Terms will remain secret -- including details of any possible financial payouts -- of a legal settlement involving 10 students who were strip-searched at Kingsville District High School, near Windsor, Ont. "This was settled on a good-faith basis and in the interests of the children. I'm sorry ... [but] we've agreed not to say anything," Val Pistor, director of the Greater Essex County District School Board, said yesterday.

New battles brew over school closings

For the second year in a row, the English Montreal School Board is getting set to close schools. Once again, parents are preparing for a fight.

Nine out of 10 Canadian students on the Web

Atlantic students lead nation in use of Internet Popularity of Web comes from heavy government investment against regional poverty, Statscan says

Michele Landsberg's column usually appears Saturday and Sunday in the Toronto Star.

SEPTEMBER 99

• Breakfast for Learning Week To Focus Canadians on Children's Nutrition Community events across Canada to highlight link between nutrition and learning
  
• The McCreary Centre Society - Family and school involvement key to teen health
  Teens are healthier when they have strong connections with family and school, according to a new study of BC adolescents. The survey of nearly 26,000 students shows that youth are less likely to take risks when they feel that parents and teachers care about them and treat them fairly. Students who report good relationships at home and school have better physical and emotional health and higher expectations for continuing their education. They also are less likely to use drugs or alcohol or to engage in other risky behaviours. Results of the Adolescent Health Survey II (AHS) were released today by The McCreary Centre Society in a report called Healthy Connections: Listening to BC Youth.
  
• B.C. Schools face deficits
  
• NSTU Appoints Staff
  The Nova Scotia Teachers Union today announced the appointment of two teachers to its Halifax headquarters staff.
  
• Ministers set skills agenda for 21st century
  The Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) agreed today to address key issues facing Canadians in the labour market. The FLMM is co-chaired by the Honourable Jane Stewart, federal Minister of Human Resources Development, and the Honourable Julie Bettney, Newfoundland and Labrador Minister of Human Resources and Employment. Newfoundland and Labrador is serving a two-year term as the Lead Province for the FLMM, concluding on March 31, 2001.
  Board closing eight schools

  The Toronto District School Board has voted to close eight schools in June, in a move it blames squarely on provincial funding cuts. By closing the schools and renting them out to the public, the board says it will save more than $10 million a year, a move trustees say is made necessary by Ontario's controversial new funding formula.

  Peel Catholic board told to reduce costs Administrative spending violates guidelines

  Trustee to run French board

  In a precedent-setting decision that could set the stage for similar takeovers, the provincial government placed Quebec's largest French school board under partial trusteeship yesterday to cool off months of heated infighting. For the next six months, the Commission Scolaire de Montreal will be run by a government-appointed administrator, Gerard-Antoine Limoges, instead of its executive committee.

  Also see The Alberta government turfs the Calgary public board in August

  But did they pass the test?

  The Ottawa Citizen What qualifies someone to be a teacher? There's no simple answer. Education or experience relevant to the subject being taught is clearly part of it. Knowledge of child development is too, for teaching younger students. Ability to inspire. Love of knowledge. Sense of commitment. Or, if you live in Ontario, there's an undergrad degree followed by a year in teachers' college. Except for teachers of trades, there is no other way into a classroom. An American study suggests this is a mistake. The report, from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, studied the performance of "emergency teachers," hired without standard certification during teacher shortages, by examining 24,000 math and science students. The study found no difference between students taught by certified teachers and those who weren't. What did make a difference was a teacher's knowledge of the subject. In the U.S., the right of charter schools to hire teachers without certificates has created a new pool of candidates.

  Toronto Parents strategize to save schools Ideas include charging for parking lots after hours

  And as it comes down to the wire, parents are still hopeful. Many plan to be at the board tonight as trustees take a final vote. ``They have poured their hearts and souls into this,'' said Kathleen Wynne of Metro Parent Network. ``They have thought about their community and what the needs are, and they really could work with the board in a creative way.

  Fact sheet - Pupil accommodation in the Toronto District School Board

  Trustees tackle advanced math Funding formula woes lead to vote on 8 school closings

  Twenty-two adults will sit down tonight to tackle a math problem whose answers will spell life or death for eight neighbourhood schools. When Toronto District School Board trustees vote on whether to close schools to save money, they will make a decision that could rock thousands of families. It's a math challenge worthy of the new curriculum. Is it cheaper to close small grade schools and rent them out as whole buildings, or to keep them open but rent out the empty parts? Does the human cost of uprooting students outweigh the need to shave $262 million off a board's budget? Is it fair to let some schools stay open with classes as small as 13, if they pull the board's average class size down misleadingly low? It's a numbers game with staggering stakes on both sides.

  Education ministers call for more federal dollars

  More federal money is needed to ensure Canada's education system meets the needs of the country's students, provincial education ministers said Wednesday. The ministers emerged from a two-day gathering in Victoria saying they are committed to providing the highest possible quality of education for Canadian students. The Council of Ministers of Education said Ottawa must make education funding a priority in its next budget, due early next year.

  Ontario needs fair share of federal labour market programs to stay competitive, says Cunningham

  The federal government is underfunding training and employment programs for Ontarians, said Dianne Cunningham, Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, today. ``Ontarians deserve a fair share of training and employment programs,'' said Cunningham. ``I do not understand how the federal government, including 100 government MPs from Ontario, can year after year take billions of dollars in EI premiums from Ontario employers and workers and transfer them out of the province and into a massive EI surplus that will total some $25 billion this year.''

  Quebec: Stay out of vote for school boards, Equality is urged

  The Equality Party's plan to run candidates in the next school-board election was severely criticized yesterday by board officials and parents. The chairmen of the province's two largest English-language school boards said they were horrified by the party's plan that - if elected to the board - it could use public funds from the education system to further its political ambitions. And they said the Equality Party might have to learn the hard way that local school boards and provincial politics don't mix.

  Conduct standards at schools not enough, teachers say

  Education reform fails some Newfoundlanders' expectations

  Media Advisory from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union
  Marilies Rettig, newly elected President of the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF), Ottawa, will hold a MEDIA INFORMATION SESSION in the Library of Sir Charles Tupper School ------------------------- 6455 Norwood Street, Halifax from 11:00 to 11:35 a.m. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 Ms. Rettig is in Halifax on CTF business and will visit several metro area schools. She will be accompanied by NSTU President Donnie MacIntyre who was elected a CTF Vice-President in July.

  Ontario teachers unprepared for new curriculum
  With less than a week before the new school year begins, Ontario's teachers still do not have detailed plans of the government's new four-year high school curriculum, a union leader said Monday. Earl Manners, head of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, says teachers have clear teaching plans for only 40 per cent of the course material they'll be expected to teach.

  Quebec students call bankruptcy comments discriminatory
  The Quebec federation of university students responded sharply Saturday to suggestions that students declare bankruptcy as a ploy to get rid of loans. Daniel Baril, federation president, said it was unfair for an Education Department spokesman to say that students declare bankruptcy in a calculated fashion, just to get rid of student debt. In a statement, Baril called the comments published a day earlier in a Montreal newspaper "economic and social discrimination" against students.

  OSSTF launches full-scale research on the impact of government education changes

• School boards challenged by provincial budget
  The Nova Scotia School Boards Association (NSSBA) recognizes that this year's budget will provide an increase in funding to school boards. The Association is being realistic in that this increase is not sufficient to meet the growing requirements of public education. Our association understands that this government is on a three-year fiscal recovery program and steps were taken in last year's budget to support that commitment. Despite this year's funding increase, major challenges will continue for boards to deliver programs and services to students.
  
• Schools Join YNN Network Schools Form New Educational Network
  Athena Educational Partners (AEP) Inc. today announced the formation of Canada's newest educational television network with the signing of participating school boards in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador. A daily 12.5-minute news and current affairs program, specially created to be of interest to Canadian teenage high school students, will be downloaded through the YNN network to each school by satellite. The programs are specifically designed to provide young people with a greater awareness of the political, economic, scientific and environmental events in their region, their country, and the world. The YNN offering is supported in part by two and a half minutes of advertising in the daily news program.
  
• NSSBA elects executive
  Members of the Nova Scotia School Boards Association (NSSBA) elected their executive at the Association's annual general meeting, May 28 in Pictou.
  
• National Tests Are a Waste of Taxpayers' Money
  Ontario has spent millions of dollars in the 1990s on the Council of Ministers of Education's School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP). ``It is beyond me why Ontario participates at all'', said Phyllis Benedict, President of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. The latest results announced today for reading and writing show a modest improvement over the previous ones.
  
• ONTARIO ALLIANCE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS Irwin Cotler to Address Fair Education Funding Rally
  Internationally-renowned Human Rights advocate Irwin Cotler will be the featured speaker at a Queen's Park rally of an estimated 4,000 parents and students from a variety of independent schools across the province, which starts at 11:45 AM on Tuesday, May 4, 1999. The rally will "put a face to students at independent schools. They too are part of the Ontario school children the government keeps talking about." says Tina Van Beveren of Ancaster, Chairperson of Parents for Educational Choice (PEC). "As the government prepares to release its 1999/2000 Fiscal Budget, it's about time that our tax dollars, which show up on the government's Revenue side, are reflected in the provincial Education budget expenditures as well."
  
• Verbal abuse in schools a Canada-wide problem, says act
  The taunting that lead to a deadly school shooting in Taber, Alta., is a countrywide problem that must be addressed, says a crusader against verbal abuse. Tammi Martell, who has spent the last five years working on a plan to help end verbal abuse in Canadian schools, said Thursday she was devastated by news of Wednesday�s attack. Martell said she was saddened to learn that the 14-year-old accused of the shooting was teased and verbally abused by other students. "When I heard it on the radio this morning . . . it was overwhelming," said the Island activist. She said taunting is a big problem across Canada and the United States and must be discussed by parents, children and schools.
  
• Business and education partnerships result in winning formula for students' futures
  Today at the ``Providing the Tools for Learning'' news conference held at the Levi Creek new home community located in Mississauga, Peter Gilgan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mattamy Homes Limited, and Janet McDougald, Chair of the Peel District School Board, marked the one-year anniversary and progress of the Regional Co-Op Educational Partnership inaugurated in April of 1998.
  
• CUPE K-12 Bargaining -- BCPSEA -- a ship sinking from the weight of petty politics
  - Meeting today in Vancouver, CUPE'S provincial bargaining committee for K-12 support staff, chastised the BC Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA) for their rejection of a proposal to bargain issues, common to every school board, at a provincial bargaining table. ``School support employees are angry and disappointed that this group, established to demonstrate bargaining leadership have shown themselves to be a sinking ship.'' said Gary Johnson, National Representative and chief spokesperson for CUPE school support workers.
  - Meeting today in Vancouver, CUPE'S provincial bargaining committee for K-12 support staff, chastised the BC Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA) for their rejection of a proposal to bargain issues, common to every school board, at a provincial bargaining table. ``School support employees are angry and disappointed that this group, established to demonstrate bargaining leadership have shown themselves to be a sinking ship.'' said Gary Johnson, National Representative and chief spokesperson for CUPE school support workers.
  
• BC: School boards vote to continue with bargaining system
  On the weekend, B.C.'s public school boards voted to continue with the bargaining system currently in place for their unionized support staff. Support staff include school district maintenance, transportation and operations staff, teaching assistants and clerical personnel. The current system provides for negotiations taking place in each school district, with provincial approval required for compensation items in accordance with the government's fiscal guidelines.
  
• F�d�ration �tudiante universitaire du Qu�bec - Ottawa continue � faire de la politique sur le dos des �tudiants
  La F�d�ration �tudiante universitaire du Qu�bec (FEUQ) exhorte pour une �ni�me fois Ottawa � cesser de faire de la politique sur le dos des �tudiants dans le dossier de la Fondation canadienne des bourses du mill�naire. ``Le gouvernement Chr�tien est, � l'heure actuelle, le seul qui ne veut pas s'asseoir � la table avec tous les autres acteurs impliqu�s. Il se d�file derri�re la loi de la fondation pour refuser de n�gocier un arrangement'', affirme le pr�sident de la FEUQ, M. Daniel Baril.
  

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