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Wednesday. December 6, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Public School Trustee Kelly Amos, Wards 5 & 6 x Fill-i in trustee became full-time replacement v By Kim A m o tt SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The last two months have provided Kelly Amos with a crash course in school board politics. The Oakville mother of two, who was acclaimed as the Halton District School Board trustee for Wards 5 and 6 in the recent municipal election, actu ally took her seat in September. She was sworn in to replace veteran trustee Debbie Marklew, who resigned her seat after mov ing out of Halton. Since then, Amos has had to deal with the highly contentious issue of school closures. Along with receiving about 200 phone calls from local parents, she has had to quickly digest mounds of information relating to the school board's plans to close a number of underutilized schools in order to get provincial fund ing to build new ones in rapidlygrowing areas. Amos says her experience as a trustee so far has been enjoy able, although challenging. "It's been a good experience, even though we're dealing with emotional issues," she said. Amos, who runs her own part-time small business mar keting software on the Internet, has so far voted in favour of closing underutilized schools. The northeast Oakville area she represents as a trustee will likely see a boom in school con struction if the Halton board can manage to close enough schools to receive provincial funding. "Generally, I feel most of the time the needs of the students will be met by closing the schools, with some compromis es," she says. Amos, who grew up in Burlington, now lives in north Oakville's River Oaks subdivi sion. Her two children attend Halton public schools. Prior to taking on the role as trustee, she served as president of Nottinghill Co-op Preschool, volunteered in the classroom and was involved with the Junior Achievement program. Although she says she does n't bring any specific goals to the board table, Amos hopes to ensure good communication between trustees and the public in the coming three years. In a press release, she says she offers a fresh perspective and wishes to work with other trustees and board members to make the system better for her children and all the children and parents of Halton. "I really think education for kids is one of the most important things," Amos adds. Kelly Amos Public School Trustee D rew Currah, Wards 1 & 2 )(New west Oakville trustee against closing QEPx By Kim A m ott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Southwest Oakville's new public school board trustee says he is opposed to board plans to close Queen Elizabeth Park high school and Pine Grove ele mentary school. Drew Currah, a 38-year-old Bronte resident, was acclaimed as trustee for Wards 1 and 2 in last Monday's election. He says he believes the Halton District School Board's accom m odation plan, which includes closing the two west D rew Currah Oakville schools, focuses too heavily on getting money out of the provincial government. "Money can't buy love, and as well, it can't buy communi ty," he says. Instead, he believes the board must find a compromise between building new schools in the north and closing under utilized schools in southern parts of the town. Under provincial funding guidelines, school boards must show that they have used all available space across the sys tem before receiving money to build additional schools. That has led the Halton board to develop a $409-million capital strategic plan to build 41 .schools and close 13 others over 20 years. The outgoing school board, agreed to close QEP on June 30, 2005. It also voted to close two other Burlington schools, One elementary and one secondary. Currah is suggesting that instead of closing QEP in order to build a new Glen Abbey high school, the board should replace the existing high school with a smaller building, and add anoth er small high school in the north. Otherwise, he says, the board is simply "stealing from Peter to pay Paul." The new trustee also would like the board to consider the possibility of allowing parents and other community volun teers to help provide extracurricular activities in the schools. By signing on parents as employees at a nominal cost, such as $10 a day, the board would avoid liability concerns and students would have access to the activities which teachers say they don't have time to offer. Currah says he will also con centrate on convincing the board to minimize the time stu dents spend in portables. He is suggesting specialty classes, such as music and sci ence, are held in portables, which would allow children to spend the majority of the day inside actual school buildings. Currah, who moved to Oakville about five years ago, is the owner o f an investment business in Toronto and a local summer hockey coach. He has two children, although neither yet attend schools in the Halton public system. A 2 1-year-old Mississauga man was stabbed with a knife several times in an east Oakville bar early Saturday morning. Halton Regional Police report the stabbing was sparked by an argu ment between the victim and another man at Rocky McKools Bar at the Oakville Entertainment Centrum, 2025 Winston Park Dr., at 2:25 a.m. Police said the victim was stabbed four times in the upper back and abdomen. The suspect fled before police arrived. The victim was taken by a friend to the Credit Valley Hospital, where he was treated for his injuries and released. The suspect is described as a male with tanned skin colour, five feet 10-inches tall, with long dark hair tied in a ponytail. He was wearing all dark clothing. Anyone with information on the stabbing should call Oakville detec tives at 878-5511, ext. 2215, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Debbie M ahaffyto open Sheridan Peace G arden Man stabbed at bar X J Sheridan College will commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Wednesday, Dec. 6th, with the official open ing of a new Peace Garden at the Trafalgar Road Campus. Members of the public are invited to attend the opening ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. Debbie M ahaffy from the office for Victims of Crime, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, will be the featured guest speaker at this event, which has been jointly organized by Sheridan College, the Trafalgar Campus Student Union, and OPSEU Locals 244 and 245. Mahaffy was a teacher with the Halton Board of Education in Burlington when her 14-year-old daughter, Leslie, was abducted and murdered by Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka in 1991. Today, Mahaffy is a member o f 11 provin cial, national and international organizations which address issues concerning victims of crime. She is a frequent speaker on judicial issues and matters pertaining to victims of crime. Located in front o f the Sheridan Centre for Animation and Emerging Technologies, the Peace Garden has a circular design with 14 trees planted around its perimeter, each sym bolizing one o f the 14 women killed at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal on Dec. 6th, 1989. ~ Debbie M ahaffy on any 2000 or 2001 model receive a further 0 0 D is jo in 7 HT M a k e Y our BEST D EAL and receive r A F IN A N C IN G up to 4 8 m onths on ALL 2 0 0 0 M odels LEA SE lake advantage of our 2 0 0 0 HOilDAY " M jM Dodge Dodge Trucks 1CHRYSLER < 7 'J ta SALES w Q.E.W. Speers Rd. 4th Line E "See y o u r Sales Representative fo r D etails" * Excludes Viper, Prowler & P.T. Cruiser 0AKVK1E DODGE C W S L i i Jffl» 6 4 6 4 th L in e , S p e e r s R o a d , O a k v ille w w w .o a k v ille d o d g e .c o m 845-4211 I & Q