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Times Advocate, 1999-12-08, Page 8..s 8 Exeter Times -Advocate Wednesday, Dec $,1999 Opinion&Forum Remember when,.. On June 30 to July 2, 2000, South Huron District High School gi teNl‘ will celebrate its 50th meet Anniversary. The Exeter Times p" %E1A Advocate would like to join in the celebrations by sharing articles or; pictures which have appeared NI a000 over the years. HI HIGHLIGHTS 1979 - 1986 Students Reach forTop team wins twice "What's the capital of Samalia?" asks the announcer. Kevin Glasgow knows the answer and his finger comes down instinctively on the buzzer. "Mogadiscio!" he blurts out, for another 10 points. Tho game is Reach for the Top and South Huron is rolling to a 465-190 win over Flesherton. "The secret is trying to know a little bit about everything", says coach Bill Johnston, as he theo- rizes about what makes a good Reach for the Top player. After their wins last week, Johnston sees his team, consisting of Glasgow, Bryan Beer, Dave Creery and Matt McClure as being in the top 20 in the province. Both Glasgow and McClure are three year veter- ans of the quiz show, and their experience proved decisive in the team's poorly played 225-135 win over Walkerton Sacred Heart in the first round. As well as world geography, Glasgow's special- ties include biology and current affairs. McClure's areas of concentration are Canadiana and Art. However, Johnston notes, "It's dangerous to overspecialize because that person can freeze up on catnera and have a bad game". First year players, Bryan Beer and Dave Creery showed their talent in both of last Wednesday's games. Beer beat everyone to the buzzer for the sports and mathematics questions. Creery gained valuable points through his ability to identify music. The team, which has been meeting three times a week since September, stresses both mental and physical speed in its practices. Part of each prac- tice is spent working on a buzzer system with packs of questions and the other portion is spent covering a special topic. The pressure of making a fool of yourself in front of a television audience is perhaps the biggest hur- dle to being successful at the game, according to Johnston. However, he's still puzzled as to why the sport is male -dominated. The team has set high goals for itself this year, which include winning the CKNX station champi- onship and summer scholarships at Wilfrid Laurier University. The last two years, South Huron teams have been runnersup and this year they want to really reach the top. The team has a long layoff because they won't play again until the quarter -finals in March. However, between now and then they'll spend a lot of time honing their skills in the pursuit of "boob -tube" fame. Reaching High - The South Huron District High School Reach for the Top quiz team has been far- ing very well in recent competition. Shown with coach Bili Johnston are Bryan Beer, Dave Creery, Matt McClure and Kevin Glasgow 1► 1)1)t;'l:SS!'.S r 1:1'.1)1',1)! ,)o(Iress forms Emit/owe at; • AIM • Times Advocate • RSD Authentics • Exeter Town Hail • SHDHS or visit our web site at vwvw.avor mait►and.on.(,.. ('( i' FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHDHS "ALL -YEARS REUNION" CONTACT'. KENDIIIA Aitmun 235-4006 oLt PAT Rowe 236-7167 OPINIONS AND LETTERS School closures Dear Editor: My generation was the last to have the. opportunity to begin our education in the one room schoolhouse in McKillop. Some of my best learning took place there. In 1971 the persons in power found It necessary to consolidate and to make a change, thus in 1972 I start- ed grade three in Seaforth. Here we are today slightly under 30 years later mak- ing more changes. Some say 'get on with it because it will happen anyway, others have a slightly different feeling toward closing 25 percent of our schools in the Avon Maitland district (Huron and Perth). As a parent I find this to be unacceptable. Saying this: not all the blame should be put on our Board. The gov- ernment has a grant called "Geographic and School Authorities Grant" which is to be used in the diverse. geographical size of our province coping with its differ- ences. The Grant is broken up into three sections. A) Small School Grant: is designed to provide money for school boards that must operate small schools because of pupil sparsity or distances. B) School Authorities Grant: to provide money to the 37 School Authorities in Ontario (these are separate from school boards in that they only operate a small number of schools in very remote areas in Ontario (far. north). C) Remote and Rural: provides dollars to school boards that face higher costs because of distances from a major urban area or because their pupil numl prs are low. The Avon Maitland Board (AMDSB) receh* dollars under the "Small Schools Grant" recognizing that in some rural areas of this board there can be a great deal of distance between schools. "School Authorities Grant" - as the AMDSB is a School Board and not a School Authority we receive no funding under this grant. "Remote and Rural - The government looks at the AMDSB and sees London as an urban centre. Although our district is rural, we are not eligible for that grant. "Pupil Accommodation Grant" - this grant goes toward heating, lighting, cleaning and maintenance, school renewals (repairs and renovations) and new pupil places. The AMDSB receives money under this grant for school operations and school renewals. Because of the excess capacity in the system (which are almost 4000 more pupil spaces than pupils) the AMDSB will continue to repair and renovate our cur- rent facilities. If our board decides to close schools and were to sell property the funds received must then be used for the repairs to remaining facilities. These funds are not to be used for anyhing else. This gives you some idea of the funding formula that our local board is working under. The OFA (Ontario Federation of Agriculture) got involved in this contentious issue late last fall when the OFA office in Toronto received more calls on the "Closing of schools" issue than any other issue. Recognizing that this is a province wide issue that deeply affects its members, OFA put some lobbying efforts toward our government and along with parent groups, the new government saw a need for extra dol- lars in many areas. An example of this was the 20 per- cent top -up for schools showing under capacity, anoth- er wad, more funds for busing. Sharon Rounds, OFA Executive and Agnes Denham, Perth Federation secre- tary, both made presentations in Stratford at a rally aimed toward the government. Since then six local fed- eration members have been monitoring the situation. The time has come again to step up lobbying efforts. Talking with OFA Executive members they are putting together a hand book with questions parents can ask their boards, along with a video. As well, some research has been done on the relation- ship between the distance our children are being bused and the decreasing learning ability of the student once they arrive at school. Also the question arises - is there actual saving in closing rural schools and if so these boards do not realize who is paying, it's the children; remembering that small schools do not necessarily mean less quality education. In OFA's research three school boards were asked to help in providing informa- tion and none were very cooperative. I believe locally it is high time all concerned parents and involved organizations get on the ball and demand more involvement and answers into where our children go to school. For example will closing Walton and Seaforth Public Schools and . splitting Seaforth High up between Clinton and Mitchell really be beneficial for our children? There is an element here only a few of us have considered. In the above example our children will compete for positions on the team of all sports and may not be able to play at all. Another factor that, hasn't been looked at by the board is the longer the bus' ride in our harsh winter months the more risk for everybody: It Principal's !iessage Forging the link between business and education, as challening as it may be, is absolutely essential if we are to equip our young people with the required skills and confidence to deal with technology driven changes throughout their working lives. Forging the link between industry and education is absolutely essen- tial to fulfill our collective mission of DEB preserving our economy and our HOMUTH way of life. PRINCIPAL'S Forging the link between R & D MESSAGE (research and development) arid education is the key to growth and high-valuejobs for this industry. So in our little corner of the world what do we do to help? This week at SHDHS a giant Job Fair is being held by the Co-operative Education Departhent where all co-op students will display their learning from their work placement. Presentations about the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program will also be given. This program allows students to begin work- ing on their apprenticeships while earning credits in secondary schools - a wonderful opportunity. Unfortunately, far too few students ever demon= strafe interest in the program. Perhaps what we need is to become a little more like Germany. It is generally acknowledged that Germany has the best vocational education system in the world. I've often wondered why we can't benchmark that system and learn what makes it so good and use that information to help reinvent our systems of vocational education? We need to legitimize the "school to work track" the "tech -prep" approach and remove the stigma associated with pursuing a course that does not lead directly to university. Of course the apprenticeship route is not for everyone but talking about the possibilities is important. That's exactly what we'll be doing on December 15th when our Grade Elevens will par- ticipate in a Career Day designed to allow them to explore their options. On hand will be several guests, a business entrepreneur, a job market ana- lyst, a college and a university representative and an Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program spokesperson. Focussing on the destination while building versa- tile skills: * strong math skills including algebra and geometry * excellent communciation skills * a working knowledge of computers * problem -soloing skills * the ability to work well in teams so often learned and experienced in the arts * knowledge of another language is the name of the secondary school game. would be acceptable to me as a parent that if a wing of a school wasn't needed right now to shut it down and only some heat would need to be left on. This would make it available to re -open that section of the school if needed in the future. Why would the distance to London disable us in getting money under the "Rural and Remote Grant"? It also bothers me that no board staff has been let go after Huron and Perth School Board amalgamated. Come on people, let's start saving on administrative costs! I think it is very important to get informed and help our district now and not to wait for your particular school to be listed for closure. P.S. Talking with Helen Johns, our MPP, there is no urgency to close our rural schools! Helen says there is no talk of taking away the 20 per- cent top -up and our district last year received added money to help with transportation. Helen goes on to tell me that the board could continue on as is even with the 4000 empty pupil spaces. That number is inflated as well because there has been an error made in the calculation of the Seaforth High School. Some students are talking of returning to the high school after leaving when the board threatened closure last year. No school should be considered for closure until the board streamlines itself and exhausts itself with alternatives. Please feel free to comment on these points if you have concerns (1-519-345-2149). Charles Regele