The Huron Expositor, 1995-05-17, Page 17May 1995
Education
DON'T MISS WHAT'S INSIDE THIS SPECIAL ISSUE
2/3 Recent School Additions & Changes Wide Range of Extra -Curricular Activities Offered 4/5
6-7 Schools Involved with their Communities Historical Timelines and Principal's Messages 6/9
10/11 Real World Education Special Programs 12/13
14/15 1994 Financial Statement Board of Trustees 16
Changes to the System are Unfolding
at Breakneck Speed
A it lessage froru the Chair of the Board, Roxanne Brown
As I look back at previous issues of this
publication, I am struck by the number of
times the message from the Chair has
pointed out the changes that are taking
place in education. With the publication of
the report of the Royal Commission on
Learning, changes to the system as we know
it are unfolding at breakneck speed. Fortu-
nately, in Huron County, many of the
recommended changes have already oc-
curred. We have student trustees at the
Board table and committee level, most of
our schools have parent councils, and we
are actively pursuing cost-cutting coopera-
tive ventures with the Perth County Board
of Education and the Huron -Perth County
Roman Catholic Separate School Board, to
name a few. One of the major recommenda-
tions deals with information technology. For
a small Board with limited resources, we
have been able to keep pace with or ahead
of many Boards in technological upgrading
because we chose to apply a portion of our
infrastructure funding to this end.
As Chair of the Board, I am pleased to
be associated with a group of dedicated
trustees who work together to ensure that
our tax dollars are spent in a way that puts
as many dollars into the classroom as
possible to benefit the children who, after
all, are the reason we have Boards of
Education. Recent results -from province -
wide testing show that Huron County
students ranked above the provincial
average.
I hope that you will take time to look
beyond the financial statement to see the
great things taking place in our schools.
A New Commitment to 'Goal Setting'
at All Levels of the System
A Message from the Director for the System, Paul Carroll
During the current year we have
adopted a new commitment to 'goal setting'
at all levels in the Huron Public Education
System. This approach is designed to help
us move into a mode of `continuous im-
provement' in all areas. It represents our
collective effort to add 'quality control' for
the single purpose of improving learning
outcomes for students.
As we began the 1995 year, with a new
board of trustees, the sixteen elected
members took time to establish some key
goals. The priorities include the following:
1. To review and develop Board policy
positions; 2. To improve goal attainment;
3. To develop alternative methods of
program and service delivery; and, 4. To
enhance parent and community dialogue.
These statements set the general direction
for the school system. Within these param-
eters, all schools and staff are expected to
define specific actions to help the Board to
achieve the global outcomes sought.
Schools are also working hard to
establish the new mandatory community
'councils, with well over half the schools
`up and running' with a variation of this
concept in place well before the deadline of
June 1996.
Staff training for computer literacy is
also a major school goal. As new techno-
logically enhanced approaches to teaching
and leaming are introduced, and as access
to the global information highway unfolds,
we are preparing our students for a very
new and different world. Staff must be well
equipped to assist students on this journey. ,
It is our hope that this tabloid can, in
some small way, help to support the Board's
goal of enhancing communication and
building higher levels of understanding and
support for the Huron Public Education
System. We invite you to join with us as we
continue our quest of "Opening Up the
World" for 10 000 day -school students and
the growing number of another 1000 adults
who attend other programs.