Trustees decide to leave MSS alone

Health unit partnership a template for board, says chief financial officer

MIDLAND – Midland Secondary School’s partnership with the Simcoe County District Health Unit has secured the school’s future.

The utilization of six classrooms by the health unit has reduced surplus capacity in the school to 273 pupil places, or the equivalent of 13 classrooms, a new school board report shows.

And it also shows how the Ministry of Education envisions partnerships working, said Glen Cunningham, the board’s chief financial officer.

“(Partnerships) are an initiative the ministry encourages board to pursue,” he said, adding capital programs director Nancy Whynot applauded the board’s move. “She had high complimentary remarks on our securing a lease with the health unit.”

The issue came up after board vice-chair Caroline Smith suggested the board “right-size” MSS by reducing excess capacity. Smith proposed asking the ministry for money to tear off the second storey of MSS and to upgrade the school.

“I would hope they put back lockers and (upgrade) washrooms, particularly for the boys. This is an honest, from-the-heart, good-deed motion,” said Smith.

However, Cunningham said “right-sizing” MSS would be neither easy nor necessary, as the health unit lease reduces excess capacity to the 13 classrooms.

“This wouldn’t be a ball and crane. This would be a room-by-room, surgical removal,” he said, adding the board would have to go through the process of declaring it surplus.

He also told trustees the ministry has funded demolition only in cases where the building is severely crumbling.

Education director Kathi Wallace said staff is serious about finding partners like the health unit.

“Partnerships are something we have been asked to search for in the whole community, to enhance the fact surplus space can be offered to our communities, to agencies that can benefit,” said Wallace. “We’re not finished. We will be continuing to do that.”

Oro-Medonte/Springwater trustee Peter Beacock said the board should consider bringing in its alternative learning and adult learning programs.

“I can’t imagine anyone running a small business would lease space down the road,” he said.

$582,000 for upgrades better spent on schools with more certain future, trustees say

SIMCOE COUNTY – Simcoe County District School Board trustees are turning down the cash flowing into re-energizing Penetanguishene Secondary School.

Dealing with a routine report to spend $5.5 million in energy-efficient schools funding, trustees told staff they couldn’t keep putting money into PSS. Instead, they want to see what other schools could benefit from the nearly $582,000 proposed for PSS.

Enrolment in the county’s north is plummeting. At PSS, which has capacity for 705 students, enrolment is now 508 – but that’s expected to drop to 480 this fall and to 458 in 2012.

At nearby Midland Secondary School, which can accommodate 1,527 students, enrolment is 914, and that is forecast to drop to 898 in September and to 868 in 2012.

For two years, the board has refused to make a decision on whether to close PSS and merge it with MSS.

Adjala-Tosorontio/Essa trustee Rob North called the issue “the elephant in the room.”

“I don’t know whether PSS will be here in 10 to 12 years. Who knows what the enrolment in the north will be?” he said.

Clearview/Collingwood trustee Caroline Smith added the board also spent $3 million on bricks for PSS, as well as money for equipment.

“Yet there is a school down the road (in Midland) with 22 or 24 empty classrooms,” she said. “Barrie has schools that have not received upgrading in the last while. If you put schools in an accommodation review, and say we can’t put funding in … you turn the tide with the capital plan.”

Barrie Central Collegiate – which is forecast to have 943 students next fall – could be closed because of building systems issues. Last fall, the board passed over Central for maintenance money because it was subject to an accommodation review. It is also not on this year’s energy upgrade list.

The board’s associate director Carol McAulay, however, urged trustees to stay on course with the capital plan that maintains the overcapacity in the north and northeast.

“We keep putting money into this school with 495 students,” Barrie trustee Sue Ley pointed out. “We have not made a decision on the future of PSS, and it has a declining enrolment.”

MIDHURST – A Simcoe County District School Board trustee says a blog in which he compares the board to a circus isn’t contrary to a code of conduct or a new provincial law.

On www.educationsimcoe.com, Adjala-Tosorontio/Essa trustee Rob North mocks his colleagues’ discussion about closure reviews and school upgrades.

“‘Step right up, step right up. Place your bets. Lots of prizes to be won. New classrooms, new libraries, renovated gyms, joint municipal facilities, heck you could even win an entire new school,’ says the man at the carnival,” writes North online.

The blog criticizes the board’s vice-chairperson for meeting with an MPP at a school, the board’s chairperson for expressing her opinion during her inaugural remarks and two other trustees for suggesting an addition at Elmvale District High School.

Throughout the post, he uses a carnie and the tooth fairy as characters, and describes a notice of motion for Elmvale upgrades as a “board credibility-crushing final act”.

“Hits went through the roof on that, hundreds and hundreds of hits,” he told The Advance when asked about the post. “Sometimes you have to be your own media outlet. I’m trying to get the message out that that’s what we’ll look like if certain decisions (to close schools) are not made.”

The SCDSB’s code of ethics says trustees will “not conduct themselves in a manner that is intended to be to the detriment of their own board”, and “work with other board members in a spirit of respect, openness, cooperation and proper decorum”.

The board is working on upgrading that code, to comply with Education Act revisions under Bill 177, which sets higher expectations for trustee conduct. It allows the education minister to order a review of a board if concerns are raised about issues including board governance.

The board’s code also says while expressing contrary opinions, a trustee should be respectful and not make disparaging remarks about other trustees or their opinions.

North contends he hasn’t broken any rules.

“I haven’t made comments about the chair and vice chair,” said North. “I made comments about the politics. Like it or not, school board trustees are politicians. At times, there seem to be a few different rules.”

He said Collingwood/Clearview Trustee Caroline Smith should have sought a board motion before meeting with Simcoe Grey MPP Jim Wilson at Duntroon, which is the subject of a closure review, to talk about rural school funding.

Smith considered the meeting part of her job.

“Good government involves all levels of government talking to each other,” she said. “I’d encourage all politicians to share information and build those relationships.”

Meanwhile, North criticized chairperson Debra Edwards for her inaugural remarks that included saying the board shouldn’t begin any new accommodation review committees (ARCs) until after the provincial election in October.

“The chair is not in charge of the school board. The chair is the tool by which the school board functions. It’s a servant leadership,” North said.

However, Edwards said her inaugural address is the only time she can give her opinion.

Bill 177 also requires her to ensure her board behaves appropriately and by its own code of ethics.

“The code of ethics is our guideline at the moment, and we are moving forward to develop it into a new code of conduct that incorporates the new regulations,” Edwards said, adding she “hopes all trustees would abide by the code of conduct that they signed when they were sworn in.”

She would not comment on North’s blog.

North defended his right to free speech on his blog, and on Facebook and Twitter, on which he encouraged people to vote for opponents of several trustees, including Edwards.

North actively campaigned for Edwards’ competitor in Orillia, as well as against Bradford West Gwillimbury Trustee Nicole Black and Oro-Medonte/Springwater Trustee Peter Beacock.

He used social media and more-traditional campaigning. He wrote a letter urging Orillia voters to choose Edwards’ competitor, who he described as mature and professional, and signed it as a trustee.

“I campaigned against (Edwards). I did. She won fair and square,” he said. “It will take a while for us to get back on track.”

Included are closures, consolidations and hopes for new schools, as the board must submit its wish-list to the education ministry by the end of January.

But some trustees say the newly elected board – which will take office Dec. 15 – should have had some say.

“This is a five-year capital plan and it is a direction of the board for the full term (of trustees) coming up,” said Collingwood/Clearview Trustee Caroline Smith, as she urged the board to delay a decision until January.

She noted almost half the trustees will be new. Chairman Brad Saunders opted for municipal politics. Barrie’s Diane Firman decided to retire. Bradford West Gwillimbury’s Nancy Halbert and Barrie’s Julia Gasewicz were defeated. The native trustee changes annually.

“(Letting the new board decide) is really the right thing to do. I hope to listen to the opinions of the new board members, and they should have a right to weigh in on it,” said Smith, who will begin her third term on the board.

Former board chairman and long-time Orillia Trustee Debra Edwards proposed the delay -  because she too believes new trustees deserve to have a say.

Full article

CS Note:  Clarification – it was clearly stated by SCDSB staff  option presented to the ARC and inturn the public includes no funding for any new accommodations e.g. new schools, or additions.

Keep our school open

Duntroon parents don’t want children going to school in other communities

DUNTROON – The Simcoe County District School Board’s accommodation review committee (ARC) for Clearview elementary schools held its first public meeting on Thursday night and the message from Duntroon-area residents was straightforward: Keep our school open.

The committee is looking at the needs of local elementary schools because in most cases they face declining enrolment.

Five schools are a part of the review: Clearview Meadows Elementary School, Nottawasaga-Creemore Public School, Byng Public School, Nottawa Elementary School and Duntroon Central Public School, where Thursday night’s meeting was held.

Clearview Meadows in Stayner, due to residential growth, is the only school where enrolment is not expected to decline below capacity.

Board staff says that declining enrolment at Duntroon is already impacting the delivery of programming and that as a result the school should be closed.

The board’s manager of planning and enrolment, David Few, presented staff’s position Thursday night. Staff is proposing that Duntroon Central close in June 2011 and students be moved to other schools nearby.

Based on Few’s report, five students would be moved to Clearview Meadows, 42 would go to Nottawa Elementary School and 40 would go to Nottawasaga-Creemore.

(Full Story)

Thank You for returning me as your trustee for the SCDSB 2010-2014. I am extremely appreciative of all the help I received during this campaign from so many folks, thank you all.

Caroline

Collingwood Election Results

Clearview Twp. Election Results

The Simcoe County District School Board could begin streaming its meetings on its website.

At the Oct. 13 business and facilities meeting, trustees approved a motion to make video recordings available online. The decision has yet to be ratified, though will be discussed at the Oct. 27 board meeting.

Collingwood/Clearview Trustee Caroline Smith said the move will help parents and taxpayers understand issues better.

“Staff reports and minutes (from meetings) don’t do the whole job. You don’t know the debate and you don’t know which trustees are supporting the motions,” she said.

A calendar of board meetings, along with staff reports, is on the board’s website, at www.scdsb.on.ca.

Taping meetings as video-records began two years ago, and earlier this year, the board expanded its bandwidth, she noted.

She added she listened to Toronto school board meetings online, and found the superintendents’ presentations informative.

Full Article Simcoe.com

Council defers decision on WIFI

Collingwood council wants more information before it makes a decision on whether or not to remove WIFI from town facilities.
Council had a motion on the floor to remove the wireless internet terminal from the library as well all town buildings.
Donna Mansfield, chair of the Collingwood Public Library Board, said the town can’t demand anything of the library.
“We were concerned that council attempt to direct the library board,” she said. “We’re an autonomous board. They can request us, they can’t direct us.”
The issue of WIFI has been a hot topic in Collingwood as a group of parents with children attending Mountainview School have said some children are experiencing symptoms of headaches and nausea, which they attribute to WIFI terminals at the school.
Simcoe County District School Board trustee Caroline Smith said the school hasn’t received a medical note regarding these symptoms.
“We haven’t had kids go home sick, we have had concerns from parents,” she said.

Full Story Simcoe.com Oct. 1, 2010

DUNTROON – The future for Duntroon Central Public School does not look good.

At the first meeting of the accommodation review committee (ARC) that’s looking at the needs of local elementary schools, board staff said Duntroon should be closed.

Manager of planning and enrolment David Few presented the position of board staff during a meeting the ARC held last Thursday night at Duntroon Central.

In his report, he said declining enrolment is impacting the delivery of programs to students at Duntroon.

As a result, staff is proposing that Duntroon close in June 2011 and those students be moved to other schools nearby.

………………….

Caroline Smith, the board’s trustee for this area and a member of the ARC, called the staff proposal for Duntroon “shocking”.

“It really was. And it wasn’t what people wanted to hear,” she said, adding about 10 people, a mix of parents and teachers, sat in the audience listening. “The thing I kept telling people is this is not a fait accompli. This is worst-case scenario. The board is saying if you can’t come up with a better option, this is where we’re going as a board.”

Smith said the public must put on its thinking cap.

“We need to come up with a better plan, something the public buys into,” she said.

Smith said the option presented by the board is “narrow and doesn’t include the potential for partnerships. They don’t include any inventive ideas that I think will surface. One thing is bringing in other programs to Duntroon that might be of benefit to other schools. Maybe Duntroon could be the focus for French learning or the arts in the area.”

(Full Article]

Background:

Also see On Your Mark, Clearview and Barrie ARCs – carolinesmith.ca

Immersion – even for a short time – is critical to students learning a language, she said. They need to see the language in action and the visual prompts which are so critical in reading, math and science play a role just as significant in French, agreed Colbourne, who had a room of her own a decade ago when she taught for the Peel Region board.

“I want students to experience and feel like they’re walking into another country. On the first day, I welcomed them to France, where French surrounds them. I found French music to play during class. I want them to experience another culture and another place.”

So with common expressions on one wall, students can find the basic phrases they’d need to start, and carry on, a conversation, she noted.

Colbourne, meanwhile, has created a literacy wall – a provincial requirement to promote literacy – at Cameron Street Public School in Collingwood.

Full-story

Also see post on Smith On Education - Opening French Classrooms a hit