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The Times Advocate, 2007-08-29, Page 66 Times–Advocate Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Opinion Forum News Rodeo leaves mess behind in Exeter I am utterly disgusted with the Exeter Rodeo Committee and the Municipality of South Huron. The Dodge Rodeo Tour recently made its annual stop in Exeter and gave a great boost to the local economy. Many local restaurants, bars, motels and bed and break- fasts benefit financially from the rodeo's economic spin-offs. However, I play baseball in the Exeter men's slow pitch league and after the rodeo left town recently, the baseball diamonds were left in a disgusting state. Garbage, plastic forks, bailer twine and worst of all, horse manure were left sprawled across both ball diamond one and ball diamond two. This debris was still visible on both diamonds on Mon., Aug. 20, and Wed., Aug. 22 (more than a week after the rodeo). The diamonds are for recre- ational use, not a landfill site. i Next year, all I ask of the Exeter Rodeo Committee and the Municipality of South Huron is to keep in mind that many local resi- dents enjoy the use of the ball diamonds on a regular basis including neighbourhood kids. Please do a proper cleanup after the rodeo leaves. If this type of trend continues, who will want to rent the facilities? BRENT GIBSON, Lucan schools in Southwestern Ontario (or the 519 area as they call it). Our students are missing out on basic courses because we don't have the funding for teachers to teach them. In Middlesex County, our students are forced into split classes at the high school level — Grade 11 and Grade 12 chemistry is taught by one teacher to both grades in the same class. Last year French was a three grade split! Also, many students have only one course option to select — not two, not 10 — because of the lack of teachers. You take it or leave it! This lack of funding for teachers is causing severe hardship in the rural communities that this present government tells us they are trying to help. For the past several years, small rural high schools like ours, with a student population of around 380 (93 per cent of capacity), have been waiting for the promised revisions to the "Funding Formula" that were to address the funding inequities in small rural schools. My board trustees at the Thames Valley District School Board (the third largest in Ontario) tell me they can't find the funds to address the staffing issues in my rural high school. I am only asking for one or two teachers to meet just the basic requirements of our students' needs. We need teachers in the class room, not equipment, online courses or extra office supplies. This crisis in small town rural Ontario is causing students and parents to choose between staying at their high school, with its dwindling staff resources, or leaving their community to ensure they get the basic course selection everyone expects and deserves. Teachers are the cornerstone of public education. Is it too much to ask this government, or the next, to provide such a basic need? We were promised a "fix" two years ago and we're still waiting. My question once again is, "Where are the teach- ers?" Letters to the Editor Where are the teachers? The provincial Conservatives are talking about funding for religious schools; the Liberals are talking about their "record" on education. It's time they all talked about a real crisis facing small rural high schools and public Another season ends EXETER — This past week was Playground's final week and it was an excellent one! To finish up on Thursday, we had "Revenge on the Leaders." Our kids traced us on huge banner paper and coloured us in, then each of the leaders held up their picture and the youngsters lined up and threw pudding -covered noodles all over us! For lunch, Marie Nethercott donated hotdogs, chips, pop and ice cream sand wiches for Playground to devour. Thank you so much, Marie, we all enjoyed it very much. After lunch, we headed to the Exeter Pool and went for one last swim. Again we thank the Pool for letting us join them in their public swim. On the last day, Friday, we had a "Skating Party." In the morning our kids played in the sand, one of their favourite things to do, and decorated the Ag Building right before snack. We then strapped on our skates and glided across the ice, being the first to etch up the new surface. We had lunch, then continued skating. Those who wished to do so played hockey while the rest of us just skated around. We finished the day off with a cold EXETER treat, awards and prizes for all the kids. We hope they will remember how PLAYGROUND much fun they had at Playground 2007. LEADER I would like to recap some of the highlights of Playground 2007. An over- all highlight was most definitely the kids who came to share the fun. Thank you so much, kids, for coming to enjoy our program. We had an awesome time! In July we took our first trip to Adventures on Wonderland, went to the Library and learned the system at Dairy Queen. Plus, we went to the Pool seven times and appreciated our swims. In August we went to Bingeman's in Kitchener, traveled to the Exeter Fire Hall, the African Lion's Safari and New Orleans Pizza. Many thanks to all for allowing us to come to your facilities. Wow! This summer was packed with exciting events and activities. I hope your summer was a blast. We can't wait to see old and new faces next summer. CASEY CYR Update from South Huron mayor SOUTH HURON — About eight years ago the municipalities of Stephen, Exeter and Usborne came together to form a larger municipality. At that time there was a lot of sibling rivalry between the three and talking about joining was a giant step. They were working under a threat from the province and as the threat became more real, the talks became more sincere. The new municipality was proposed and would take form Jan. 1, 2001. The committee in their wisdom decided that if the new municipality was to survive and thrive there would have to be some ground rules. One of the first rules implied was that none of the existing municipalities would be given special treat- ment. Therefore the new name couldn't reflect any of the old names. "Municipality" was cho- sen as part of the name to get away from either "township" or "town." "South Huron" was chosen as the new name, hence the official name became the Municipality of South Huron. Every municipality has a crest and our new crest would reflect the Municipality of South Huron and would not incorporate any of the old crests. The crest is simple but effective, showing that we are industrious with an agri- culture base and tourism based with the sun going down over the lake. We are a part of Ontario and also a part of Canada. Some people were upset at the time of the amalgamation that we would be losing our community identity. People do associate them- selves with a community and most times the community is a built up area or a local church. This concept was tough on the people of Exeter as they have always been only one com- munity in their municipality. In Stephen there were already many communities within the municipality — the lakeshore in Grand Bend, Dashwood, Crediton, Huron Park, Centralia, Mount Carmel, Shipka and rural Stephen. In Usborne there were a few smaller communities such as Elimville, Winchelsea, Kirkton, Woodham and rural Usborne. With the new municipality, these existing communities were encouraged to exist and thrive. Strong communities make a strong municipality. Everyone should be encouraged to promote the Municipality of South Huron to be the best in Ontario. The easiest ways you can do this is by being proud of your commu- nity and striving to make your community strong and unique. I only caution you that your method of making your community strong and unique should not be at the expense of the municipality. — To be continued next week Ke n Oke DOUGLAS RICHARDS , Chairperson, School Council North Middlesex District High School Chairperson, School Council McGillivray Central School, Ailsa Craig Principal's message EXETER — As the summer draws rapidly to a close, it is time to start getting ready to return to school. Although many stores have been having "Back to School" sales for several weeks now, most students wait until the last week of their holidays to really start thinking about it. In fact, some students put off thinking about it until well into the Labour Day weekend. But the time is now upon us and it is time to start getting geared up for the new year. Every new school year brings a few changes and this year is no exception; in fact, we probably have more changes this year than in any other year I have been at South Huron. Certainly, we have more staff changes and this will have a significant impact on the tone of the school. Joining us this year are: Heather Foran in Career Studies and Student Success; Evelyn Elder in Social Sciences and Co-op; Jacqui Vercruyssen in Communications Tech; Nick Seebach in Science; Matthew Weston in Communications Tech; and a second semester teacher yet to be hired for COPE. Linda Pfannenstiel joins us as an Educational Assistant and Bob Gehan, who was briefly transferred out, is back with the COPE program for first semester. Brandy Shaw, who joined us for second semester last year, is back for the full year this year. I wel- come each of these new staff members and hope their time at South Huron is as rewarding as mine has been. Students will also see some significant changes in the building as well. Construction crews have been hard at work over the summer, upgrading our electrical system, installing new bathroom fixtures and giv- ing the gym ceiling a much- needed facelift. The whole place looks cleaner and brighter, and I would be remiss in not thanking the custodial staff, who have worked hard all summer, and especially in the last two weeks, to make the school look great. They have done an amazing job and I am grateful for all their efforts. Students entering Grade 9 are reminded of the Orientation Day being held this Thursday (Aug. 30) starting at 1 p.m. They will meet the Students' Council, tour the school and be able to buy a combination lock for $6. (We encourage students to buy the locks we provide as they are more durable than many of the locks bought in stores and we guarantee them with free replacement if they break.) Provided that the con- struction has been completed, Grade 9 students may be given the location of their lockers as well. On the first day of school, students will gather in the large gym before the start of classes for a short assembly. We will introduce new staff, review any policy and proce- dure changes and then send students on their way to first period where they will receive their timetables, planners and student information sheets, as well as pay their student fees. The student fee this year has been increased to $25, as has the cost of a yearbook. This increase is due to increased costs in many areas, but I would like to point out that South Huron still has one of the lowest student fees in our board, perhaps the lowest, even with the increase. The yearbook cost, despite the increase to $25, is still slightly less than the actual cost of pro- ducing the yearbook: the remaining amount is subsi- dized by the school and the Students' Council. Those are the major changes for this school year, and I am looking forward to another great year of achievement and success at South Huron. I hope students and staff enjoy this last week of the summer, and I look forward to seeing every- one on the first day of school. JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE