The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 10 The Clarington/Courticc Independent, Bowmanvillc, Saturday, November 14, 1998 Around the Board Trustees to Talk With MPPs Over Need For New Schools in Booming Clarington by Bob Willsher Clarington Trustee, Kawartfia Pine Ridge District Public School Board Congratulations arc in order for Pat Adams and the staff at Lydia Trull Public School in Courticc. The long journey of building building a new school community community reached another milestone milestone with the official opening of the school, Pat and her staff have done an excellent job of involving the community in putting together a positive positive environment for the children who attend both Lydia Trull and Courticc South. The involvement of the transition team and the school council arc examples examples of the commitment the people of Courticc have to their community. On October 26,1 spoke to Clarington Council on behalf of the Board concerning concerning the accommodation accommodation problem in our area. Council members were provided with details concerning concerning the number of students students and the distribution across the municipality. Council's job is to provide provide services for the community. community. Under the leadership leadership of Mayor Hamre Clarington has blossomed. Unfortunately, Council is not responsible for funding new schools and as a result not enough schools have been built to meet the growth. People need to understand understand that the Province is responsible for new schools. This has been the case for many years. The situation is simple. Without funding from the Minister of Education schools do not become built. In the case of Clarington, they are aware of the problem; they just have not done anything about it. We will be meeting meeting with MPP's for our jurisdiction and I will be raising it with them again. Parents need to let MPP John O'Toole know that the current situation is not acceptable. Principals and school staff are responsible for children while they are at school. It is a big job to make sure that children are safe. To assist in helping staff maintain a safe environment, environment, schools have developed various protocols protocols to ensure that children are not at risk. One such protocol is for visitors to sign in at the school office. Visitors include anyone who is not on staff at the school. Parents are always welcome at the school, but School Board Shares Cobourg Sp ace please let the office know you arc in the building. I always stop at the office to let staff know I am visiting their school. The Board continues to deal with the budget. At the November 5 meeting the budget was presented for approval. Detail is limited limited to major spending lines established by the province. Limits exist under provincial rules as to where the Board can spend the dollars. However, there are still many areas where flexibility exists. The Board tabled the budget pending further details being developed by Administration. It is essential essential for the Board to understand understand where the dollars are going and be satisfied that the needs of the students are being met. At the October Policy Committee meeting the committee dealt with six Board policies. Five were approved by the committee. committee. They have since been approved by the Board. The policy dealing with Assessment, Evaluation and Communication was revised and referred to School Councils for input and feedback. This policy is important to school staff and parents. The policy is designed to communicate to parents what they can expect in terms of their child's assessment and evaluation at school. It also structures the communication communication expectations related related to the school's profile and individual child achievement. It helps everyone understand what should happen in this key component of their community community school. I have heard from many teachers concerning negotiations. negotiations. They arc eager to get back to normal. I share their desire to get the contract contract settled. Many teachers teachers thrive on the energy they get from being involved with students beyond the classroom structure. Extracurricular activities often allow teachers to focus on areas where they have a special interest. It also allows them to assist students in developing special skills. Some teachers tell me that for some students the "after school" activities add a great deal of value to their classroom efforts. Teachers need to be recognized recognized for all the things they do in education. It's not just the time they arc in the classrooms. On November 6 I attended the Courticc Secondary School graduation. graduation. It was great to see so many people attend at this celebration of excellence. Gary Milovick, who is now retired, attended the graduation. He shared with those attending his feelings feelings for the students and they responded in kind. His leadership in education education was valued. Linda Greenwood has taken over as principal and is creating a very positive environment environment for the students. Each time a school gets a new principal they recharge recharge the energy and create create the next level of focus for staff and students. Courticc Secondary is off to a great start. - . h rH-v-V 1 CIBC Honors Top 4-H Member At Durham East Awards Night : Each year, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce , presents awards to the outstanding male and female 4-H . members of Durham East. This year's awards went to Ben Millson (pictured above with Jennifer Bowman,-, who presented the prize) and Allison Malcolm. The win- ■ ners were announced at the annual Durham East 4-H . awards evening on October 24. The eligible recipients arc senior club members who have completed at least six • 4-H projects and taken part in an interview process. i no child ip Christmas morning to find Santa hap passed them by. m anew, unwrapped toy and we'll give you a 1 month subscription. your The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board is pleased to announce it will be sharing sharing its facilities on D'Arcy Street in Cobourg with the Northumberland County Social Services, Ontario Works, department over the next few weeks. From November 13 for approximately two to four weeks, office areas on the first floor of the Cobourg Education Centre will be home to about 22 Social Services department employees. They arc being displaced temporarily while their offices undergo unexpected unexpected construction. "We are pleased to be able to help our community community partners," says Bryan Fisher, Superintendent of Administrative Services. "Given our desire to be good corporate neighbours neighbours and the fact that we do have space available available at the D'Arcy Street offices, we have agreed to share accommodations with them temporarily." holiday season. Toys will be collected by the Salvation Army for distribution to local children. You can make sure Santa doesn't miss a single child in Clarington. Give to the Statesman Toy Drive and light up a child's life! The Statesman Toy Drive For more information contact our office at 62 King Street West, Bowmanville or 623-3303