The Citizen, 2007-05-17, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2007.
An experiment in school
discipline, brought in by the Mike
Harris Conservatives in 2000, took
its first official steps towards its
demise on April 17, with First
Reading in the Ontario Legislature
of an amendment to the Safe Schools
Act.
Bill 212, which changes parts of
the Act that mandated expulsions for
certain infractions and gave teachers
the right to suspend students, could
potentially become law as early as
July 1, depending on the priority it’s
given by the ruling Liberals. The bill
was written in the wake of the
creation of a Safe Schools Action
Team that studied the effects of the
Safe Schools Act, as well as a
complaint about the Act brought
forward by the Ontario Human
Rights Commission.
At a regular meeting of the Avon
Maitland District School Board on
Tuesday, May, 8, education
superintendent Ted Doherty
provided trustees with an
explanation of the proposed
amendment’s repercussions.
The topic which inspired the most
discussion was alternative programs
for expelled or suspended students.
The Safe Schools Act advises boards
to provide such programs but it’s not
mandatory.
And at a recent meeting of
administrators and ministry staff,
Doherty learned that only one board
in the province currently provides
such programs.
Under Bill 212, such programs
will be mandatory. North Huron
trustee Colleen Schenk expressed
concern about the cost of such
programs, and wondered if boards
will be allowed to co-operate with
neighbouring boards or their
Catholic counterparts to save on
costs. Doherty responded that such
co-operation will be allowed.
A high school principal at the time
when the Safe Schools Act was put
into place, Doherty has first-hand
experience with its repercussions.
“When this first came out, it was
really hammered into us that
(principals) must expel; you must
suspend,” he recalled.
Now, even with the Act still in
place but with a different approach
from the government, “there’s much
more of an emphasis on mitigating
factors.”
He described the proposal to
remove the right of teachers to
suspend students as “a welcome
change . . . because the teachers
didn’t use it. They were advised by
their unions not to suspend, and that
they should leave it up to school
administrators.”
Another “welcome change” is the
proposed enshrinement of a
principal’s right to take disciplinary
action in response to infractions
which take place off school grounds,
if it’s deemed those infractions affect
the environment of the school.
“This has actually been backed up
by the courts already. When
principals have chosen to exercise
this authority, the courts have upheld
that right,” he said.
Doherty offered the real-life
example of a principal who
disciplined a student on the first day
back at school in September, in
response to a dispute with another
student which occurred at a summer
camp in July. A court upheld the
principal’s actions.
The education superintendent
suggested this type of authority is
increasingly important, considering
the increased frequency of so-called
“cyber-bullying.”
Doherty reported that one Avon
Maitland board policy and two board
procedures will likely have to be
amended, once Bill 212 passes into
law.
Harris experiment
takes first steps
towards demise
In 2005 the shortage was in
roofing materials and contractors; in
2006 it was boilers.
This year, under Phase 3 of the
Ontario Education ministry’s Good
Places to Learn initiative, school
boards across the province find
themselves in competition for a
limited supply of electrical materials
and the tradespeople who install
them.
The challenge came to light at a
regular meeting of the Avon
Maitland District School Board on
Tuesday, May 8, when trustees were
asked to approve a tendering process
for a wide-ranging electrical
upgrade at South Huron District
High School in Exeter.
Only one contractor, JMR Electric
Limited of Exeter, submitted a price:
just under $1.54 million.
“Due to the high volume of
projects being tendered by boards
and other owners, there is a shortage
of contractors who are tendering for
these projects, especially in the rural
areas,” stated a report to trustees,
prepared by business superintendent
Janet Baird-Jackson.
The project qualifies for funding
under the High/Urgent needs
category of the Good Places to
Learn fund, which was promoted bythe ruling Liberals as a strategy forcatching up following several years
of failure to fund the upkeep of
school buildings.
And though Baird-Jackson credits
the government for putting money
back into the education system,
she’s critical of the way Good Places
to Learn has been rolled out.
She explained boards have never
been certain if the initiative will
continue, so in the first year they all
targeted the most obvious
maintenance needs: roofing. Then
came boilers.
And this year, electrical upgrades
have moved to the top of the
list.
“The concern, of course, for the
trustees, is the lack of competition,”
chair Jenny Versteeg noted prior to
the vote – which ended in
unanimous approval of the JMR
Electric bid.
Baird-Jackson explained one
London-based contractor, who
frequently submits bids for Avon
Maitland projects, “has got 15 big
jobs in the Thames Valley (District
School Board) and said he can’t bid
on our work this year.”
She said the board recently
hosted a “walk-through” in advance
of a proposed upgrade at
Goderich District Collegiate
Institute – to include some electricalwork but also work on SpecialEducation and Culinary Arts
facilities – and only one general
contractor attended.
She quickly added, however, that
follow-up calls to other general
contractors revealed it’s quite
possible they will submit bids, but
just couldn’t attend the walk-
through.
Baird-Jackson also offered
assurance that, although the
South Huron project didn’t result
in a competitive tendering
process, the successful bidder
“certainly has the human resources
and has been a competitive bidder
with the board in the past. Plus, he’s
right in Exeter.”
Still, she admitted the situation
isn’t ideal.
“If boards had multiple years of
capital funding, I don’t think we’d
see this situation to this degree,” the
business superintendent told
trustees.
And, speaking to reporters
following the meeting, she added,
“we raised this with the MPPs . . . a
year ago and said this method of
announcing capital funding is not
working. Because they’re not
getting the value for their money
that they want. And neither are
we.”
Strut your stuff
Amelia Pletch was one of five members of this dance team
that took to the stage at East Wawanosh Public School’s
talent show last week. Talent acts featured piano, singing,
dancing and even a cheer to close out the show. (Shawn
Loughlin photo)
School boards competefor materials, tradespeople
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