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THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2005 THE NEW TANNER Speyside school ushered in new era for education Speyside school, once a central public school replacing four one room rural schools, sits forlorn and almost neglected at the corner of 17 Side Road and Regional Road 25 (formerly Hwy 25). The school opened in November of 1960, the first central school in old Esquesing Township. Mac Sprowl, a trustee on the Esquesing School Board of the time, has graciously assented to writing a short history of the school for The New Tanner, which notes that the new school (1960) has a royal connection on the grounds which most people who pass by are not aware of. AK: BY MAC SPROWL Esquesing Township School Area Board No. | (1960 to 1964) built three cen- tral schools: Speyside which opened in 1960, Limehouse public school in November 30, 1962 and Pineview public school which opened in Janu- ary 29, 1964. Speyside, a five room school, was built to replace four one-room places of learn- ing -- Lorne school, Dublin school, Dufferin school and Waterloo school. Trustees of the day looked at several sites before purchasing land for the school. They tried to locate the new five room school in an area central to where the former one room schools were located. The-six acre site at the corner of 25 Highway and 17 Side Road was purchased from the farm of Lorne and Ethel Mullin. Five classrooms were decided on to allow for future expansion. Cost? - $150,000, architects were Barnett & Reider, Toronto, and the contractors Schiedel Construction of Hespeler. Clarence Coles was chair- man of the board in 1960, Rev. Lockhart Royal, vice- chairman, and trustees were Arthur Roy, Mac Sprowl, R.J. Cunningham with H.E. Bat- kin secretary -- treasurer. Staff of the new school consisted of Principal M. Colin Leitch, Gary Dawkins, Margaret Barber, Bernice Debber and Helen Rognvaldson while Mary Kidney was the music supervisor. James Morrison was in charge of maintenance. Inspector of public schools then was R.F. Bornhold. During the opening cer- emonies for the new school historical sketches were given by former trustees of the four -one room closed schools. S. H. Webster traced the history of Dublin school (No. 8) form 1946-1948; Dufferin school (No. 10) by Stanley Brown 1956-1959; Lorne school by R.L. Davidson 1949-1954, William Dobbie 1950-1955, C.W. Taylor 1955-1956; and Waterloo school (No. 5) from Hector Bird 1947-1953. Several interesting wrin- kles were introduced when Esquesings three new central schools were built. Long hall- ways had windows at the top on both sides allowing light from classrooms through. It was called "borrowed" light. Speyside school had a drilled well and a septic field and for the first time in history chil- dren were coming to school by bus, a big difference for the one room schools where children walked as much as a mile and a quarter to and from school and one teacher taught eight grades. An interesting point was Speyside school stands at the corner of 17 Sideroad and Region Rd. 25 raised about Speyside school. The board transferred an oak tree which was planted as an acorn from Windsor Castle in 1938 and it is still standing at the school's north end. When Limehouse public school opened on November 30, 1962, it consisted of six rooms and replaced four one room places of learning: Ban- nockburn, Blue Mountain, Gibraltar and a school on Highway 7. Bannockburn, at the north- west corner of Hwy 7 and the Fourth Line, was a converted log carpenter's shop in 1836. The next school on the site was a frame building erected in 1852 and a brick building in 1870. Blue Mountain, on the Seventh Line (Trafalgar Rd.) north of Silver Creek and south of Ballinafad, was a frame building until a brick school house was construct- ed in 1871. Gibraltar school was first built near Limehouse in 1849, had its location changed to Limehouse, and finally to its present site in 1862 when a stone school was constructed with a second story added the same year. The stone school on High- way 7 at the corner of 22 Side Road was built in 1851. Un- fortunately it was destroyed by fire but replaced in 1866 a year after the blaze. School Board members when the new Limehouse school was built in 1960 were Chairman Robert J. Cunningham, Vice Chair- man Shirley Armstrong and Trustees Stanley J. Brown, Mac Sprowl, William A. Lawson and H. E. Batkin was secretary -- treasurer. O. G. McDowell was the Inspector. s Staff of the new Lime- house school consisted of Principal Eric Balkind, A.C. Dickson, R. Shortill, Mrs. G. Rognvaldson, Miss Mary Munn, Miss E. Elliot, Mrs. Wilson and music supervi- sor Mary Kidney. Architects were Barnett & Reider and contractors were Qlastracco and Son, Cooksville. Pineview opens When Pineview's six room public school opened on January 29, 1964, it brought an end to the era of one room schools in Esquesing township that played such a prominent part in the educa- tion of residents descended from pioneer stock in the nineteenth century. Pineview replaced Ligny school which was established about 1830. The present frame building was erected in 1874. Quatre Bras school was established about 1830 and a brick school built in 1874 was destroyed by fire in 1941 and rebuilt in 1942. Hornby school was estab- lished around 1826 and like most schools was either a log or frame building until a new brick school was erected in 1870. The original Pinegrove school was established much later -- in 1851 --and a frame structure was erected in 1877. Board members for the ~ new Pinegrove school in 1964 were Chairman Shirley Armstrong, Vice Chariman Mac Sprowl, Trustees Lloyd Fisher, Chester Early, Rus- sell Miller and Mrs. C. A. Grant secretary -- treasurer. The school staff included Principal A. C. Dickson, Mrs. E. Hilson, Mrs. E Rid- dell, Mrs. M. Giffen, Mrs. K. Lawson, Miss S. Green. Miss W. Wilson was principal's relief and Mrs. Mary Kidney the music supervisor. The Hon. William G. Davis QC, then Ontario min- ister of education, officially opened the school whose architects were again Barnett and Rieder of Toronto. The contractor was Aedile Con- struction of Whitby. The years 1959-1964 were extremely busy for trustees of School Area No. 1 build- ing three new schools as well as overseeing central schools at Glen Williams, Norval and Milton Heights. They also had the added chore of introducing school bus service for students, a formidable task. Trustees of that era at- tended about 40 school board meetings a year. Remunera- tion was $60.00, s in the School Administration Act for attendance at 12 meetings a year. However, on December 3, 1963, the board passed a motion which allowed each trustee to re- ceive $140.00 as expenses for attending board meet- ings. The five year period be- tween 1959 to 1964 saw a great change in how educa- tion was administered in Esquesing Township, County of Halton. Study concludes Ontario needs long term strategy on quarries The Ontario government does not have a long-term strategy to reduce the impact of mineral aggregate (i.e. gravel, sand and stone) ex- traction on drinking water source waters and other en- vironmental assets, according to a study by The Pembina Institute. It-also lacks basic in- formation on the state and consumption of the Province's aggregate resources, the study concludes. They are the major con- clusions of the study called Rebalancing the Load: The Need for an Aggregate Con- servation Strategy for Ontario. The study compares the prov- ince's approach to aggregate resources management with those of other industries fac- ing serious public conflicts over the impact of aggregate mining. The environmental effects of aggregate extraction have been the source of growing public concern in South- ern Ontario, particularly in relation to the Niagara Escarp- QUARRY STUDY: A study by The Pembina Institute concludes that the Ontario govern- ment needs a long term strategy on the state of consumption of the Province's aggregate resources. Much of the aggregate comes from quarries such as this one south of Acton. ment, Oak Ridges Moraine and proposed Greater Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt. At the same time, the aggregate in- dustry suggests that a 'crisis' of aggregate supply is emerg- ing in the region, and that the province should facilitate easier access to resources. Rebalancing the Load con- cludes that the province has taken virtually no action to ensure the efficient use of the resource, or to explore alter- natives to the use of newly extracted aggregates. Such alternatives include the use of substitute materials, or the redesign of buildings, roads and other structures to reduce the need for primary aggre- gates. Instead, the. province adopted policies that favour aggregates extraction over almost all other land uses in an attempt to ensure contin- ued supply. "Ontario's approach stands in stark contrast to that taken by other jurisdictions fac- ing similar conflicts over aggregate extraction and en- vironmental protection," said Dr. Mark Winfield, Director of the Pembina Institute's Environmental Governance program, and co-author of the study. In the United Kingdom, for example, the government has adopted an explicit policy of reducing dependence on newly mined aggregates, and implemented a comprehen- sive conservation strategy. The strategy includes the application of a resource charge more than 60 times Ontario's $0.06 per tonne charge to promote conserva- tion and finance the supply of alternative materials. Sweden and Denmark have adopted similar strategies," added Dr. Winfield. The study concludes that Ontario needs to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for the management and conservation of the prov- ince's aggregate resources. The Pembina Institute has filed an application for review of the province's mineral ag- gregate policies under section 61 of the Environmental Bill of Rights on the basis of the findings contained in Rebal- . ancing the Load. The province is required to respond to the application within 60 days. Approximately 165 million tonnes of mineral aggregates are mined in Ontario each year, largely in Southern Ontario and much of it in the Acton and Milton areas. Aggregates are used in the construction of roads, build- ings, and other structures, and in the manufacturing of glass, paint, plastics, paper, fertilizers, steel and pharma- ceuticals.