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The Canadian Chamnpion, Tuesday, May 20, 2003--19 Board receives some opposition to new timetable Gotahe from PIi9 i81 on naqe 14 day. "A lot were under the impression there ent would have been more information forth- c coming before a decision was made." Ms Boyda said she had been looking for the resuits of a survey of the pilot school participants but didn't see il on the board's Web site until recently. However, the board did make the sur- vey's general resuits public by discussing themn at a achool board meeting April 2. Suzanne Earle, the assistant superintend- cnt ut education who delivercd the decision to go with the balanced timetable, tried tu allay some of the criticism at the May 7 board meeting. "The idea of a balanced day bas been dis- cussed around the board for about îwu years, and most iutensely since September 2002 and the implemeutation of the pilot projecl," said Ms Earle. "We don't deuy there are concerna out there from small groups of parents and commniuities. ht is the intention of staff tu review the implementation of the balance day timetable some lime next (schoul) ycar." StilI, it's Ms Boyda's belief thal the bal- anced day isn'l welcome ai Pauline Johnson School. She said she was ai a school council meeting reccutly and that two teachers there didut want lu switch school schedules. "Tbey were speaking on behaîf of their (school) colleagues (but) a teacher cant speak oui (publicly) because that jeopard- izes their position with the board," said Ms Boyda. Oakville Trustee Mary Chapin said she bas received lelters of concem from two middle schools iu her ward. Ms Earle uoted she had only juil scen the correspondeuce and would contact the writcrs soon to address their wurrics. Ms Chapin also wondered wby nu school in ber eaut Oakville cunsliluency was part of the pilot project. "They didult volunleer for il,' was Mr. Papke's answer. 'Me board's top adminis- trator uotcd staff had wantcd lu mun a greater number of pilot prujecîs but didn'l gel the expected respunse. Ms Earle's report lu the board noted par- ents, students and staff ai the eight pilot schools compleled surveys about the bal- anced timetable at the end of March witb the "majority of survey respondeuts from aIl three groups" agreeing the new scbed- uIc was an improvement over the old une. Trustee Peggy Russell of Burlingion asked how many scbool boards in Ontario are using the balanced day approach. Ms Earle responded that the Simcoe board bas about Il schools participating wbile the Peel public board bas two and the Hamiltou-Weulwurtb board bas une. She added that other boards wcre still deciding whether to go with tbe uew schedule as a farnily of schools or board- wide. Mr. Papke jumped mbt the discussion sayiug be believes Simcue bas "significant- ly" more than Il schools utilizing the bal- anced day schedule and that the twu in Peel bave employed il for "quite a few years now." Nelson Higb School studeut trustee David Waugh said he thought the ucw schedule waa being implemcnled tou quickly with the jump from a pilot project lu almosi ail of Halton's approximately 70 clemeutary schools. The education director half-agrced. "ln a way ils a big jump because ils al schools but in other ways il isn't because we had pilot projects dune," said Mr. Papkc. Board Chair Ethel Gardiner said scbuul n lhr aaards in nnnth Hallon were the eight pilot proýjects, " she said. "The achedule is at odds, there is nu Gai us "Ive nul had one caîl or letter from a par- cao sec anme diftîculty is with parents who More îotonnation on the nalaoce.d day ~' nt with a cuucem about the balanced like lu bave their childreu at home for timelable can bc vîcwed ou the board's 878-2341. bedule. We have a lot of data bascd on lunch. Web site at www.haltondsb.on.ca.