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Board will accept volunteers for extracurriculars Continued from page 13 19 · Friday, February 22, 2013 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com Screening of volunteers for low-risk activities will be at the principal's discretion, while the screening of volunteers for medium and highrisk activities will be done centrally through the board's committee. The committee is expected to first meet next week and it should begin its screening process soon after that. When asked by Oakville trustee Kelly Amos how the board will deal with inequities in the extracurricular system, Euale said it won't and that inequities will exist. "To one school music is important, to another school it's curling, to another school it's chess club, to another school it's whatever. We're going to catch-as-catch-can. Where we have people interested in leading things, we will try to facilitate that person's interest," Euale said. Euale said he hopes people come will forward to supervise activities and then the board can form leagues. Making sure there is equity will be easier in the elementary system as there are 83 public elementary schools in Halton so creating leagues will be easier. There are only 17 high schools so leagues might be harder to form. "If you only have four or five schools come forward for a team event, then it's going to be limited. We'll take what we get and see what we can do with what we get. There definitely will not be equity," he said. Euale said liabilities would not be a problem as the board will be able to provide insurance coverage for the volunteers. The school principals will have final say of which activities take place. Euale said the principals understand which activities are important to the students, including track and field, grad night and Grade 8 field trips. Trustees also heard an update on extracurricular activities in schools, which, to date, have been limited. "In elementary schools, there are very small pockets where extracurricular activities are occurring... But, the majority of schools are reporting no extracurricular activities," said associate director Jeff Blackwell. "The things that are running, pretty much sound like individual teacher initiatives. They report at one school as a reciting club, study hall, some reading clubs, homework clubs." Blackwell said he's hopeful to get some teacher involvement for Grade 8 grad night, for such things as the ceremony and dance, because they are an important part of a student's rite of passage. However, there has been no response from teachers for end-of-year trips. At the high school level, things are looking similar. There is little to nothing happening, said superintendent of education Stewart Miller, who noted some drama productions have occurred, while a few basketball and hockey teams have also formed, but scheduling games has been difficult. "There are no sports teams that have a league to play in," he said. The question of prom night also came up. "It's a bit of a mixed bag," Miller said, in terms of the responses he's heard from schools. "There's not very much difference from what they were doing as their practice. Many schools that ran school-supervised proms are still running school-supervised proms. Those that previously weren't running school-supervised proms are still not running school-supervised proms." When it becomes available, the school board will have information for those wishing to volunteer available on its website at www.hdsb.ca. MY LIFE is about gratitude MY MEDICINE is my hope My name is Maureen Smith I'm 53 years old I'm from Ottawa and I live with a rare hormonal disorder I was born with an extremely rare disorder which means I have zero growth hormone. As a child, I received medication to keep my condition in check but there was no treatment for adults with this disorder, so for 20 years my health deteriorated drastically. By sheer willpower and a lot of luck, I found a clinical trial for a new drug ­ my life was changed. I can't describe the exhilaration of taking a medicine that literally turns your despair into hope. I'm healthier today than I was at 25, and I am so grateful for the medicine that keeps me alive. www.canadapharma.org/hope