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THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, MARCH 14,2001 PAGE 5 Clarington boards ante up for Peterborough BYLOISTUFFIN Special to The Statesman Education taxpayers in Clarington and Northhumbcr- land will be -- in a roundabout roundabout way -- helping foot a small part of the bill for a new health care centre in Peterborough. Peterborough. Nine months after refusing to exempt a new Peterborough Peterborough hospital from $17,000 in education development charges, the Catholic school board found little sympathy from City of Peterborough officials officials in trying to get out of extra utilities fees that will ultimately ultimately pay for the new health centre. "We explained our case but we didn't get any sign of any relief," says Ray Rigby, the Catholic school board treasurer. Mr. Rigby says the board's budget is being pummelled by rising heating costs and its bus drivers are seeking more money to pay their growing bills as well. The rising utility bills would cost the board $20,640 this year -- coming from the board's four-county jurisdiction, not just Peterborough. Peterborough. "Our board needed all the money we can get," Mr. Rigby says in defence of the fees charged on every new building in tire area. "EDCs arc a one-time thing but this goes on and on.." The additional utility rates do not go directly to the hospital, hospital, explains Brian Horton, Peterborough's director of finance finance and administration. City councillors supported turning any utility profits over to capital costs, like building and roads. They pledged the first $14.6 million in profits to the new hospital, which starts to take shape in 2003. Public school board chairman Bob Willsher left his meeting with city officials content with that explanation. "Clearly there is no surcharge surcharge added to bills to pay for the hospital," he says. "With that clarification, there is no issue for the board with the rates." The extra utility costs will add $26,000 to public school board expenses this year. Mr. Willsher says school board officials will continue to lobby the Province to help pay rising costs. WALTER PASSARELLA/Statesman photo A pie for the principal BOWMANVILLE - Vincent Massey Public School student Re- Maureen Running. It was part of a fun day celebrating the fact becca Clarke, Grade 6, got a kick out ofpie-ing her principal, students had read 6,485 books. Where do the school boards go from here? Work begins to improve Grade 10 literacy scores in time for the real test BY JENNIFER STONE; StaffWriter School board officials say now that the. results are in, the crunch is on to improve in time for next fall's Grade 10 literacy test, an exam about one-third of this year's students failed. Results of last fall's first provincewide Grade 10 reading and writing test, administered by the Province's Education Quality and Accountability Accountability Office, were released last week. Scores show local high school sophomores; achieving similar levels to thëir prpvihei^l coupterjiarts, ivyitfi about two-thirds of students; provih- cially and locally, passing the'test. But matching the rest of the province isn't good enough, says a local trustee. "I don't care what our kids are (achieving) compared to some other boards," says Gordon Gilchrist, Cobourg area trustee with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. "I care that the results are used for improvement." And that means working quickly, since starting with the 2001-2002 school year, students who don't pass the test before the end of secondary school will not receive their high school diploma. Making a difference in time for next fall's crop of test writers "doesn't give us a heck of a lot of time for that turnaround," turnaround," notes Bob Willsher, Clarington Clarington trustee and chairman of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, in an interview. "The crunch is going to be on for schools to quickly implement (improvement plans.)" To that end, he says in a media release, release, "We will be working diligently with our staff and school councils to identify specific weaknesses, set action plans to help our students achieve a higher success rate, and identify where additional resources may be needed." Boards are expecting more "contextual" "contextual" data from the EQAO March 19, says Fiona White, KPR's educational services advisor. The data will help boards formulate "plans within schools, both short term and long term" to help improve scores, she says. But, she also notes that "a number of tilings MIKE LANGLOIS 'If it is true the students had the greatest difficulty following instructions, surely that's not going to take a long time to fix.' BOB WILLSHER 'The crunch is going to be on ' for improvement plans. are already in place" to help with student student achievement, including more training for teachers "to make sure students students in Grade 9 this spring ... have a chance to see the type of questions" EQAO will ask. How Clarington boards stack up to others Here is how the Grade 10 literacy test pass raté in the two Clarington. school boards (Kawartha Pine Ridge and Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Northumberland and Clarington Catholic district district school boards) compares to other Greater Toronto Area boards. The pass rate percentage (Method 2) is based on only those students who completed the test. Board-by-board results were released released last Thursday, with individual school results expected to be available April 9. Students are expected to receive receive individual test scores after the March Break. Board Method 2 • KPR school board 67 PVNC Catholic board 68 Durham public 71 Durham Catholic 74 York public 79 York Catholic 71 Toronto public 65 Toronto Catholic 62 Halton public 72 Halton Catholic 79 AMCO Gas Station (full serve) 153 King Street, East -Just West of Liberty Bowmanvllle (905) 697-3225 Customer Appreciation Marian Hyjek and Staff would like to Thank you for your past 5 years of patronage at the Sunoco Station in Bowmanvllle I would like to offer you similar great service at our NEW Location the AMQQ Gas Station on (Hwy#2) King St. just west of Liberty in BOWMANVILLE r m We Now Offer Diesel_ $2.Ô0Ôff Gas puchase"! with min. 25 litres till up at I AMCO-Bowmanvllle with coupon | , IG2SI $10.00 Off Your Rust Control Application with Coupon Take Advantage - This Otter Won't Last at Amo I BODY maintenance Class Cen I I Wo It,untie nil insur.mcc claims, GOOD TO THE LAST DRIP ! | Ucvitsvil Mechanic. | [_153 King St E. (905) j>23-2615j Coming up with a plan to help students students improve achievement levels on the test will mean taking a close look at individual student results, says Mike Langlois, director of education with the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board. Though schools had originally planned to release student results to pupils last week, a hold-up from the EQAO means students won't know how they did until after March Break. Mr. Langlois says he's heard a number number of students who were not successful successful on the test had some difficulty following following directions. "Even though they may have done excellent work, if they didn't do what was asked, there were not marks for effort," effort," notes the director. "If it is true that the students had the greatest difficulty with following instructions, surely that's not going to take a long time to fix." The five-hour Grade 10 literacy test was administered by EQAO, an arm's- length agency of the Province, over a two-day period last October. This year's test served as a trial run, and stu- i dents were not required to pass in order i to receive their diploma. School-by- ' school results are expected April 9. '