TheEnterprisebulletin.com – News
Sept. 1, 2010.   Posted By RAYMOND BOWE, QMI AGENCY

With classes about to get started for most Simcoe County students, Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky also discussed other timely topics during a visit to the region, Wednesday.

The future of all-day kindgarten, school closures and religious references in public schools were all on the agenda during a visit to the E-B’s sister publication, The Barrie Examiner.

All-day kindergarten, the first program of its kind in North America, will be launched at several county schools on Sept. 7.
“We are breaking new ground here and doing something quite extraordinary,” Dombrowsky said. “There are a number of jurisdictions watching.”

“Investing” in four-and five-year-olds is the key to their success as they progress through elementary and secondary school, Dombrowsky said.

Although full-day kindergarten is happening “piecemeal” across the province, the education minister said “our commitment to the people of Ontario is that we will have this fully implemented across the province by 2015.

“We are taking what I would believe is a measured approach this year, with upwards of 600 schools in the province of Ontario that will reach ultimately 35,000 students,” Dombrosky said.

That represents less than a fifth of the province.

The minister says the McGuinty government wants to phase in the program so that the areas where the need is greatest–such as a higher incidence of low-income families — are addressed first. Where there is demand, extended day programs will also be offered, she said.

The second phase will include schools that can accommodate the program “with some minor investment in capital,” Dombrowsky said. “They may need to do some minor renovations within the school.”

The third and fourth phases, however, are expected to require significant investment to build more classrooms.
In an era where money is always tight, Dombrowsky believes the expensive all-day kindergarten program is sustainable.

“It’s an excellent poverty-reduction strategy as well,” said the mother of four grown children. “When you invest in our youngest learners even before they get to school, research very clearly shows that education is one of the best routes out of poverty. It’s about enabling our people to get jobs in the future.”

QMI Agency also asked Dombrowsky about other education topics that have been in the news in recent months to get her take on those issues.

* JUDEO-CHRISTIAN WORDING IN BOARD POLICY

“In our schools, I think teachers do feel valued and supported. When they come to school, they’re ready to do their jobs. Morale in schools has improved and I think that’s had a ripple effect. We are building public confidence in education. Is there more we can do? Of course there is. But I think we’ve come a long way.

“Our government has also recognized and respected, No. 1, denominational rights that are set out in the Charter. But No. 2, the role of locally elected school boards.”

As a very diverse province, Dombrowsky said “each community is different and distinct. That is why it’s important that we have school boards that are elected by the local residents. Those trustees will deal with questions such as (Judeo-Christian wording in board policy).”

* SCHOOL CLOSURES

Barrie has seen two elementary schools closed (King Edward) or slated to be closed (Prince of Wales) in some of the city’s most established and historic neighbourhoods in recent years, with no sign of any replacements anywhere on the horizon.

Instead, students have been transferred to other schools in other neighbourhoods.

How does this fit into the province’s Places to Grow policy which calls for ‘complete communities’?

“What I would say to parents is that this is a very good example of why and where we expect locally elected school boards to make decisions in consideration of all of the issues that people in their community hold important,” Dombrowsky said. “You can appreciate, with the thousands of schools we have across the province of Ontario, I would be one of the first to say that I would not want decisions about my local school made outside of my community.

“We’re in a very important year — it’s an election year,” added Dombrowsky, herself a former school board trustee.

Municipal elections, including school-board trustees, will be held Oct. 25.

“Local boards have been dealing with declining enrollments,” she said.

theenterprisebulletin.com – News/Local
Posted July 7, 2010.   By Paul Jankowski, QMI Agency

Poverty continues to be a major concern for organizations serving children and youth in the area, Lori Wilder, the cochair of the Grey Bruce Children’s Alliance, says.

A profile of child, youth and family health put together for the alliance and released this week notes that in 2005 there were approximately 2,400 children and youth in the two counties — about 7% of those under the age of 19 — living in poverty.

That same year the median family income was $56,190 in Bruce County and $51,482 in Grey County. Both were well below the provincial median of $69,156. The median income for female-led single parent families was $30,605 in Grey and $33,206 in Bruce, the profile says.
One of the focuses of the alliance, an umbrella organization that represent 19 groups ranging from the area’s two children’s aid societies to adult learning centres, has been poverty, Wilder said in an interview Friday, and “poverty certainly stood out” in the profile.

The profile, drawn up over two years with funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, was put together to identify areas of strength and vulnerability in the younger population to help service providers plan how to respond to vulnerabilities identified and provide a baseline to track changes, a summary of the report says.

One of the strengths found is that both youth (77%) and adults (between 64% and 74%) “really have a strong sense of belonging to our area and that’s not always the case,” Wilder said. “Despite the fact we’ve got some poverty and they’re not making as much money perhaps, they still did have a sense of belonging to our community.”

Among its other findings were:

* In 2006 there were just over 37,000 children and youth (19 and under) living in Grey and Bruce, down 16% from the 43,979 in 1996.

* In 2006, 28% of adults in Grey-Bruce had not completed high school. The provincial average was 22%.

* In 2006, the majority of Grey-Bruce residents owned their homes (Grey 88%, Bruce 83%). The provincial average was 71%.

* The rate of Grey Bruce residents reporting heavy drinking increased from 18% in 2001 to 34% in 2007, numbers that were “significantly higher than rates in Canada, Ontario and other health regions.”
* Families were assessed at the time of a birth for risk factors including violence, substance misuse, social isolation and mental health issues. From 2006 to 2008, about 450 families per year –40% of families screened –were identified as “at risk.”

* Only about one in four students in the 12 to 19 age group consumes sufficient fruits and vegetables.

* 14% of secondary school students report getting no physical activity in school or outside of school and at least one in four students spend three or more hours daily in front of a TV, computer screen or on the phone.

* From 2000 to 2003, motor vehicle collisions were the cause of 79% (26 of 33) of deaths for youth aged 15-19 in Grey Bruce. The Ontario average was 31% and the national average was 35%.

The profile also determined that services to prevent harm to children aged six to 13 “are really lacking . . . We have a lot of preschool stuff and stuff for some kids in secondary, but not the six to 13″ age group, Wilder said.

The alliance is also looking at setting up service hubs to make it easier for young people and families to access the help they need. School seems to be an obvious place for them, she added.

But that carries a financial price because the Ministry of Education charges a fee to rent space despite the fact there is “excess space” in many schools in Grey-Bruce, Wilder said.

“We want to explore that a bit, how we can use that excess space . . . so families don’t have to drive” sometimes long distances to get the service they require.

Article ID# 2656847

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