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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2006. PAGE 25.
Trustees to consider draft plan, Oct.10
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
A 10-year draft plan prepared by
the Avon Maitland District School
Board, set for approval by trustees
on Tuesday, Oct. 10, calls for the
construction of a new elementary
school on the grounds of St. Marys
DCVI, to replace existing
kindergarten-to-Grade 3 and Grade
4-8 facilities.
The school would house students
from kindergarten to Grade 6, while
students in Grades 7 and 8 would
attend the DCVI portion of the new
complex.
The same plan suggests relocating
Grades 7 and 8 students into
secondary school facilities in
Mitchell. Listowel and Goderich. In
Mitchell and Goderich, one of two
in-town elementary schools would
close, while the other would receive
renovations.
In Listowel, with a projected 10-
year enrolment increase that goes
against the general Huron-Pdtth
trend, the high school would receive
a new cafeteria (the old one would
be converted to a music room) and
both existing elementary schools are
expected to be necessary.
Turnberry Central and Milverton
Public Schools, meanwhile, would
be subjected to the provincial
government's "prohibitive to repair"
formula, potentially enabling the
board to receive education ministry
financing for either replacing the
school or relocating students to a
renovated nearby facility.
The draft plan, which every
Ontario school board has prepared
over the past year at the request of
the provincial government, was
provided as information at the
board's regular meeting Tuesday,
Sept. 26.
According to Avon Maitland
business superintendent Janet Baird-
Jackson, the plan's suggestions
arose from a combination of the
information available to the board
regarding such factors as projected
enrolment, and input from school
community members gathered over
the spring and summer of 2006.
"This board chose to do a very
extensive consultation," Baird-
Jackson said, adding some sort of
public consultation was required
when the education ministry
requested the 10-year plans. "There
was comprehensive information
provided to school councils (and)
most provided feedback to us over
the summer."
Indeed, the information provided
on Sept. 26 included point-form
notes summarizing suggestions sent
to the board by many school
councils following a series of
consultations organized by the board
last spring.
Among the comments submitted
by the St. Marys Central Public
School group was "consider a K-12
or 7-12 school at DCVI with' one
elementary school for the town
elementary students." A similar
suggestion was part of the
submission from its cross-town
Grade 4-8 counterpart.
But a ,glaring discrepancy in the
feedback portion of the report is the
'fact several north and central Huron
school councils provided no report
over the summer. These include
Holmesville, Hullett, Robertson
(Goderich), Wingham, and the
secondary schools in Wingham and
Clinton. (The school council from
Victoria Public School in Goderich,
which is a potential target for
closure in the 10-year plan, did
submit a report, and it expressed
support for placing Grades 7 and 8
students at Goderich District
Collegiate Institute.)
At the Sept. 26 meeting,
CentraVEast Huron trustee Shelley
Kaastra cautioned that the lack of a
submitted report "doesn't
necessarily mean (those school
councils) don't care."
Still, it was clear that Avon
Maitland officials sensed a greater
desire to participate among certain
communities. Baird-Jackson told
trustees that "some (school
councils) were more proactive than
others."
In particular, community
representatives in St. Marys and
Mitchell were cited for bringing
concrete proposals to the table
which sometimes differed from the
Avon Maitland view, but indicated
acceptance of the argument that
enrolments will inevitably drop.
"St. Marys and Mitchell were two
communities which, in consultation,
expressed openness to
accommodation different from the
present format," added education
director Geoff Williams. "In both
those Communities, school councils
expressed what they'd like to see in
terms of insuring students get the
best facilities possible, but
recognizing that it probably can't
stay exactly the same.
"As part of our annual
accommodation report in October,
we'll be proposing keeping those
conversations going."
Interviewed following the
meeting, Baird-Jackson noted the
board already gave its commitment
it would not consider major
accommodation changes in the
2006-07 school year. So no concrete
proposals are expected before next
October's annual accommodation
report. And there's certainly no
guarantee changes will be
recommended at that time either,
given the questionable fate of the
province's 10-year capital plan
initiative.
Baird-Jackson says the directive
to create the plans was made by
Gerard Kennedy, the one-time
Education Minister — she described
him as "very involved with the
capital plan process; very hands-on"
— who has now left provincial
politics to pursue the leadership of
the federal Liberal Party.
"We're now into our third minister
since this started," she said, referring
to short-lived replacement Sandra
Pupatello and now current
Education Minister Kathleen
Wynne.
As a result, school boards are
unsure if there will be a commitment
of funds to follow through on 10-
year plan recommendations. Also,
the timelines set out in those plans
(the St. Marys and Goderich
changes are listed for 2009-10) are
probably optimistic. But Baird-
Jackson cautioned it may be wise to
leave those recommendations in the
plans — even if the chance of
completing them is low — to ensure
the boards will get the money if it is
made available.
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