Huron Expositor, 2009-02-04, Page 14Poge 14 The Huron Expositor • Februa
4, 2009 'i:
•
News
Avon Maitland District School Board plans to ban
the sale of bottled water starting next Januar
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Stew Slater
OMMINOMMO
Beginning next January, the sale
of bottled water will be prohibited
on all property owned by the Avon
Maitland District School Board,
"except where required for medi-
cal or emergency purposes."
Doug Pratley, the senior trust-
ee representative on the board's
Environmental Leadership and
Education Committee, presented
the recommendation at a regular
board meeting Tuesday, Jan. 27.
But the . passage of Pratley's mo-
tion -- which eventually received
unanimous support did not come
without some discussion.
Some trustees wondered if it
might make more sense to first di-
rect staff to undertake a study into
the possible impact of such a ban.
Indeed, Pratley's motion recom-
mends such a study according
to his report, it would "include the
issues of water fountains or cool-
ers in schools, contractual obliga-
tions to suppliers . reasonable
timeline for introduction of the tion was Perth South/West Perth
ban, special circumstances such representative Carol Bennewies.
as medical needs or field She wondered why the
days etcetera, (and) board would contin-
possible `pushback' ue to allow the sale
'I would befrom parents, suppli�of carbonated Bever-
ers and the industry,,ages but ban the sale
But that study would astonished to of water.
happen after the ap-hear that there Pratley first re-
proval of the ban.- sponded with a joke,
Top administrator is not ;, f saying, "when we
Chuck Reid advised X
X have fountains that
doing the study first. }° AF;
: spew Coke, then it
But Pratley stuck to water in all our wouldn't make much
his guns. sense to put Coke in
"Let's make a state- , the machines. o._M
ment for our students. Stratford trustee ' But he followed that
Let's make a state- Meg Westley
up by noting, "we're
anent about the planet. going in baby steps.
Folks, this 43 not space We're starting with
science. If (admimstra- x, , � i
bottled water."
tors) come back and tell us that; Perth East trustee Tina 1 Tra-
this is going to cost us anunbeliev- schel, who operates a business
able amount of money, then maybe that serves many students, spoke
we can put our eco -ethics away for in favour of the notion of be
a while." i , = ring with bottled water Oistea�
Also expressing reservations po
bout the exact recommenda- he suggested some students
f "are way -aheadof. a -lot` of us on
quality.
But this inspired Stratford trust-
ee Meg Westley to speak up: "I
would be astonished to hear that
there is not drinkable water in all
of our schools. That would be ille-
gal avid immoral.
(Indeed, schools -- particularly
those not linked to municipal sup-
plies -- are required to follow re
lar testing regimes.) 1 -
Approval of the ban means ad-
ministrators must now conduct
the impact study with the knowl-
edge that it will beunplenien
But Pratley suggested trustees
could probably be lenient with the
Jan. 1, 2010 timeline if it's deter-
mined that some sites are unable
to comply for legitimate reasons.
And he noted students and staff'
will still be allowed to bring bottled
water onto Avon Maitland proper-
ty if it's purchased elsewhere.
,4c- Our
(.,A)
this," and has heard repeatedly
about concern about the environ-
mental effects of the bottled bever-
e and bottled water industries.
er business has complied with
requests to cease the sale of bot-
tled water, and has decided to only
sell pop in cans. t.
Student ' trustee Luke McIntosh
also expressed reservations about
the ban, saying a lot of students
are reluctant to drink from school
fountains due to low water pres-
sure and misgivings about water
ree
ur-year collective,men
between the Avon Maitland bistri
Sc_hoel Board and the local apterY
of the Ontario Secondary School
'leachers Federation . (OSSTF) has
been ratified by both sides. Moth-
ers will receive three per cent raises
in. each of the four. years, .running
through Aug. 30,
2012. :� 3,:A
• But on the
elementary,.
side, negotia-
tions have onlyr
just resumed,
a single day
ahead of a Jan.
31 • deadline that ='
provincial union
president David
Clegg warned..
would have left
members of the
Elementary
Tyeachers' Feder-
ation of Ontario
(EFTO) with
"no option but
to initiate strike
votes, which will
be the precursor
to job actions."
See WARD,
? Page 19
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