multi-year plan that will take time to implement and needs the support and co-operation of all the stakehold- ers. I was heartened to hear the Minister affirm his com- mitment to quality education for our children, and the fact that he is continuing to seek our input and com- ments is good news. So, is the provincial government making the right choices to improve public education? We won't know the answer to that question for a few years, but in my opin- ion, they are certainly taking steps in the right direction. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at 235-4445, or e-mail me at rwagler@fc. amdsb. ca.