Loading...
The Huron Expositor, 1998-03-18, Page 44 -TME HURON IXPOSITOlt, MarvI te, 19118 Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 TERRI-LYNN DALE - General Manager & Advertising Manager LARRY DAIRYMPtE • Sales PAT ARMES - Office Manager DIANNE McGRATH - Subscriptions & Classifieds )ACKIE HTTON • Editor GREGOR CAMPBELL • Reporter BARB STOREY - distribution A Bowes Publishers Community Newspaper SUBSCRIPTION RATES: LOCAL - 32.50 o year, in odvonce, plus 2.28.G.S.T SENIORS: - 30.00 o yeor, in odvonce, plus 2.10 G.5 T USA & Foreign: 28.44 a year in odvonce, plus 878.00 postage, G.S.T. uennpt SUBSCRIPTION RATES• Published weekly by Signal -Sar Publishing at 100 Main St., Seaforth. Publication mail registration No. 0696 held at Seaforth, Ontario. Advertising is accepted on condition that in the *vent of o typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with o reasonable olbwance for signature, will not be charged, but the balonce of the odvertisement will be poid for at the applicable rate In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods a services may not be sold. Advertising is merely on offer to sell and may be withdrawn of any time The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the leu or domoge of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions.and undeliv- erable copies ore to be sent to The Huron Expositor. Wednesday, March 18, 1998 Editorial and Business Offices - 100 Main Stroet.,Seoforth Telephone (519) 527-0240 Fax (519) 527-2858 Mailing Address • P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK 1 WO Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspapers Association and the Ontario Press Council Publication Mail Registration No. 07605 Editorial Tug-of-war..: with teens in the middle. It's become a tug-of-war with 340 the, caught in the middle. They; have taken to the streets to protest, hut' it seems the youth of today won'U get a say. They have: become numbers with no names. 1 , Therefore they weren't even given the decency of being. officially told their school days at Seaforth District High School may end. They learned that via the media. ' That's what's called respect by the powers that bc, for the next generation. These students have become anonymous faces to school board trustees, and to the education board itself. ' They don't have a voice and they certainly aren't going to have a say in what will effect,their future. , Or maybe they will? Simply because the tpwn and business- es are standing firmly behind them. Pau7CarroTl's stand olr this'issuc when asked why the board hadn't told the students first about the possible closure was that he's never been asked to the school. Come on who's he kidding'? Firstly thc students at' SDHS just need an explanation - not a closure based on figures. • They want a more constructive reason as to why their school could' close to make way for a central board office. ' Stop treating the students as though they are inconspicious. they'arc educated and the board and school trustees should , show them the respect they dt;serve. Meet them half -way 'and begin to treat them like the responsible young adults that they are. IF , Complaint about taxi service I, Dear Editor: This is maybe an unusual topic to pick. but i really have a complaint about the taxi system in Seaforth. 1 realize that if you don't gci anywhere in the evenings or if you are a complete abstain- er from alcohol or have trans- portation of your own. this .may seem trivial to you. But , 1 work within a business which sometimes requires the services of a responsible taxi driver, even though some- times it's midnight when help is needed. • i had occasion a week or so ago when I had a person in the establishment where 1 work. who felt he should not get behind thc wheel of a vehicle to go home. i called the taxi and the answering machine picked up and said the taxi was around tolvn and to leave your name and number and they would call and come when the cab returned home. When I called back the second time, the phone had,been taken off the hook. at least that's what- I assumed since the line was ,stilt busy an hour later. This caused a very major problem as 1 couldn't leave because no one was here only myself. 1 may overlook one inci- dent. but there have been sev- eral times that this type of thing has happened including this past Friday and this time it was 8 .p.m. not even mid- night. This time the taxi was out of town for the night: It may be just one persons opinion but 1 think if you are going to, run such a business you shouldn't just work when it suits you. Set your own hours, so that people can plan around it: Also make sure all your drivers have proper licensing and are reliable. Otherwise give someone else an opportunity to provide the same service or at least reli- able scrvicc to those who may require it. Barb Russell Trails need to be groomed Dear Editor: The weekend of March 13 to March 16 1998 we had some good snowmobile weather for about the first time this year. We didn't have. to put our sleds on a trailer' and go up north to ride. But there was only one thing that stopped us, and that was going from Seaforth on the trail to Brussels. The trails were not groomed and all the money we pay for the trail permits. It should have been done as soon as they kncw the snow was deep enough for the snowmobilers to ride. The trails from Egmonclvillc to Exeter arc always groomed. They care about the snowmo- biters, but not everybody likes to travel Exeter way. All we arc asking is when it snows enough groom the north trails from Seaforth to Brussels. They are really rough with- out being groomed. if only they were groomed it would be nice and not just once when they need it. Tom Fehr Students reply to board Dear Editor: We the'students and staff of SDHS want to express our concern about the proposed closure of our school and some of the misinformation that has surrounded the dis- cussion of this important issue. We would like to clarify the following: I. Facilities; The report of the ad hoc committee says: "we have heard the com- ments' of the student trustees about better access to broader program•and larger better facilities for secondary school students." ' Theimplication here is that the facilities at SDHS are in some way inferior. We would like to point out that our facilities are not only equal to those in other schools on a per capita basis, but they are in fact superior to most schools. The student trustees, with one exception, don't know what our facilities are .and have no way of judging their'worth. To be specific, our school has about 330 stu- dents and one gym. F.E. Madill has about 1100 stu- dents and about three times the gym. space (one large gym and,one small gym.) This works out to the same per capita use. Our sports teams. in spite of our small size, have won their fair Share of championships. 'Our school also has the highest ratio of computers to studentsin the two counti6s. Ifi fact it is 'one of the highest in the province. We have the hest library computer layout in the district and our coca+ putersthere are used more than any other school espe- cially for internet applica- tions. Wc arc the only school to bc able to offer a high tech drafting course onilicon graphics computers. We also offer communications tech- nology courses that use state .of the art eouipment and we are on the cutting edge in developing educational soft-. Wane 9t5iiisalla thronghnt the -proVinc'e.' Nl1iithet schtiBI has been able to accomplish as much., The rest of oar school is similarly equipped. While we arc not large, we are more than adequate in all areas and leaders in some. Before you accept that our facilities are less than ade- quate. please come and sec for yourself. 2. Program ,,'We have heard the com- ments of the student trustees about better access to broader program." Who has a broader program? How many schools offer an OAC course ih phy ed?' Who else offers co-op in multimedia? Who else has a tech program that builds cab- inct work for the entire board? Not to mention -con-, tracts for picnic tables and lawn chairs, flower planters and garbage containers. What schools have a broader range of programs? We offer a full 'basic program, h full CLN program including integra- tion, a wide range of business courses including 17 OACs. Question of the week Being small means that we do have the difficulty timetabling all these courses, but we have found a variety of ways in the past to accom- plish this and we have a plan to improve our ability to deliver program in the future. Before you accept our pro- gram is less than adequate, please look at our course cal- endar. 3. Enrollment: . The famous British Prime Minister Disraeli once said: "There are lies, damn lies and statistics." We agree. Statistics can be used to justi- fy any point of view. Enrollment -projections are - just that --projections. These can change. In the report to the board, the ad hoc com- mittee suggested the enroll- ment projections for SDHS would be further impacted in a negative way because of the "four year high school" and the expansion of St. Anne's. There is no evidence to sup- port this. We are not losing students to St. Anne's and the enrollment projections already take into account the decline in Grade 9 students. As for the four year high school, it has been here since 1984 when a previous gov- ernment introduced OSIS. Students indicate they will not adjust their thinking about the fifth year untes's the government places some sort of restriction on the number of course attempts that may he made by a student. , , But enrollment is the crux of the matter. Two trustees stated on March 10 they believed the school was bound to close in the next few years because of declin- ing enrollment and it would .be prudent to move now. They may be right. But they could be wrong! Should a decision of this magnitude be made on the belief that enrollment will decline to the point where it is not possible to offer pro- gram? Or should there be a time period in which the school has an opportunity to prove its viability using the 'new method of program delivery? -- We believe oar plan for an alternate mode of program delivery will attract students from other schools and juris- dictions and our enrollment will not only cease to fall but will actually increase. We have already had enquires from Chatham and • Mississauga about the possi- bility of having students from there attend this new pro- gram. , Before you 'accept that enrollment decline . is inevitable, please consider the possibilities of -the new method of program delivery.. Request: We at SDHS believe we have the best school in the -province. We know we have great facilities and an excel- lent program. We also have a plan to make our school even better. We would like the opportunity to prove this to to you. We would like to request a Bigger is not betters Trust fund established two-year delay in voting on the motion put forth last Tuesday. We believe during that time we can stop the detline in enrollment at SDHS and prove the viability of our school. If we are wrong, you have only delayed a move to a central office by two years. But if we are correct, you will have avoided making a horrible mistake! SDHS is a community school. Here, every student is known by name. Here, there. is support in good times and in bad. When one of our stu- dents died_ as ,a result. o1 an - accident, the school (stu- dents, teachers, support staff) was there even in the midst of a `strike'. When our sports teams are in close games, the school is there. We are fami- ly. There are no cliques here. The essence of this school is the spirit of being small. of being included. SDHS is also a part of the larger_Seaforth community: People here identify with the school and support the school. They invest .inthe school with over. 520,000 in awards at commencement. They employ bur students and provide co-op place- ments. Many of our graduates return to support the school through community action and with their financial resources. We arc a commu- nity and a community school., Please don't destroy this sense of community for the , sake of expediency. ' , Brent Ribey Dear Alumni 'and friends of S.D.H.S.: . It seems like only yesterday that thousands of you' took timc out of your busy lives to visit Seaforth and rekindle memories of your time at Seaforth District High School. Homecoming '95 - wasn't that a party!!! - Now, S.D.H.S. needs' your help!! The newly amalgamat- ed Avon Maitland District School Board has made a rec- dmmendation to dose S.D.H.S. and move our stu- dents and staff to Central Huron High School in Clinton. The vote on the rec- ommendation has been deferred until March 31, 1998. The Board cites a per- ceived lack of ability to pro- vide programs as its main concern. It has clearly expressed a philosophy' that "bigger is better", when it comes to schools. The reper- cussions to the Town of Seaforth and all small rural communities are farieaching. Our letter to you at this time has two main purposes: I. We need your moral sup- port and request that you immediately send a letter, e- mail or fax to the Avon Maitland District School Board to tell them of your success in life and the impor- tance of S.D.H.S. in your development; 2. We need your financial - support NOW - to ,legally - challenge the Avon Maitland District School Board. Charlie Smith. S.D.H.S. Alumnus, and President of Boilersmith Ltd., in Seaforth, has pledged $5.000,00 to the fund. Please jdin Charlie and the friends of Seaforth in our fight against the closure of our excellent high school. Our reason for asking for your donations is two -fold: I. It is our hope the fund will be used to provide the graduates of S.D.H.S. with awards for their postsec- ondary pursuits: and to pro- vide students with athletic and band uniforms, equip- ment, and the like. 2. If. however, the School Board persists with their intentions to close our high school, the fund will he used to mount a formidable legal challenge. Our intention is to set up thc fund as a Registered Charity and to issue receipts for income tax purposes_ That registration is not guaranteed at this time, however, we have every reason to believe that Revenue Canada will grant' us the status of a Registered Charity. Please send your cheque to "Save Seaforth's High School Fund", Box 997. If the (Seaforth) high Seaforth. Ontario. NOK IWO. Sorry. eash donations cannot he returned but will he deposited in the Fund. An Y amount will be greatly,appre- ciiltcd. If you send your donation by courier. we will be certain to receive,it,hy March 3Ist, 1998. Our list of S.D.H.S. Alumni isby no means complete. and so we urge you to contact 2 friends or relatives and seek their support too. Time is running out. So if at all possi- ble, please make your contri bution before March 31st. • 1998. so we. can demonstrate the depth of our commitment to Seaforth District High School. to the Avon Maitland District School Board at their meeting on March 3 I st. 1998. Contributions will he accepted after this date. Thank you for your.sup- port- Yours very truly. Maureen Agar Friends of S.D.H.S. c/o Maureen Agar. Chair. S:Di-LS. School Council Send your letters to; Avon Maitland District School Board. Corporate Headquarters. 210 Water Street. Stratford. Ontario N5A 3C5 Fax: (519) 27.1-2324 Phone (519)271-0930 Attention: Abby Armstrong. Chair school closes what impact will it have on the town...? Connie Seymour Seaforth "...restaurants and business- es will notice a decline in business. Not enough to makc a difference so busi- nesses will close but it will decline and they will notice the difference." Danica McNichol Seaforth "...it will effect the whole town especially businesses. A lot of teachers and students come into town before and after school and they spend money. (With no high school) there won't be a lot of new families locating to the area." Dale Ann Mc ' c an Londesborough "...devastating economical- ly. A high school is part of a community and if you remove thc school you remove a part of the commu- nity." John Oldfield Tuckersmith T1vp '...they'll be less adults come to town. When the chil- dren's school is in Seaforth the parents make it the centre to do business.