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Thursday, 03 September 2009 09:04

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Back to HomeFeature Article - September 3, 2009

Frontenac County Plowing Match

117th Parham Fair

Maberly Fair

Frontenac County Plowing Matchby Julie Druker

Up close with Clydesdales Noah and Bob at the Frontenac County Rural Show and Plowing Match. L to r: Courtney and Lloyd Orser and Spencer and Mark Richards. 

Aiming for straightness, coverage and uniformity of furrows, Kim Hadwen of Belleville competed at the Frontenac County Rural Show and Plowing Match at the Orser’s farm on August 29 near Sydenham with his team of Belgians, Pete and Jake, on his sulky plow. Competitors in excess of 115 points can qualify for the International Plowing Match to be held in New Liskeard this year.

Kim HadwenPlowing for Kim (photo right) is not just a hobby. He runs a Black Angus beef farm in Belleville and has started running his farm the old-fashioned way. He explained, “I’m going back to plowing this way. This spring I actually hooked up 8 horses and did all my spring seeding and planting this way. I’m doing it to save fuel and get back to the way it used to be.” He’s been working his team for just over a year and judging by furrows it looks as though he might indeed get those 115 points.

117th Parham Fairby Julie Druker

The horse pull, Firday night at theParham Fair

Saturday was every fair board member’s worst nightmare. It poured rain all day and the weather could not have been much worse. Attendance was down at the Parham Fair. Fortunately Friday night had been dry for the Horse Pull and Ambush concert, and the grounds would be packed for the demolition derby on the next day.

But on Saturday the energy level wasn’t that high, but all of that changed when the greased pig contest started. Contestants were split into groups of 6-8 kids, and they first greased up their hands and then set off chasing six piglets, the object being to be the first to grab a pig by the hind legs and drag it into one of two winning circle rings.

Greased pig competitionPhoto right: at the Parham on Saturday contestants aged 7-12 years of age had to grease up their hands and raced to catch a pig by the hind legs and drag it to one of two winners’ circles. Ribbons were given out to all contestants. The event attracted and large and enthusiastic crowd

The crowds ate it up and the kids seemed to have a gas - the pigs, it seemed, not so much, although their loudest squeals came not during the chase but when they were initially taken from their trailers and put into the ring.

Although there has been some controversy over the greased pig contest, (see letters, Sept. 3/09) it appeared that no pig was hurt in the event.

It certainly was not the first rainy Saturday in the history of these two events, which go back to 1884 and 1882, and it won’t be the last.

Fierce competion at Maberly Fair by Jeff Green

Heat 1 in the "Anything Goes" category, gets off to a clean start.

In racing circles, people talk about winning by a nose, but in the rarefied work of Zucchini racing, there are times when the nose needs to be lopped off instead.

That’s what one of the contestants did at last weekend’s Maberly Fair to get the weight of his zucchini vehicle below the 2 lb. limit, and it worked; his nose-less zucchini hit the finish line first.

In the anything goes category, the simple design of young Max Bumstead (photo left) won the day over some pretty fancy opposition, including an 6-cylinder job, a zucchini with giant pink wheels and feathers, and a zucchini vehicle that used vinyl records for wheels.

All in all, the first ever Zucchini races at the Maberly Fair, even though they were held in the pouring rain, were exactly the kind of event anyone could have hoped for. Each competitor certainly dreamed of glory and of the lucrative cash prizes ($10 for 1st, $6 for 2nd, and $3 for 3rd), but there was a general feeling of mayhem and a touch of the absurd to the races that carried them through qualifying heats, the semis and the finals in each category.

Wheeled zucchinis zipping down a track is really a sight to behold, and while there may have been no redeeming value to this event, no compelling reason for it to be held, it provided an excellent excuse to have a really good time.

It also gave the Zucchini, the poor cousin to the cucumber, a chance to take centre stage.

Dedication of the Maberly Fair Exhibit Hall by Julie Druker

Present for the Bill Kennett memorial plaque and dedication ceremony at Maberly Fair on Saturday (l to r) Paul Pospisil, Dennis Pratt, Bill’s wife Valerie Kennett, Rosetta McInnes, Carl Ferguson and Bill’s daughter, Brenda

Friends, family and fans of the late Bill Kennett of Maberly gathered at the entrance to the main exhibit hall at the Maberly fairgrounds on Saturday for a dedication ceremony, which named the hall the Bill Kennett Building in his honour.

The large steel building, the most valuable property of the Agricultural Society, was constructed in the early 1990s with funds raised and hours of work put in by numerous community volunteers. According to Paul Pospisil, past president of the Maberly Agricultural Society, who made the dedication, the “building represents a community spirit of generosity and volunteerism.”

Bill Kennett and his wife Valerie moved to Maberly in 1986 and soon after Bill joined the Agricultural Society as a director working on the financial, insurance and legal aspects of the books as well as preparing an emergency plan. He served as president in 2002 and 2003 and also became the organizer of the fair’s Light Horse Show just so that the event would not be lost. He was also the driving force behind the construction of Diagon Alley, the building that shelters arts and craft displays during the fair.

Bill's most important contribution to the fair was the Thursday morning work parties in which he organized teams of volunteers to carry out the numerous jobs involved in putting on a fair and which inspired local pride in the Maberly fair grounds and its buildings.

President of the Agricultural Society Rosetta McInnes made the formal dedication and unveiled the plaque which will permanently hang as a lasting tribute to Bill Kennett and to the pride and dedication that he brought to community through his work with the Maberly Fair and the Agricultural Society.

After the plaque was unveiled, Bill’s wife Valerie spoke of how the fair site is an important place for her and her family. She thanked Carl Ferguson, who initiated the project, and Dennis Pratt, who carved the plaque.

Emily Morin of Kemptville and Nova S.S., her quarter horse mare, entered a number of events in the light horse class at the maberly fair and camme away with a number of prizes, including first place in the English Pleasure Riding event.

Published in 2009 Archives
Thursday, 24 September 2009 09:09

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Back to HomeFeature Article - September 24, 2009 Advanced Care Paramedics in Frontenac CountyBy Jeff Green

Not all ambulances run by Frontenac Paramedic Services have the same capacity to deliver emergency medical services.

There are two levels of paramedics working for the service, which serves Kingston and Frontenac County: Primary Care Paramedics (PCPs) – the provincial standard, and Advanced Care Paramedics (ACPs) – an optional higher level service.

Primary Care Paramedics can administer five different drugs, while Advanced Care Paramedics can deliver many more. ACPs can start intravenous drips and use more invasive techniques to remove objects that block airways, among a host of other treatment tools.

Currently five of the six 24-hour Kingston ambulances are staffed with one ACP and one PCP at all times, (pending staff availability) but the 24-hour ambulance that works out of the Parham base in Central Frontenac and the 12-hour ambulance that works out of Lavant Station in North Frontenac are each staffed with 2 PCPs.

In an interview with the News last week, Paul Charbonneau, the Director of Emergency and Transportation Services/Chief of Paramedic Services for the County, described how this discrepancy came about.

“In 1994 the Province of Ontario commenced a ten-year study on the value of Advanced Care Paramedics, It was called OPALS. At 18 sites in Ontario, the province paid the extra cost of establishing ACPs. One of those was at Hotel Dieu hospital, which at that time served the City of Kingston. The province covered 100% of the extra salary, drug and ancillary costs for ACPs.”

When paramedic services were downloaded in 2000 and Frontenac County won the contract to deliver service in the City of Kingston and Frontenac County, the new service took over from Hotel Dieu and the Parham ambulance. At the time, Hotel Dieu had ACPs, Parham didn't. The OPALS study was designed for services that were able to respond to calls within 8 minutes, which precluded rural ambulance services that cover large distances, and the potential advantages of ACPs to rural areas was not part of the study.

When the studied period ended in 2004, it was deemed a mixed success. For example, there was little or no improvement in outcomes for cardiac arrest patients, but there was considerable improvement for patients suffering respiratory distress.

When the study period ended, Frontenac County Paramedic Services was faced with increased costs of $180,000 each year to keep Advanced Care Paramedics working in Kingston, and it has done so.

“We have simply carried on as before once OPALS ended, with ACPs in Kingston but not in Parham. To change that would be a political decision,” Charbonneau said.

In some other jurisdictions in Eastern Ontario, however, ACPs have become the norm, even for rural service. While only two Eastern Ontario jurisdictions, Ottawa and Kingston, were part of the OPALS study, some other jurisdictions have since opted to fund ACPs on their own.

Hastings County has instituted a 1 ACP - 1 PCP system in all their ambulances, even at their rural Bancroft base. The same holds true in the Cornwall area.

Susan Brown is the Manager for Training, Quality Assurance and Program Development for Frontenac County Emergency Services. She is also a qualified Advanced Care Paramedic. She sees some definite advantages to having ACPs in all Frontenac ambulances. Aside from the obvious advantages of bring able to administer intravenous drugs on the spot there are other advantages. One she cited is treatment for diabetics.

Faced with a diabetic whose sugar level has dropped to the point where they are disoriented or even unconscious, a PCP can deliver a rather expensive drug which takes 20 minutes to take effect, while an ACP can administer a drug that costs 50 cents and takes effect almost instantly. “Aside from delivering a better immediate outcome for the patient, the likelihood of a hospital visit being necessary in these cases is diminished, leading to savings for the health care system in addition to better service for the public,” Susan Brown said.

When ACPs are required on a rural call in Frontenac County, the PCP ambulance takes the patient, and the nearest ACP-staffed ambulance heads towards the PCP vehicle. When they meet, the ACP jumps into the other ambulance, which continues on towards the hospital.

In Paul Charbonneau's view, Advanced Care Paramedics fit in with a model of health care wherein the ambulance is seen not as a “simple ride to the hospital” but more as “the hospital coming to the patient”, whether that is at their house or at an accident scene.

When the decision was made earlier this year to build a new ambulance base in South Frontenac to house a 24-hour ambulance, the ambulance service put forward a proposal to include an ACP on each shift, and that was accepted by Frontenac County Council.

But there are still no plans for the Parham and Lavant Station paramedic service to be upgraded.

“We have been focussing on the physical plant of the rural ambulance this year,” Charbonneau said, “and the cost of bringing ACP to the North is not something we have brought to the attention of county council thus far.”

There are some issues that would have to be overcome should ACPs be incorporated into the rural Frontenac service. ACPs need to use their skills in order to maintain their certification, and with lower call volumes in the rural areas, ACPs might be required to work some shifts in other locations in order to keep their status.

There is also a question of the cost of training. A PCP can train for ACP certification on a part-time basis, but they will likely have to sacrifice some shifts in order to do the training, and they must cover the cost of the training as well.

“Frontenac County has never paid for ACP training,” said Paul Charbonneau, “whenever a position has come up we have simply advertised for an ACP to cover it, and upgraded our staffing through hiring.”

In other jurisdictions, however, the employer has subsidized the training, and even more aggressive recruitment has been tried.

“When Hastings County upgraded to ACP, they did it by offering a $10,000 signing bonus for any ACP who would come to work for them,” Paul Charbonneau said.

“There are different ways that ACPs could be brought to the north end of the County. It could be done slowly, through attrition, by hiring ACPs when paramedics leave the service, or though more aggressive means.

“But everything costs money, and those kinds of decisions are up to the politicians” 

Published in 2009 Archives
Thursday, 27 August 2009 09:04

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Back to HomeFeature Article - August 27, 2009 Parham Fair this weekendSubmitted by the Parham Agricultural Society

Parham Fair has its roots in Agriculture and though we have expanded, our focus is still on highlighting agriculture. Friday night features the ever-popular Horse Pull, with our local favorite, Bill Lee, an annual participant. Come see the teams as they pull the stone boat to become the Champion Team of the night. Saturday, in the morning, there is a Cattle Show, with local 4-H clubs, and Poultry and Horse Shows all day. Have you seen the Dolly Parton run yet? Watch for it Saturday afternoon in the games in the horse ring.

We will have Steam Engines Display all weekend and an ATV pull on Saturday night. Register at the fair. Show up with your ATV and have some fun.

In the palace, there are agricultural exhibits along with crafts, children’s exhibits, vegetable and baking. You could spend hours in there. New this year, the greased pig contest. Youth between 7-9 and 10-12 may sign up for the contest on Saturday at 6pm. Be sure to wear old clothes. Stop by the Parham Fair Food booth for some great food. Proceeds of the booth help fund the fair. Come for the entertainment, food and midway. A good time is sure to had by all for just $5\day; weekend passes $12.

Published in 2009 Archives
Thursday, 27 August 2009 09:04

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Back to HomeFeature Article - August 27, 2009 Greased pig contest not illegal – Humane SocietyBy Jeff Green

A complaint to the Kingston Humane Society about the Parham Fair Board’s inclusion of a greased pig contest will not be acted upon.

“It is not something that the Humane Society necessarily condones, but it does not seem to be violating any laws,” said Steve Toy, an investigator with the Society.

“Something does not have to be against the law to be wrong,” said Jenny Badour, who lodged a complaint with the humane society after reading that the contest was going to be included in this year’s fair.

Badour said that she has never seen a greased pig contest, but her mother was at one years ago, and the pig ended up being injured.

Officials from the Parham Fair board said the contest is meant as a throwback to events that took place at country fairs in past years and as an activity for youth, and they had not received any complaints save one phone call that came last Friday from Ms. Badour.

They checked with the humane society after receiving the complaint.

Greased pig captures continue to be popular at fairs throughout Canada and the United States, but they have been the subject of protest, and the controversy is not new. A web search revealed that one contest was cancelled in New Jersey after complaints from an anti-cruelty society, on December 31, 1908.

The greased pig contest at the Parham Fair is scheduled for Saturday evening. There are divisions for youth 7-9 and 10-12.

Published in 2009 Archives
Thursday, 13 August 2009 08:51

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Back to HomeFeature Article - August 13, 2009 Sharbot Lake PARC completes its workBy Jeff Green

After almost eight months of meetings, the 28 representatives from five schools in North and Central Frontenac townships have finally completed their assignment.

The Limestone District School Board's Program and Accommodation Review Committee for the Sharbot Lake Family of Schools held their final meeting at Sharbot Lake High School on August 11.

In the end, they approved the same recommendations that they brought to public meetings back in June, and were set to approve in early July.

At that meeting, an impassioned plea by Lesley Pickard in favour of locating a new school in Parham led supporters of the new school being located in Sharbot Lake to ask for information about the bussing implications of a Parham school, and for time to prepare a response.

Steve Wowk, the CEO of Tri-Board Student Transportation Services, presented a report on the impact of the Parham vs. the Sharbot Lake option, and he concluded that the total cost of transportation would increase by $113,800 under that scenario.

He concluded his report by saying the Parham location for a K-12 school “would be the least favourable from a transportation aspect. It would cause the largest increase in ride times and create disruption to the majority of families in the area.”

Cheryl Armstrong, the chair of the parent council at Sharbot Lake Intermediate School, then made a presentation. She said that when Central and North Frontenac are considered, “Sharbot Lake is the most central location for a school. It was like that 60 years ago when the high school was built and it is like that today.”

She also talked of the advantages of Sharbot Lake in terms of co-opportunities because of the businesses and services located there, the fact that the school board owns 13 acres at the site, and the advantages in terms of bussing. “I did not consider the disadvantages of locating a school in Sharbot Lake because there are none,” she concluded.

With the pro-Sharbot Lake intervention now on the record, along with Lesley Pickard's presentation in favour of Parham from the July meeting, the group was content to submit the following recommendation to the board of trustees:

Close Sharbot Lake PS, Hinchinbrooke PS, Sharbot Lake IS/HS and relocate the students, as appropriate for bussing purposes, to Prince Charles PS and to a new K-12 school on the Sharbot Lake IS/HS site or another appropriate site. Maintain Land O’Lakes P.S. and Clarendon P.S. The K-12 building should be designed to separate the elementary students from the secondary students.

This recommendation, along with all supporting documentation (a package that will be several hundred pages in size) will be completed and presented to the board later this month.

A report by senior board staff will also be presented to the board sometime in the early fall, and both reports will be presented to the public sometime in October.

It is anticipated the Board of Trustees will make a final decision in January of 2010.

Construction of a new school, for which funding has been secured from the Ministry of Education, is likely to commence in the spring of 2011, with the new school opening in September of that year. 

Published in 2009 Archives
Thursday, 13 August 2009 08:51

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Back to HomeFeature Article - August 13, 2009Don’t miss the Parham Fair

Bring the whole family to Parham Fair on August 28, 29 and 30! Weekend Passes are $12 each and children 12 and under are free. You can’t beat that. Once you’re in the gate, there’s lots for the family to see and do. Friday is the horse pull and Ambush. Great entertainment! Saturday is a busy day for the whole family. Livestock shows are all morning. The exciting lawnmower races are scheduled in front of the grandstand in the afternoon and an old-fashion tractor pull in the evening. Silly Sally will be there to entertain both the young and the young at heart. The ever-popular children’s games will be Saturday afternoon. New this year, the greased pigs contest. If you are between 7-12, be sure to sign up on Saturday. There will be entertainment on the stage from 2PM on: Parham Gospel Singers, Fit Plus Karate Club, and topping off the evening, the Jim Patterson Band. They are the new up-coming country band in the area. Don’t miss them. And the Grand Finale, Sunday, is the ever popular Demolition Derby. There are many local participants. Come and cheer them on. During this tough economy, where else can you get three days of entertainment for just $24 for the whole family?

And don’t forget to visit "The Hole in One" at the fair in aid of the local food bank.  There are valuable prizes to be won.

Hope to see you there!

Published in 2009 Archives
Thursday, 20 August 2009 08:52

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Back to HomeFeature Article - August 20, 2009 Entertainment at the Parham Fair

Entertainment is the name of the game at Parham Fair. Our favorite group, AMBUSH, is back to start the fair a-rocking at 7:30 on Friday. Their ever popular sound and diverse music is a favorite of all. Come hear their latest hit songs from their new release – “She doesn’t come close” - as well as many of their old favorites. Nominated yearly as one of the 5 top country bands in the country, we are truly blessed to have them play at our little fair. Where else can you see Ambush for just $5.00? The Jim Patterson Band is the highlighted group for Saturday evening. They are the new up and coming Kingston Group. Playing from Nashville to Kingston, their sound is sure to please. Also on Saturday, Silly Sally will entertain both the young and young at heart. Another traditional favorite, the Parham Gospel Singers, will be performing at 2pm. The Sharbot Lake Fit Plus Karate Club will demonstrate their ability and agility at 4 pm. All for just $5\day.

Published in 2009 Archives
Thursday, 09 July 2009 07:50

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Back to HomeFeature Article - July 9, 2009 Sharbot Lake PARC to meetagain in August.by Jeff Green

A last-minute intervention in favour of locating a new school in Parham led members of the so-called “Sharbot Lake PARC” (Program and Accommodation Review Committee) to call another meeting before submitting their final report to the school board.

Members of the committee will have one month to consider narrowing the wording on the location of a new school. The wording in their draft report calls for the school to be built “at the Sharbot Lake High School site or any other appropriate site.”

The members of the Limestone District School Board’s PARC for Sharbot Lake High School and its four feeder schools have been meeting since January, and their latest meeting (July 6) followed two public meetings in June.

Near the end of the meeting, which until then had focussed on the input received at the public meetings, Leslie Pickard, a parent representative from Hinchinbrooke school, presented some information she has gathered about available land at the Hinchinbrooke site, which at 6 acres had been deemed too small to handle the new Kindergarten to grade 12 school that is recommended by the report.

Pickard had contacted the adjacent landowners, which include Viv Lowery, Forde Robinson, the Township of Central Frontenac, and the Parham Fair Board, and made the argument that the cost of purchasing or obtaining agreements for leasing the necessary lands would be minimal.

“Certainly when you compare the sale value of the Sharbot Lake High School site [estimated in a board staff report at $250,00] and the sale value of the Hinchinbrooke site [estimated at $125,000] there is no real cost advantage to Sharbot Lake over Parham,” Pickard said.

“I'm not doing this because I'm from Parham,” she said, “it's just that this is a decision that we will live with for 40 years, and I did this research because this is what feels right to me. I am open to any site, but if we are hoping to attract students from the south in order to have some enhanced programming, Parham is closer than Sharbot Lake. The site is also flat and open. It is just a better location than the Sharbot Lake High School site.”

Pickard's submission threw a bit of a curve ball into a process that seemed, at that point, to have been winding up.

PARC members representing both Sharbot Lake schools, and Clarendon Central in Plevna, challenged the assertion that Parham is a central location, noting the distance from Plevna to Parham.

Cheryl Armstrong, school council co-chair from Sharbot Lake High School, said, “Leslie gave a wonderful presentation about the advantages of this site. No one gave a presentation about Sharbot Lake. I'm a little concerned that if we submit our report with the wording it has now, there will be no opportunity to look more closely at Sharbot Lake. Should we not be choosing the site as a PARC rather than leaving it up to the board, as our wording has it now?”

Roger Richard, the school board treasurer, agreed, saying, “From the PARC's point of view it is always best for PARC to make a decision.”

Barb McLaren, a school board trustee (representing South Frontenac) who has been chairing the PARC meetings, said there is “nothing stopping us from having another meeting before finalising our report.”

A meeting has been set for August 11 at Sharbot Lake High School. School board staff will prepare a report on the implications for bussing of the two proposed school locations, and if a member of the committee wants to provide background about the advantages of the Sharbot Lake High School site they will have the opportunity to do so. 

Published in 2009 Archives

Canada Post spokesman John Caines said last week that home delivery is not on the chopping block in rural Canada.

Although the embattled company will begin phasing out home delivery next month in urban and suburban areas, Caines said that a process of re-evaluating rural addresses was undertaken by the company a couple of years ago and no further changes are envisioned at this time.

He confirmed that changes in the hours at three post offices in Frontenac and western Lanark County - Godfrey, Parham and Maberly - are under consideration but said the specific changes as well as their implementation date are still up in the air.

“We have been looking at our retail outlets, based on foot traffic, and we are looking to tailor our hours to when people use our services most. We have been in consultation with the union, as part of our collective bargaining agreement, about the hours at those locations, but no conclusions have been made, and there is no time frame on it.”

When asked if Saturday closing would form part of the changes to the three offices, Caines said, “Saturday is not a good day for us in terms of customer traffic. No business stays open during times when customers do not use their service.”

Canada Post is making changes to its service delivery model in a effort to reverse a trend, brought on by the widespread changes in communications technology in recent years, which are projected to result in $1 billion yearly losses for the Crown corporation by the year 2020.

The corporation turned a profit for 16 consecutive years until 2010, a year in which it turned a net profit of $314 million. However, in 2011 the company reported a net loss of $188 million.

It returned to profitability in 2012 to the tune of $127 million, but that was done, according to the company’s annual report for the year, “largely due to reductions in the future costs of sick leave and post-retirement health benefits ... a result of reaching new collective agreements with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.” That agreement only came about after a bitter strike in June of 2012 that was ended by back-to-work legislation.

In 2013 Canada Post's financial results plummeted sharply, with losses in excess of $100 million in the third quarter alone.

Wholesale changes in its delivery model, including a sharp increase in stamp prices and an end to home delivery in urban Canada, were announced late in the year.

(Publisher’s note – In all likelihood, this copy of the Frontenac News was delivered to your mailbox, directly to your home, at a community box, or at your local post office box, by Canada Post. We have no plans to alter that method of delivery, which remains the most effective option we have found for delivery in our distribution area. Canada Post has indicated that there will be little if any change in service levels that would affect the timely delivery of the Frontenac News to the 9,219 households that receive our newspaper through the mail.)

Published in General Interest
Thursday, 25 June 2009 07:14

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Back to HomeFeature Article - June 25, 2009 Province promises $13 million for new school in Central FrontenacBy Jeff Green

At the start of the final public meeting (June 18 at Sharbot Lake High School) before the Program and Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) for the Sharbot Lake family of schools submits their final report to the Limestone District School Board, it was announced that the Ontario Ministry of Education made a commitment of almost $13 million “for an accommodation solution for the Sharbot Lake family of schools”.

The PARC, which will submit its final report to the school board staff after their final meeting on July 6, had recommended in its draft report that Hinchinbrooke and Sharbot Lake Public Schools, as well as Sharbot Lake High School be closed and replaced with a new Kindergarten to grade 12 school, to be located “at the Sharbot Lake High School site or another suitable location”.

The question of what is a “suitable location” was raised at the public meeting at Sharbot Lake High School on June 18.

Ruth Bailey, the facilitator to the PARC, had previously stated that the Hinchinbrooke site was unsuitable for a new, larger school, because the school board does not own enough land at the site.

Parham resident Lisa Hamilton addressed that at the public meeting.

“On behalf of my mother, who owns property next to Hinchinbrooke school, I would like to tell you that she is willing to sell it at a very reasonable price if it means building a school in Parham,” she said.

There was also talk at the meeting about the township and the Parham Fair Board negotiating a favourable lease to make it easier for the school board to consider the Parham site instead of Sharbot Lake.

Mayor Gutowski said she was concerned that if there were no school in Parham, the former Hinchinbrooke students who live to the south of Parham would be bussed to Verona and Prince Charles Public School.

“I don't like the idea of losing people to the south. We need to keep our people, and the south is already lucky enough to have seen population growth, so a solution that costs us students is not good for local business or for the township,” she said.

Other speakers at the sparsely attended meeting said that the focus on bricks and mortar missed the crucial issue, which is programming.

Karen Skuce, the mother of three children who attend Hinchinbrooke school, said, “I think the programming has been forgotten here. It's not about physical structures; it's about enriched learning and challenge programs. I have to tell you that if Hinchinbrooke closes I would, as a parent, be looking at Sydenham. I think the programming has been forgotten.”

Liz Steele-Drew, who teaches at Sharbot Lake High School and has a daughter attending Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove, said, “My point is about programming as well. We don't want our children to be disadvantaged.”

She then asked Board Treasurer Roger Richard if the location of a new school would be decided “now or later?”

“The way the process works,” Richard replied, “when the PARC makes a recommendation it includes where the school should be located. The board will make a final decision on a new school and a location, so any input should be now.”

Township Council wants to keep all schools open

Five days after the public meeting, (on June 23) the township council of Central Frontenac decided to make their opinion on school closings known in the form of a motion from council. Central Frontenac Council has little direct impact on the decisions of the PARC apart from the vote of its representative to the PARC, who is 1 of 30 members on the committee,

Deputy Mayor Gary Smith, who is the township’s representative to the PARC now that Norman Gunensperger has resigned, brought the matter of school closings to Council, saying, “There is a PARC meeting on July 6, which will be our final opportunity to affect the final PARC report.”

“I think it's a little late in the game already,” said Councilor Frances Smith.

Nonetheless a motion which stated that the schools in Parham, Mountain Grove and Sharbot Lake should all remain open in their current form was approved by Council.

Limestone School Board staff have made it clear that the $13 million commitment from the Province is only available for new construction, so if the PARC suddenly reverses course and votes to keep the existing schools in Sharbot Lake, Mountain Grove, and Parham open, they would effectively be turning down a new $13 million school.

The PARC final report will be submitted after the July 6 meeting, to be held at Hinchinbrooke school at 6:30 pm. (The public is welcome to attend as spectators)

School board staff will consider the PARC report, but will then submit their own report, which may or may not be the same as the PARC report, to the school board trustees. After a final public meeting, the trustees will make a final decision.

(Editor’s Note: the News has been seeking information over Monday and Tuesday of this week, without success, from the Limestone Board as to how many students the province expects them to house in a $13 million school. The fate not only of Hinchinbrooke School, but Land O’Lakes Public School as well, may hang in the balance.

What we do know is that the funding commitment is only preliminary, and the ministry will look at final building plans before transferring any money.)

Published in 2009 Archives
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With the participation of the Government of Canada