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| A Plain Language Newspaper covering Georgian
Triangle, Grey, Bruce, Huron and Perth Counties. |
Local school
boards may merge
In an effort to save money the Ontario government wants some school boards
to join together. In Midwestern Ontario, public school boards in Grey, Bruce,
Huron and Perth counties will be affected. The Ministry of Education and
Training is recommending that the Bruce and Grey Public School Boards become
one, and that the Huron and Perth Public School Boards become one. There are no
proposed changes to the Separate School Boards in Bruce-Grey and Huron-Perth.
There are also no changes suggested for the Simcoe County Board of Education,
which covers the Collingwood area.
Boards working
together to make change smoother
Local school boards are working together now so the switch to bigger
District Boards will be easier. The Ontario government's Bill 104 says the Grey
and Bruce school boards will become one District Board and so will the Huron
and Perth School boards.
Paul Martindale, Director of Education for the Bruce Board, is working
closely with Janet Glasspool, Director of Education with the Grey Board. A
committee of people from both boards is look at several issues, like
curriculum, board policies, and budgets. They are looking at what is the same
and what is different in each of these areas. An example of two differences is
the Grey Board offers French Immersion and the Bruce Board has Junior
Kindergarten. Martindale and Glasspool say both boards are committed to a
smooth transition.
"We are not spending any energy trying to fight this at all. We want
to create the best possible new district school board we can," says
Glasspool.
The Huron and Perth Boards are also looking at similar issues. Art Duboyce,
Superintendent of Education for the Perth Board of Education, says he thinks
the greatest level of tension will be with issues like personnel.
"As a parent of a student in a Perth or Huron school, I don't think you
will see much change, but there will be a lot changes to the
organization," he says.
Chuck Rowland, Supervisor of Schools for the Huron County Board of
Education, agrees. He says the affect in the schools will be minimal. There are
some major differences these boards are struggling with, such as the calendar
year. The Perth Board has a one-week March Break while the Huron Board has a
two week break. Both Duboyce and Rowland say they think the transition period
will be about 3 or 4 years. They say there are issues causing tension, but
there are also good people working on both sides looking for solutions.
| "It's like a shotgun marriage,"
says Duboyce, all of a sudden you have no choice and that always produces
tension.
Rowland says he thinks the best way to handle the transition is with an
objective third party.
"In my opinion, what we need for this to work is a facilitator who does
not have a vested interest in education in Huron or Perth."
In Bruce-Grey, the number of students in the combined board will be about
25,000 while Huron-Perth will be dealing with about 21,000. Both new District
Boards will be dealing with multi-million dollar budgets.
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