The Citizen, 2004-10-07, Page 7BREAKFAST BUFFET
Sunday, October 10
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
(Closing at 2:00 p.m.)
$6"
(Children 1/2 price)
Stickers Family Restaurant
Auburn 526-7759
What a shock
Mark Pomeroy of the Ministry of Fishcries and Oceans gets a little help from Preston Scott
during the Natural Environment Expo held at Blyth Brook and the Greenway Trail this past
weekend. Electroshocking of the stream allowed experts to discover the type of fish present
and give the public an opportunity to seem them. Among those found was a 28-inch brown
trout, one goldfish, one Koi and 13 fish native to the area. Though the public event was on
Saturday afternoon, students from several area got a preview on Friday. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Petition supports double hatters
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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2004. PAGE 7.
Junior COPEprogram to continue at Madill
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
An injection of education ministry
funds. announced over the past
summer. has allowed for the
With support from firefighters,
fire chiefs and concerned citizens,
Ontarians are being asked by
Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted
Arnott to sign a petition that calls on
the government to pass legislation
.hat would protect the right of
Double hatter firefighters to
volunteer as firefighters in their
home communities and on their own
free time.
"This is a problem that the Liberal
government can't ignore. Volunteer
firefighters, who also work full
time, are being threatened by their
union leaders. They are being told to
quit volunteering or lose their full-
time jobs and this is weakening
volunteer fire departments in
Ontario," said Arnott.
As a solution to the problem,
Arnott has introduced Bill 52, the
Volunteer FireFighters Employment
continuation — albeit at a reduced
level — of F.E. Madill Secondary
School in Wingham's Junior COPE
program.
The initiative, begun last year as a
pilot project, reaches out to students
Protection Act. Bill 52 is his third
Bill on this issue in three
consecutive sessions of the
Legislative Assembly.
"Through this petition we are
calling on the government to
express public support for my Bill
52 and willingness to pass it into
law," Arnott stated. "If the
government is unwilling to do this,
then it should introduce similar
legislation that protects the right of
firefighters to volunteer in their
home communities on their own
free time."
Those who support Bill 52 are
being asked to help collect
signatures on the petition. The
launch of the petition coincides with
Fire Prevention Week in Ontario,
which runs from Oct. 4 -10.
Arnott's petition can be accessed
on line at: www.tedarnottmpp.com
in Grades 9 and 10 who may he at
risk of dropping out of school before
achieving a diploma.
The program rose to the spotlight
last June, when Northeast Huron
trustee Colleen Schenk objected to
the removal of Junior COPE from
the Avon Maitland District School
Board's 2004-05 budget. She was
joined by two of her counterparts in
voting against the board's balanced
budget, but those in favour of the
document narrowly prevailed, by a
4-3 vote count.
According,to the original 2004-05
budget, only the COPE program for
Madill's senior students was to be
continued, with Junior COPE being
cut. The other major casualty last
June was phase two of the board's
Team Read literacy promotion
program, which had only months
earlier doubled from the initial list of
12 elementary schools into 24. Team
Read was to revert to 12 schools for
2004-05.
But over the summer, thanks to the
government's release of the $65
million Learning Opportunities
Grant. the Avon Maitland board was
provided with just over $90,000 to
be used for decreasing the
"achievement gap" between the
strongest and weakest. students.
Administrative staff, believing both
Team Read and Junior COPE fit into
that mandate, applied the money to
at least a partial restoration of each
program.
In the case of Team Read, the
original 2004-05 budget provided
funding for three full-time Primary
Language Resource Teachers, to
continue a three-year-old initiative
of working in 12 schools which had
been identified as .needing extra
literacy intervention. The additional
Learning Opportunities Grant
money won't provide for a full Team
Read reinstatement in 12 additional
schools; instead, it's just enough to
hire a half-time Resource Teacher to
serve those 12 schools in a reduced
fashion — conducting training
sessions for teachers and working
with struggling readers.
Junior COPE has also been
reinstated, but staffing levels have
fallen from one full-time position to
-one half-time position.
"We're very pleased to be able to
(reinstate the programs)," said
education superintendent Pat
Stanley, after delivering a report to
trustees at a meeting Tuesday, Sept.
28.
Schenk expressed relief that
Junior COPE had risen from its
budgetary grave, saying "it has been
a huge desire of mine to see that
reinstated." But she stressed she
would have preferred a return to
-2003-04 service levels, and told
Stanley she would continue
requesting a full-time Junior COPE
employee.
Education superintendent Marie
Parsons, sitting in for education
director Geoff Williams at the
meeting, responded, "we understand
exactly what you're saying about the
full-time teacher. And certainly, the
results speak for themselves."
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