The Citizen, 2001-12-12, Page 1ESTAJ USRLD 1.01.?
• • .4r,. The Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 17 No. 49
Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2001
75 Cents (70c + 5c GST)
Inside this week
Pg. 6 Former Brussels
lifeguard saves life
8 Photos highlight Pg. Blyth parade
Hospital boards Pg. 15 answer questions
P g
. u Review of Truscott
"v book
Witmer visits Huron Pg. z8 Bruce
HE won't
subsidize
clinic
By David Blaney
Citizen staff
At its Dec. 4 meeting Huron East
council was informed that a letter
had been sent to the Ministry of
Health requesting that the
municipality be considered an under
serviced area. This letter seemed
particularly relevant as the fate of the
Brussels Clinic was on the agenda.
Councillors had been wrestling
with this problem since receiving a
letter dated Nov. 8 from the clinic.
The' letter, signed by clinic
manager Mary Fisher, said the
Brussels clinic was being subsidized
approximately $20,000 a year and
asked for financial help to keep the
clinic open. In response council
asked Fisher to come to a council
meeting to explain the situation.
At that meeting council had not
been satisfied with the explanation
of the amount of money involved.
They asked for a more exact
breakdown of the $20,000 figure.
During the interim, signs had been
posted by the clinic stating it would
be closed in the new year.
Although council is now in receipt*
of more detailed figures, the general
conclusion seems to be that the
closure is as much related to a lack,of
doctors as to finances. Council also
did not seem comfortable with the
idea of getting involved in directly
funding the health care system.
Councillor Greg Wilson seemed
to have the general support of
council when he said,- "I am not in
favour of spending $20,000 to help
fund a medical system that is
supposed to be paid for already."
Councillors felt it would be better
to see if patients experienced
difficulties arranging transportation
for appointments and trying to
alleviate those problems if they arise.
Mayor Lin Steffler informed her
'Colleagues that it was her
understanding that Dr. Craig
Albrecht would be arriving in the fall
of 2002, She also indicated she
believed a locum had been arranged
to help with the current-workload. It
is hoped this person would start early
in the new year.
School closures
By David Blaney
Citizen staff
The Avon Maitland District School
Board released to the public
Superintendent Bill Gerth's report on
school reorganization on Friday,
Dec. 7. The report, which must still
receive formal approval from the
board does not list any of the area's
elementary schools for closure or
significant change.
As was expected by many, Gerth
recommended that Seaforth District
High, School be closed and its
students be sent to Central Huron
Secondary School in Clinton. The
report recommends that closure be
implemented for September
2002.
It also recommends that the
current high school in Seaforth be
renovated to accommodate the
students at Seaforth Public' School.
This is to be accomplished no later
than September 2003.
According to the report the
proposal to move Seaforth high
school would result in annual
savings of $421,595 and one time
savings of $49,039. No cost
estimates were provided for the
renovations needed to equip the
school to move to a K-8 format.
Huron East Mayor Lin Steffier
when informed of the
recommendations said, "Certainly it
is a relief that we are not losing our
schools in the north." She went on to
say, "Council has indicated that we
were fighting to save all Huron East
schools. The fight is not over yet."
The report states the examination
of the Brussels, Elma, Grey cluster
revealed some annual cost savings.
However, the high capital costs,
ranging from $373,042 to $612,456,
meant that none of the options were
recommended by Gerth.
In the addressing the East
Wawanosh, Turnberry and Wingham
schools cluster, a number of quite
complicated scenarios were
examined. The report states that
although there would be some
program advantages, the high one
time costs relative to the annual
savings did not adequately address
the financial drivers behind the
study.
The examination of the Blyth and
Hullett schools revealed much the
`Citizen'
As the Christmas holidays are
nearing, there will be a few changes
at The Citizen.
• The Blyth office will be closed
from Friday, Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. until
Thursday, Jan. 3 at 9 a.m. The
Brussels office will close Thursday,
Dec. 20 at 2 p.m., to reopen Jan. 3 at
10 a.m.
Readers can expect their Season's
Greetings issue of The Citizen to be
same problem as the other area
clusters. Although some annual
operating savings were projected the
one-time capital costs simply did not
justify closure. In each case the one
time costs were over $560,000 and
the maximum savings were
$144,000.
In addition to Seaforth high school
the report recommends the closing of
two elementary schools in Stratford
and Robertson Memorial Public
School in Goderich.
It further Offers a number of
recommendations for reorganization
of schools in Stratford and the
Goderich area.
The report was to be formally
discussed by the trustees at a Dec. 11
meeting. At that time the trustees can
accept or reject the report or amend
it as they see fit.
staff
in the mail Monday, Dec. 24.
As there will be no paper the week
of Jan. 2, 2002, anyone wanting to
advertise an event may wish to do so
in the Dec. '24 issue. Deadline for
this will be Thursday, Dec. 20 at 2
p.m. in Brussels and 4 p.m. in Blyth.
The first Citizen in the new year
will be published Jan. 9.
May you and yours have a blessed
Christmas and all the best in 2002.
AMDSB
Grade 9s
make
the grade
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Two weeks after stressing that
board-by-board comparisons are of
limited value when analyzing results
from provincially-standardized tests,
officials of the Avon Maitland •
District School Board were inspired
by positive Grade 9 math results to
issue a media release emphasizing
such comparisons.
"Avon Maitland students tops in
province," reads the headline on the
document, issued Friday, Dec. 7 on
the heels of a province-wide release
of information from the Education
Quality and Accountability Office
(EQAO), an arms-length government
agency which administers the tests.
Within the media release, Director of
Education Lome Rachlis is quoted as
saying, "It's not often we get the
chance to say we're number one."
Two weeks ago, education
Superintendent Marjatta Longston
told the media that board-by-board
comparisons of EQAO results
"should be avoided." That came after
the province-wide release of Grade.3
and 6 literacy results which, for the
third year in a row, showed Avon
Maitland students to be improving
but still below the provincial
average.
Contrary to the tone of the headline
and Rachlis's comment, much of the
Avon Maitland press release rings
true with Longston's recent
statements. -
Longston herself credits teachers
and pledges continued assistance "in
their instructional strategies."
And board chair Colleen Schenk
says, "it shows we are providing the
right tools to our students during the
critical transition years from Grade 7
through to 9. However, we cannot
rest on our laurels; we must continue
to strive towards . . . improv(ing)
student achievement at all levels."
Avon Maitland's Grade 9 math
results, achieved during tests written
in the spring of 2001, do carry some
significance, however, in light of the
`controversy which has erupted over
the province-wide statistics. Many
critics are concerned that students in
the Applied stream (hoping to enter
community college or the workforce
following secondary school) scored
alarmingly low, with only about 13
per cent reaching a standard set by
the provincial government. In the
Avon Maitland board, 25 per cent of
Applied-stream Grade 9s achieved or
surpassed that standard.
According • to provincial
government guidelines, school-by
school results from the math tests
must be released early in the new
year.
Board-wide results for the Huron-
Perth Catholic District School Board
were not released betause it contains
Continued on page 23
Escort
Santa got an escort into Blyth on Friday from his local elves, Brenda Brown, background and
Mary Lou Stewart. Young and old enjoyed Old St. Nick's annual visit to town for the annual
Christmas parade. (Vicky Bremner photo)
I NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC. I
A
SDHS on board's hit list
gets a holiday