| Sep 10, 2014


 

(Attention readers. After the following article was published on Thursday and posted online , the date of the public meeting was changed . The meeting about changes in staffing at Clarendon Central Public School will now take place on Monday Night, September 15th, at 7:00 pm at Clarendon Central. The meeting date change was done at the behest of the Limestone District School Board in order to have representatives in attendance. This version of the article includes the altereed information)

Parents of children attending Clarendon Central School in Plevna have called a meeting on Monday Night (Septemebr 15) at the school to talk about staffing changes.

The meeting, which is set for 7 pm, is a reaction to finding out that as of next Monday the teaching complement at the school will be reduced by one.

There are four teachers at the school currently. Three of them teach multi-grade classes, and the fourth is what is called a head teacher. The school has a part-time principal, Emily Yanch, who is also the principal of the larger Land O' Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove, which commands much of her attention. She is on site in Plevna one half day each week.

According to a parent who contacted the News, a rumour that the change was coming circulated among the community, and was confirmed by Ms. Yanch.

We were unable to contact Principal Yanch at Land O' Lakes school on Tuesday, and the supervising principal for Clarendon Central, Barbara Fraser-Stiff, was not available at the Limestone Board office.

However written notification of the changes was sent home to parents on Tuesday.

Currently, there are three classes in the school: a Junior Kindergarten to grade 2 class, a grade 3 to grade 5 class and a grade 6 to grade 8 class. As of next Monday, the school will be split into two classes, a Junior Kindergarten to grade 3 class, and a grade 4 to grade 8 class. The position of head teacher will remain, and that person is responsible for discipline, acts as a resource teacher for children in need of one-to-one instruction from time to time, and covers for the other teachers during their planning time.

Further complicating the new scenario is the fact that the JK-3 teacher in the school is only a 3/4 time position, and the head teacher will have to cover that class each afternoon.

There are currently two educational assistants (EA) at Clarendon Central, one full-time and one half-time position, and as of next week the half-time EA will become full time, to help cover the extra work-load. However, according to parents and staff, there are some significant special needs in the school.

In the letter to parents the board said that the changes have come about because of an enrolment decrease at Clarendon Central, and the letter also pointed out that these kinds of changes happen in schools throughout the board each September.

The concern expressed by parents who contacted the News is that cutting one teacher from such a small complement of teachers represents a decrease of almost 27% in the teaching complement, which is a greater impact than would be felt in a school with a complement of 20 teachers. There, losing one teacher would only represent a 5% decrease in teachers.

Clarendon Central is a designated rural remote school, which means the Limestone Board receives extra funding beyond the normal per student funding formula to cover for some of the extra costs associated with providing programming in a rural-remote environment. It is the most remote school in the Limestone Board.

During the planning process that led to the construction of Granite Ridge Education Centre, an initial proposal to close Clarendon Central was quickly rebuffed, both by the community members on the planning committee and by the parents and community members in the Plevna area, who packed the school when a public meeting was held to talk about proposals for the new school.

The public is invited to attend the meeting at Clarendon CEntral on Monday Night.. Board and school administrative officials will be in attendance.

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