The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 24, 2002 - A 3 Public board considers leasing commercial space in high schools Commercial space in high schools? Oakville Halton District School Board trustee Drew Currah has con vinced his colleagues to have adminis trative staff do a study on the possibility of incorporating commercial space in new high schools. Currah believes the board should be investigating other avenues of fundrais ing in light of looming operating budget deficits. Burlington trustee Peggy Russell agrees with her peer. "W e're under some extreme fiscal constraints right now. It's time we became a little more proactive in terms of finding additional revenue sources." said Russell. Russell cautioned though that any proposals should not pul students at risk. Facilities superintendent Gerry Cullen said the board has looked at this issue in the past. According to Cullen, additional space was even built at Iroquois Ridge High School in Oakville with this in mind. The plan didn't however generate outside tenants and rev enues in the beginning, but board education director Dusty Papke said the C ouncil of Directors of Education (C O D E ) is cur rently leasing the space at the north O akville second ary school. "This is an idea whose time may have come." said Papke. Yet the director added. "Trustees need to have a dis cussion about the parameters and what kinds of people (groups) we would want in there." Cullen said it is staff's preference to have a com mercial partner lined up before any extensive and expensive changes are made to the design plans of new high schools being built within the region by the Halton public school board. Photos by Riziero Vertolli · Oakville Beaver CLEANING UP: About 800 people removed about 12,000 pounds of garbage from 27 Earth Week Clean L p sites in Oakville on Saturday. Among the volunteers at the Munns Creek site were (above) Geoff Thompson and his son Stuart, (right) WesUeigh Hopkins and his sister Kailana and (below ) Tamar Ham ill and her son Billy. The llt li annual Earth Week Clean Up was organized by the O akville Community Centre For Peace, Ecology And Human Rights. Once burned...Twice shy? Trust yourself...again! Seminar This weekend only, with John Kuypers Includes a FREE book & tape: "What's Important Now " What do you want NOW? A new career? A deeper love? Dare to risk. Be rewarded. Burlington, Fri. thru Sun., Apr. 26-28 or Sat. only Go to www.presentliving.com HYPERLINK http://www.presentliving.com or call 1-877-688-6326 Town schedules three meetings to debate pesticide use The Town of Oakville will hold a trio of public information meetings on the topic of pesticide use on public and private lands. The meetings are set for Tuesday. April 30. From 7-9 p.m. at Iroquois Ridge Community Centre located at 1051 Glenashton Dr. The second meeting will be Thursday. May 2. from 7-9 p.m. at the Oakville Town Hall. Council Chambers, at 1225 Trafalgar Rd. The third meeting w ill be Wednesday. May 8 . from 7-9 p.m. at Sir John Colbome Seniors' Centre, 1565 Old Lakeshore Rd. The series of public informa tion sessions are designed to edu cate Oakville ratepayers and obtain feedback in order to gather community opinion on pesticide use in Oakville. In addition to the public infor mation sessions, stakeholder meetings with professionals in thelawn care, landscape and golf course sectors are also taking place. Last June, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a Hudson. Quebec by-law that banned the use of pesticides on private prop erty for cosmetic purposes. The Town is currently investi gating the possibility of introduc ing by-laws governing the use of pesticides on private and public land. Currently, the Town uses chemical pesticides on less than three per cent of all public lands. "Over the past several years, the Town has reduced the amount of pesticides used on public lands and implemented several organic, non-chemical alternatives." said Bob McFarland, director of the Town's Parks and Recreation Department. "Any restrictions and/or total elimination of pesticides in Oakville will depend to some degree on feedback received from the public," said McFarland. Oakville residents wishing to participate and provide feedback, or those seeking more informa tion, are invited to attend any of the public meetings. Or. e-mail comments to pesticides@town.oakville.on.ca. or call Chris Mark the Parks and Recreation Department's assistant director-operations. at 905- 8456601. ext. 3111 or fax 905-3384188. Pesticide-Free Walkabout May 5 The first annual Pesticide-Free Walkabout is being held on Sunday. May 5. Registration for the two-hour event is at I p.m. at the Towne Square in downtown Oakville. The event aims to raise awareness about the impact of pesticides on the ecosystem. The Pesticide-Free Walkabout is being sponsored by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (C A PE). Gardens off Drugs. Oakvillegreen and Pesticide Free Ontario (PFO). Slickers and guidebooks are available for $2. Participants are encouraged to collect all 12 stickers at the six different educational sta tions. OAKVILLE 2501 Hampshire Gate Road - (905) 822-8444 ·AJAX -ANCASTER ·BARRIE ·BRAMPTON ·CAMBRIDGE ·KINGSTON ·LAWRENCE SQUARE ·LONDON ·MARKHAM ·MISSISSAUGA (2 STORES) ·OSHAWA ·RICHMOND HILL ·SCARBOROUGH ·SUDBURY -VAUGHAN -WATERLOO ·I 8 0 0 BouClair inthe evert of <pmM B the V 'fcrwrve 9* np< to tenl «J be ta fc SMthe carnet pnee. 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