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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2007-07-18, Page 31Wednesday, July 18, 2007 Exeter Times -Advocate 31 Boards combine administration By Stew Slater SPECIAL TO TI I. TIMES -ADVOCATE SEAFORTH — The two publicly - funded school boards in Huron and Perth counties have combined the administration of their trans- portation services, in keeping with a provincial govern- ment directive to form what are being called "consortia." "Effective July 1, 2007, the Huron Perth Student Transportation Services (HPSTS) will manage all home -to - school and special needs transportation for almost 14,000 stu- dents" in the Avon Maitland and Huron - Perth Catholic district school boards, stated a June 26 news release. The two boards "have a long history of working together in the area of transporta- tion," the news release noted. "The creation of the (HPSTS) consor- tium is considered a natural next step." The cheery tone of the news release, however, wasn't neces- sarily carried through later in the day, when Avon Maitland business superintendent Janet Baird - Jackson discussed the change with reporters after the board's final regular meeting of the school year. She said, "we've really been doing lots of sharing of transporta- tion since back in the 1980s," and questioned the Education Ministry's assertion that creating consortia will result in better effi- ciencies. That might be true for some boards, Baird -Jackson said, but "I don't think we're going to see sub- stantial savings." SCHDOL BOARD The move was made because " t h e Ministry is mandating that all boards are going to be in consor- tia," she said. When asked if the Ministry will follow up on the creation of consortia and provide extra trans- portation funds to those boards which com- ply, she responded, "I would certainly hope so." The business superintendent was also asked if she believed the Education Ministry would extend into other areas the requirement for co-operation between public and Catholic school systems. Baird -Jackson didn't rule it out. "Over the last little while, you can see the province starting to look at boards in terms of the cap- ital plan process," she said. Education Ministry representa- tives have promoted the idea of considering cooperation between coterminous boards if new schools are required. "What they don't want to see is a whole bunch of vacant schools in one board and a lot of construc- tion in another," she explained. And even at the June 26 Avon Maitland board meeting, trustee Doug Pratley mused aloud about the possibility of joining forces with the Huron -Perth board in providing specialized program- ming. "If our goal is to serve students, then maybe that's what we should be looking at," the Stratford repre- sentative said. Baird -Jackson said there has been no indication, thus far, that the Education Ministry is consider- ing this type of co-operation. From an office within the Seaforth headquarters of the Avon Maitland board, HPSTS will report to a joint committee made up of representatives from each board. Avon Maitland transportation manager Dennis Harris will take the top job in the new organiza- tion. Baird -Jackson noted this will represent one possible saving; for- mer Huron -Perth Catholic trans- portation manager Lin Steffler retired recently, and now there will be one top manager for the services at both boards. "When school resumes in September 2007, students will not likely notice any change in school bus services," stated the June 26 news release. Board updated on new program By Stew Slater SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -ADVOCATE SEAFORTH — On the one hand, the Ontario government's Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) initiative has the potential to improve the education system's ability to pre- pare students for the workforce. On the other, however, initial stages of the program locally have seen most of the benefits go to larg- er schools and communities. "Next year, if you live in Stratford, technically you'll have access to three different High Skills Majors. If you live in Goderich; if you live in Exeter and you don't want to have to drive, you'll have access to none," said Ted Doherty, education superintendent for the Avon Maitland District School Board. Doherty delivered a report about the developments in the board's SHSM program to trustees at their final regular meeting of the year June 26. He explained the board had just one SHSM this year — the first year it was introduced in Ontario — but that will expand to five next year. The initiative allows secondary schools — if they are approved to offer an SHSM — to create a timetable of credits which fulfills Ontario's high school graduation requirements, but also puts empha- sis on one particular subject area. Last year, 27 high schools were approved to offer pilot SHSMs, including a manufacturing program at Stratford Northwestern Secondary School. At the time of the meeting, either six or seven students were expected to graduate with a diploma this year from the Northwestern SHSM. Doherty described this as a laud- able graduation rate considering the program is designed to take four years to complete and these students only had a year to catch up on any credits they hadn't achieved. Next year, the school's manufac- turing SHSM will continue. It will be joined by a program in hospitali- ty, linked to the school's well- known, student -run Screaming Avocado cafe. Other SHSMs to be introduced next year are an arts and culture program at Stratford Central Secondary School and construction programs at Listowel District Secondary School and Wingham's F.E. Madill Secondary School. An agriculture -themed program will be introduced at the Huron - Perth Catholic District School Board's St. Anne's high school in Clinton. Doherty said there are challenges in expanding the initiative across the district. It's not yet known what the long-term response to SHSMs will be from potential employers or post -secondary education institu- tions. And to date, there has not been a commitment for long-term funding from the province. So board admin- istrators are wary of spending too much money on something which may fizzle. The biggest challenge, however, is introducing SHSMs in schools which don't already have a sizeable technical education component within their classroom space. "It looks like we were concentrat- ing on our biggest schools (when new programs were introduced). And we were," Doherty confirmed. "That doesn't preclude us from expanding those into other schools in the future, but at this point it doesn't make sense" to put pro- grams in schools with smaller enrolment or less technical educa- tion infrastructure. After questions from South Huron trustee Randy Wagler, however, top administrator Geoff Williams argued "equity" shouldn't necessar- ily mean offering the same level of programming in each school. "If equity is defined as having the exact same programs in every school, that is going to cost huge amounts of money," said the board's director of education. He added the goal should be to "enhance programs at the local level" by introducing what's most valuable to each community. And if that means introducing more SHSMs in the future, hopefully that will be possible. Across the province, 153 SHSMs will be in place next year. Last year, there were five subject areas approved: manufacturing, con- struction, hospitality, arts and cul- ture and primary industries (including agriculture). Next year, four more have been introduced: transportation, environment, health and wellness, and business. According to Doherty, the Education Ministry had also hoped to approve SHSMs in the area of energy, but only received an appli- cation from one school. A former principal at Goderich District Collegiate Institute, he wondered aloud whether the Huron County port might be an ideal location for an energy -based SHSM. "If you think of the windmills north of Goderich, and the fact we've got some really keen science teachers at GDCI, I think it would be a great fit," Doherty said. Catholic board discusses privacy By Stew Slater SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -ADVO- CATE DUBLIN — Hot -button topics when it comes to student privacy — cell - phones and the cameras and Internet access that they sometimes accompa- ny, as well as security cameras — were dealt with at the most recent meeting of the Huron - Perth Catholic District School Board. In the case of cellphone and cellphone cameras, trustees approved amend- ments to the board's Computers and Information Technology policy to include restric- tions on the somewhat newer innovations. And in the case of security cam- eras, they made it clear to administration that, even though much information has been gathered in favour of their installation in secondary schools, the final decision has yet to be made by elected repre- sentatives. Regarding cellphones, education superintendent Dan Parr explained the amendments to the policy "are consistent with the language that's already in the student handbooks at our two secondary schools. I think what we're doing is strengthen- ing those statements by giving them a board foun- dation." New sections of the policy, which was renamed to include "Cellphones" in its title, include giving authori- ty to principals to demand all such devices ("cellular tele - p h o n e s, pagers, per- sonal digital assistants and similar types of electronic devices") be turned off during instruc- tional periods "and at times and in locations as determined." Parr sug- gested this might include liturgies and masses. They can't be carried into exam rooms, with added discretion given to principals to ban them at other times "for some or all students." Cellphones with camera capabilities are given par- ticular attention, with a prohibition "in areas where there is an increased expectation of privacy." Parr said, "this is not to prohibit or prevent legiti- mate uses of photos ... in ways that celebrate or highlight successes or achievement." Indeed, another amendment to the policy sets out a means by which parents can approve the use of photos and names of stu- dents on the school's web- site. This will now take place much the same way approval is already required if reporters take photos of school events for possible publication. "It's really to prevent those occasions that have caused problems in some boards, in which students have been found to be videotaping other stu- dents in embarrassing behaviour and then post- ing it to the Internet," Parr said. A later discussion at the June 18 meeting, howev- er, revealed the expecta- tion of privacy doesn't necessarily extend into the halls of high schools. That's because the board, after a meeting between representatives from administration, trustees, students, parents and the police, is giving serious consideration to installing security cameras in its two high schools. The student trustee for St. Anne's high school in Clinton explained there was initial concern about privacy when she informed her counter- parts about the meeting. But the representative from the police had sug- gested to her, at the meet- ing, that security cameras are already in place in many locations — such as stores and bank machines — and it's not like some- one would be stationed at a computer monitor watching every move made. T h e trustee from St. Michael added it was an adjust- ment when a police offi- cer was first stationed at the Stratford high school, but students have grown accustomed to it. She suggested a sim- ilar adjustment would be made if security cameras were installed. In an interview after the meeting, education direc- tor Larry Langan agreed. "The meeting (with the police and stakeholders) reinforced my views that this is just one more mea- sure the board should consider to ensure the safety of our students," he said. Information is being gathered regarding legal ramifications and costs. But when Langan asked if administration could go ahead and install security cameras under special summertime expenditure allowances, board chair- person Ron Marcy declined. Instead, he sug- gested the installation should wait until trustees reconvene next fall for a final decision. In the case of cellphone and cellphone cameras, trustees approved amendments to the board's Computers and Information Technology policy to include restrictions on the somewhat newer innovations.