The Citizen, 2001-10-31, Page 6MATERNAL/CHILD PROGRAM
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Nov, 14 - Respiratory Illness in
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THE ROYAL CANADIAN
LEGION
BRANCH 218 - BRUSSELS
POPPY FUND STATEMENT 2000
Opening Balance Oct. 1, 2000 $953.73
Revenue - Oct. 1, 2000 - Sept. 30, 2001 1758.46
Expenses - Oct. 1, 2000 - Sept. 30, 2001 842.51
Ending Balance Sept. 30, 2001 $1869.68
The Royal Canadian Legion
The Poppy Campaign would
like to thank everyone for their
contributions to our 2000 Campaign.
Your generous support is
appreciated.
- Branch 218 Brussels
Together...
We Will
Remember
Take Two Minutes To
Be Part Of The Wave Of
Ril ponce
There are 525,600 minutes in a standard year. The
Royal Canadian Legion is asking you to take two
minutes of that time to share with us as we remember
our war dead at 11 a.m. local time on 11 November. Help
us create a "Wave of Silence" from coast to coast through
your participation. It's not much to ask in return for what we
have as Canadians. But it will mean the world to those who
survived the wars of the past century, and to those still in
our military forces today. It will show them that their service
counts and that they will not be forgotten as we speed our
way through the 21" century.
The Royal Canadian Legion
A force for remembrance
Lest we forget.
MINUTES
d SILENCE
For information on this and other programs see our web
site at www.legion.ca or call a branch near you.
The Royal Canadian
Legion - Brussels
Branch 218
PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31 2001
• CH trustee makes presence known at meeting
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Faced for the first time during his
term as an Avon Maitland District
School Board trustee with an agenda
recommending the possible closure
of the school he successfully fought
to save in 1999-2000, Central Huron
Trustee Charles Smith made his pres-
ence known on various fronts during
a regular board meeting Tuesday,
Oct. 23.
The occasion was the presentation
of a staff report entitled
"Identification of Schools for
Possible Substantial Change," in
which recommendations are made
with the goal of tackling the board's
ongoing problems of dwindling funds
and decreasing enrolment. Among a
list of 17 schools which could be
passed forward to a more definite
potential closure list on Dec. 11, the
only secondary school is Seaforth
District High School (SDHS), the
facility Smith helped save nearly two
years ago.
Ultimately, the most important
among Smith's Oct. 23 actions was
his refusal to support a motion to
extend the meeting beyond 11 p.m.
With Northwest Huron counterpart
Butch Desjardins also casting a dis-
senting vote, the meeting's conclu-
sion thereby had to be postponed
until last night (Tuesday, Oct. 30)
because the board's constitution calls
for unanimity before passing the
• three-hour mark of a regular open
session.
Though it may not have been the
exact outcome Smith had sought dur-
ing his very first action of the night,
in effect, it led to a similar effect.
Smith opened the meeting by
objecting to the night's agenda, and
asking that "Identification of Schools
for Possible Substantial Change" be
issued only as information, instead of
as a so-called "action report" requir-
ing a vote from trustees. He suggest-
ed members of the public should be
provided the opportunity to learn
about the document's contents, and
perhaps express their feelings to
trustees, before a vote is taken.
His proposed amendment was
defeated but, with the postponement
of the meeting's conclusion, the vote
Continued from page 1
public seating area and requested the
right to address trustees.
Board Chair Wendy Anderson,
after requesting the opinion of
trustees and receiving both an oblig-
atory motion and a second to that
motion, asked Steffler to identify
herself. Steffler did exactly that, but
then continued directly into her pres-
entation, without waiting for a full
trustee vote.
It was a short presentation, but
went directly to the point of stating
that Huron East is willing to assist
the board in any way to save the
municipality's schools, including
SDHS.
"We are here to help you. We don't
want to see our schools close," the
mayor said, before noting that the
area is hard-hit in the current list of
potential changes, and was also
hard-hit in the board's previous
round of school closures, in 1999-
2000. •
The crowd of about 100 fell con-
siderably shy of filling the extra
chairs made available by school
board officials, and was much small-
er than the hundreds who packed the
SDHS gymnasium during the latter
stages of the 1999-2000 process.
But, as both Gerth and Pritchard
noted, there are many more meetings
to come this time around, with a final
vote on closure expected in
After some discussion, Chair
Wendy Anderson asked Smith to
direct staff on the preparation of the
motions during a break in proceed-,
ings, allowing a vote to be taken
when the other recommendations
come up for trustee approval.
Smith wasn't as successful, howev-
er, in an initiative he has been build-
ing towards for several weeks, which
is also linked to the potential closure
issue. A notice of motion regarding
the board's goal for average school
capacity loading came up for a vote,
after being tiled over a month ago
then referred by fellow trustees for
further information from staff.
Smith contends the board's planned
level of closures could load all
Ready for work
Recent graduates of the St. John babysitting course held in
Brussels are, in back, from left: Colleen Aitchison, Michele
Cousins, Chris Corbett, Adam Corbett. Middle: Tiffany
Roetcisoender, Stacy Smith, Pam Cousins, Joseph Kerkhof.
Front: Chelsey McLellan, Kiley Deitner. Absent: Jessica
Machan, Kari Bell, Meagan Keffer, Ashley Ford, Crystal
Ford, Julia Mason. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
requested from school councils from
each facility recommended for
potential change, and trustees are
expected to vote on a shorter list of
schools on Dec. 11.
schools at, near or above 100 per cent
capacity, something he says is unac-
ceptable. He also suggests neither the
provincial government nor a private
consultant group, hired by the board,
advise such loading. His notice of
motion called on the board to declare
a loading target of 85-90 per cent of
capacity.
Information was provided in the
form of a report from Education
Superintendent Bill Gerth. It denies
the existence of a board-wide 100 per
cent loading target, suggesting that,
"with schools in this district varying
so greatly in size, configuration and
amenities, what may be a meaningful
loading target one year may not be
practical for the same school the next
year."
"While some schools can operate
comfortably at over 100 per cent
because of the local circumstances,
another will feel crowded at 90 per
cent. One size does not fit all."
Asked by Trustee Carol Bennewies
if setting an 85-90 per cent target
would be detrimental, Gerth said it
"has the potential for being problem-
atic." He suggested such a low target
could mean some facilities would be
kept open even though they don't
generate enough funds, which come
on a per-pupil basis from the provin-
cial government, to cover operations.
Smith argued that "it's our job to
set policy, and I think we need to set
policy identifying what loading we
want to see in the system."
But South Huron Trustee Randy
Wagler countered that such a move
might prevent the board from carry-
ing out decisions which, over the
long term, would be beneficial to stu-
dents.
"I don't know what I want (in terms
of potential changes to student
accommodations) until I see it. and I
need to see some of the options,"
Wagler argued. "Therefore, putting
on too many constraints at the begin-
ning of the process is maybe not such
a good idea."
The motion was defeated 7-1.
was delayed by at least a week. Avon
Maitland officials say the over-all
review process won't be affected by
the delay, however.
Also regarding the agenda, Smith
sought to add three recommendations
made in a report completed over the
past few months by a board-commis-
sioned "Community Accommodation
Study Committee" from the Central
Huron area. These include studying
the relocation of Grades 7 and 8 stu-
dents from Seaforth Public School
into SDHS, and investigating the
potential of attracting students from
outside the district through "special-
ized schools" for such things as aca-
demics, technical pursuits or
International Baccalaureate studies.
Steffler offers help to board
February, 2002.
According to board officials, the
week-long delay for this vote isn't
expected to force changes in the
process. Reports have now been