There was a huge bounce game outside for children’s entertainment, as well as a second one indoors, and there were plenty of fun activities set up in the gymnasium and in various classrooms. There was something for everyone to enjoy, young or old.

Fun was had with bingo, a fishing game, ring toss, marble toss, face painting, and finger casting. There was a cake walk, hair painting, and braiding and beading compliments of “Christine, who is the operator of “Hair Wrap Party” – she entertains children at parties with hair wraps made of colourful braiding, beading, and charms!

Children could get colourful balloons, while parents could browse for plants or scrumptious baked goods; and many people enjoyed taking a chance with the penny auction. Tickets were sold for a draw on a lovely Barbie doll cake, while one lucky person purchased a colourful Spider-Man cake. Children could take a ride on the Glow Train that was on-site and parents could buy a ticket for the bike raffle or for a chance to win a new barbecue. Councillor Barry Dalrymple stopped in and volunteered some time at the ticket tables during the afternoon.

The fair had all the trimmings – there were popcorn and cotton candy stands, and pizza, chicken burgers, and drinks were available at the canteen. The smiles on the sea of faces told just how much fun was had at this year’s annual Ash Lee Jefferson Spring Fair!

Children in grade five classes at Beaver Bank Monarch Elementary School brought home notices on April 6. The note apologized for the short notice to parents, and went on to say that a Public Health Nurse would be coming in the following day to talk to students “about growth and development, otherwise known as puberty”. It also stated “This is part of the curriculum therefore all students are expected to take part.” The notice went on to suggest that parents should perhaps take the time to sit down with their child prior to the visit by the Public Health nurse and should discuss any questions they might have. Again, there was an apology for the short notice, stating that the school had only found out that day about the planned visit by the Public Health nurse for the following day.

McEachern, who resides in Beaver Bank, says she is against particular information found in the Growing Up Ok! booklet which is given to students by the Public Health nurse, from the Department of Health Promotion and Protection. She says she is particularly concerned about information found on page nine, which she says explicitly addresses Female Arousal and Orgasm. Readers can find the information by following the link

http://gov.ns.ca/hpp/publications/11020_GrowingUpOkbooklet_Feb10_En.pdf

“I am not against all of the information in the booklet,” said McEachern. “There is a lot of wonderful information inside that I do agree children need to know. But this is way too much information for a ten year old to absorb. My husband and I did sit with our son and we did tell him what we believe he needs to know at this time. When we feel the time is appropriate, we will elaborate. Or at least we would have. Unfortunately, the school has now removed that choice for us by giving our son the information we wanted to hold back until he was old enough to properly absorb it. I am really concerned with this; I have a little girl in grade two and I will not go through this again when it is her turn. I don’t ever remember asking the school to parent my children for me. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure that this doesn’t ever happen to another child. They ignored my wishes and gave it to my child despite me going in and talking about it beforehand.”

When the first article on this topic was posted on District 2 News in January, a number of parents said they planned to exercise their rights as parents and would keep their children home from class on the day of the visit by the Public Health nurse, so to avoid their child receiving information they as parents felt was “age-inappropriate” for 10 year olds to hear, especially they said, in a mixed classroom. McEachern was among those parents.

She says she took the appropriate steps to keep her child from being at risk of receiving the Growing Up Ok! Booklet and the information she feels is too advanced for her child to hear at the age of 10, by going to his teacher and speaking with her months in advance. On April 6, her son arrived home with the notice announcing the Public Health nurse would be visiting the following day.
“I had already talked to my child’s teacher and so I was confident that my son would not receive the booklet,” said McEachern. “As his parent, I understand that it is my right to say what my children do and do not receive when it is not part of the school curriculum, which this booklet is not.”

McEachern is correct; the Growing Up Ok! Booklet is not part of the school curriculum, a fact confirmed in January and on April 10, by Doug Hadley, spokesperson for the Halifax Regional School Board (HRSB). Furthermore, parents are supposed to be required to sign a written form, giving permission for their children to receive the booklet, before it ever reaches their child’s hands.

McEachern kept her child home from school the following day, when the Public Health nurse came into the school to teach the information to the 10 year old students. “I had made that decision months earlier, and I took the appropriate steps to avoid any chances of my child ever getting that booklet by talking to his teacher, discussing my concerns, and then keeping him home,” said McEachern. McEachern’s son went to school the day afterwards as usual, but when he arrived home, she was shocked when her son informed her that his teacher given him the booklet in question. “He was quite distraught; he apologized to me for taking the booklet. That is just not right, it broke my heart. This upset my son, myself and my husband.” said McEachern.
McEachern says she cannot believe what happened, especially considering the fact that she had taken the recommended steps to ensure that her child would not receive the booklet.

McEachern is concerned with how such a thing occurred, and why. “My sons teacher is absolutely wonderful, and my son has enjoyed an excellent student/teacher relationship,” said McEachern, a petite, soft-spoken woman. “When I questioned the teacher as to why my child was given the booklet, her response was “I had to, it’s part of the curriculum.” I don’t blame my sons teacher in any way, but I wonder, are the teachers being forced by the school to distribute these books regardless of knowing parents wishes not to have their children receive that material? I was previously informed this is a matter between each individual school and the parents involved. The Growing Up Ok! Booklet is not part of the curriculum, so who gave teachers the idea that it is? Also, I understood in January, that I would be required to sign a form before my child would receive that booklet. I did not ever receive a form to sign, so I am left asking, “how did this happen?”

Tara Robinson runs a local pre-school and daycare in the Fall River community. She is also a mother to two young girls, one of whom recently received “the talk”. Robinson says she was torn over whether or not to allow her daughter to attend school on the day “the talk” was scheduled to take place. In the end, her daughter did go, but not before Robinson sat down with her daughter and prepared her. “Initially, I was not sure what I would do, if I was going to send my daughter to school on that day or not,” said Robinson. “A neighbour spoke with me and told me that my child would probably get the information no matter if I sent her or not – from her peers – and that perhaps it would be better for my child to hear that information with a group of other young girls, rather than as second-hand information afterwards. Even so, I was not sure of what I would do when the time arrived. However, as it happened, I was buried in work among other things on the days leading up to and including the day “the talk” was to happen, and I completely forgot. Not good, but that is what happened, so my daughter was in school on that day anyway. But, if I had made the decision for my child not to go, and if I had taken steps to ensure my wishes would be met by speaking to the school about it, I would be very upset, livid even, if my decision was not respected by my child’s school. A parent’s word should be the last word. If you don’t want your child to know something, and you keep them home, and then the minute they go back to school they are given that information anyway – overstepping the parent’s decision – that is just plain wrong. Unfortunately, your hands are sort of tied, as in, if you keep your child out, they are sort of singled out for not being there with their peers when they do go back.”

District 2 News did attempt to contact the school and the teacher, to ask what had gone wrong concerning McEacherns request that her son not receive the Growing Up Ok! Booklet, but we were met with a “No comment” from principal MacASkill, who then hung up the telephone.

Natalie Flinn is with the Nova Scotia Department of Education.
“We know from National guidelines, that this is age-appropriate material for children in grade five,” said Flinn. “We encourage parents to be in touch with the teacher, this is really a school issue. We have a really big approval process, to what we give to schools and with all resources that are taught. For this, the Public Health has contact with the schools. We prescribe the curriculum, and we support school boards. This is a School Board issue.”

District 2 News contacted HRSB spokesperson Doug Hadley about the matter.
At first, Hadley said he was informed by the school in question that the note sent home said it was up to parents whether or not their children would receive the material or would be in school on the day the Health Nurse was scheduled to come in. But when Hadley was informed by District 2 News that the note sent home on April 6 did not state that, and in fact the note instead told parents that the material was part of the curriculum and therefore students were expected to take part, he took the time to speak with the school once again. In a statement afterwards, Hadley said this: “In reviewing the letter, the school can now see how parents may have taken the note that was sent home. What they meant was that if children were in school on that day, then they would be required to take part in the class.” Hadley did recommend that the best plan for parents is to have an open dialogue with their child’s teacher and their school. “If parents do not want their children to receive certain material, they should talk to the teacher and the principal at their child’s school, and express their wishes. On behalf of the school, I apologize for any misunderstanding and any conflict or upset it may have caused.”

For parents who are not happy with situations such as the one McEachern is facing, and if they are displeased with actions taken by a school with regards to their child, they should direct those concerns to the supervisor of each school “family”. The Lockview Family is the family of schools that covers Lockview High and the Junior High and Elementary Schools that feed into it, including Beaver Bank Monarch Elementary School. In the Lockview family, the supervisor is Rick Tully. He can be reached at 902-464-2000.

The debate over sex education in schools doesn’t’ appear to be confined to Nova Scotia. The topic has been making National news lately. CNN recently posted two articles regarding Sex Education in Wisconsin schools. In the articles, a DA in Wisconsin warns teachers that they may find themselves arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor if they teach the new Sex Ed courses mandated under state law. According to the United States DA, In Wisconsin, minors can’t legally have sex, and so teachers may be found to be endorsing the behaviour and be liable. You can read the information at

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/07/da-to-teachers-new-sex-ed-course-could-get-you-arrested/ and at http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/08/da-to-teachers-new-sex-ed-course-could-get-you-arrested/

Whether or not the issue will ever become a matter of law here in Nova Scotia remains to be seen; but for now the topic of Sex Education in schools remains a matter between each school and the parents of the students who attend. “It’s scary to think that a parents rights can be violated like this,” said McEachern. “If anyone other than a teacher gave my child such explicit information and drawings about sex, I would consider that very close to abuse. What I would like are answers. How did this happen? I did what I was supposed to do. I really need to know how we can ensure other families are protected from going through the same thing in the future.”

Barry Dalrymple, Councillor for District 2 of the HRM supports the idea. “The 2013 build for the C.P. Allen School would include an Arts and Cultural Centre. This may be the only opportunity to provide something for our kids,” said Dalrymple. “If we here in this district support this, we want access to this. This may be the closest opportunity we have to build something like this in our area. It is still in the planning stages, and we need input.”

Dalrymple pointed out that it would be practical to consider including a new Arts and Culture Centre in the plans for the new high school when it is constructed, and encouraged residents to give their input on the proposal. “What do you want in there?” asked the Councillor. He pointed out the fact that the proposal to include the new Arts and Cultural Centre in the high school is probably the closest residents of District 2 will get to having an Arts and Cultural Centre so nearby, due to the cost of such a project. “Even being built in the new school, we are still looking in the five million mark,” said Dalrymple.

Vice-principal Adena Leslie-Cole spoke of how the initial idea for the fund-raising campaign came about.  “I had a couple of students meet me at the door one day,” she said. “Liam Hodder and Greg West asked me, “Is there anything we can do to raise money for Haiti’s victims?”

“I told them to come and see me and we’d talk about it,” said Ms. Leslie Cole.

The boys took the vice-principal up on her offer, and after a bit of brainstorming an idea was born. “Basically, we discussed what had happened in Haiti; we talked about how the people there need clean water, medical supplies, and shelter.  We informed students they could buy a pink heart for $1 and the proceedings would go to Haitian victims,” said Ms. Lesli-Cole.  “We sent an email to parents telling what we were doing.”

Greg West and his friend Liam Hodder shared what gave them the initial idea to raise money for Haiti. “Well basically, ,my mother was watching the news and it said there was an earthquake in Haiti,” said Greg. “She told me about what happened, and I said I wanted to do something to help the people there.” Greg discussed the idea with his buddy Liam, and the friends decided to discuss it all with Ms. Leslie-Cole.

Ash Lee Jefferson students rose to the occasion; some brought in their allowance , and some brought in their piggie banks. Others did chores and raised money to donate. “It was amazing,” said Ms. Leslie Cole,  “in the end, in one week, the kids   raised $5082.97.”

Ash Lee Jefferson principal David Fowlie is very pleased by the efforts of the students. “Their concern and their compassion for the people of Haiti is very humbling,” he said. “Five and six year olds came in with their pennies and nickels,    some with whatever they had in their piggie banks. Once again, this community has gone beyond in their response to others in need, in giving their support when it was  needed by others.

The funds raised at Ash Lee Jefferson will probably be donated to the Red Cross. “They are well-organized, and always ready to assist in other places and other countries,” said Mr. Fowlie. “So that is what we are seriously looking at right now.”

The funds were matched by the Canadian government, “We really wanted to donate the money through an organization which would have it’s funds matched by the government,” said Ms. Leslie-Cole. “And they will be.”

She praised the children, as well as the moms and dads for their worthwhile efforts and contributions. “The kids did a fantastic job. The students and the parents at Ash lee Jefferson, they always respond in a way like this – positively. From local food drives at Christmas, to their response to others in need around the world, it’s   wonderful. There are 640 kids at Ash Lee; we had hoped to raise maybe $2000. They raised $5082.97 – that’s pretty special.”

Some streets in the Fall River Village area will be affected by the Interim Boundary Proposal, as well as streets located in Capilano Estates and along the Windsor Jct. Rd. The streets in Fall River Village include Winley Drive, Devonport Avenue, Pinnacle Court, Hudson Drive, Nottingham Lane, Glenmorren Court, Whittington Court, Bolton Drive, Sheffield Court, Canterbury Lane, Castlemark Court, Ingram Drive, Newport Drive, Lincolnshire Drive, and Perry Court.

When an Interim Boundary Proposal receives the approval of the elected Board, the new boundaries will take effect Sept. 2010. Registration for Grade primary begins Feb. 1, 2010. Parents will register their child for primary at their neighbourhood school within their current boundary. If the decision is rendered by the School Board to accept the Interim Boundary Proposal, thus changing the boundaries as recommended in the proposal, the parents affected will then register their child at the new school.

Students who are currently enrolled at Ash Lee Jefferson in the French Immersion program will continue to be bussed to the school. Ash Lee Jefferson will be considered a dual site for French Immersion – students from both Ash Lee Jefferson boundary and the new Waverley Memorial boundary are eligible to register for French Immersion and will have access to bus transportation to Ash Lee.

If an older child is enrolled in the English program at Ash Lee Jefferson, but resides in the new boundary for Waverley, and if that child has a younger sibling who is going to be enrolled in the French Immersion program at Ash Lee, the older child can still apply to stay at Ash Lee Jefferson. There are no sibling rights or grandfather clause in the Interim Boundary Proposal. Parents can apply to request their child be registered at a school other than their neighbourhood school.

If a parent has a child in Grade 7 at Harold T. Barrett school and a child in Grade 6 at Beaver Bank Monarch Drive Elementary school this year, and if they live in Capilano Estates, parents must register their children at the neighbourhood school. There is no grandfather clause in this Interim Boundary Proposal. If the Interim Boundary Proposal is approved, children would be registered in Grade 7 and Grade 8 at Georges P. Vanier Junior High School. Parents can follow the procedures for a request to register their children at a school other than at their neighbourhood school.

To apply to register children at a school other than their neighbourhood school, parents can apply under Board policy B.003: Creating School Populations. To do that, parents must:

• Pick up an Out-of-Area request form from the principal at your neighbourhood school
• Fill out the form and have it signed by your neighbourhood school principal
• Give the signed form to the principal at the school you want your child to attend
• Applications may be received by a school on or after April 1st
• All applications must be processed by June 30 of the year of the transfer

The receiving school principal makes the decision based on student enrolment, the makeup of the receiving class and available school resources.

If your child is accepted at another school, you are responsible for their transportation to and from school. For more information, read policy B.003: Creating School Populations – (Procedures – Section 14.0)

For more information about the new Waverley School, parents can contact school principal Mr. Ken Marchand at 860-4150 or they can visit the school website at www.wmlcs.ednet.ns.ca

Waverley Memorial currently has an after school program. If there is sufficient interest in a before school program in 2010, the principal will investigate the possibility of adding a before school program in addition to continuing to offer after school child care.

Start time and dismissal times for the Waverley School are as follows, classes begin at 8 a.m. Dismissal time for grades P-2 is 1:30 p.m. and for Grades 3-6 is 2 p.m.

If parents are concerned about their child’s transition to the new school, they can contact their child’s current principal, and/or the principal at their child’s new school, for direction and support.

Although the plans are good news to many, not everyone is happy. A number of residents of Waverley have contacted Percy Paris, MLA for Waverley-Fall River- Beaver Bank, concerned that LC  Skerry/Waverley Memorial school did not appear on the list of planned new schools.

“I want to let parents know, the reason L.C. Skerry School was not on the list is because it was already “targeted” money,” Paris said Thursday. “It was already planned for.”

307 million dollars have been promised for school projects over the next seven years, to build new schools and do badly needed renovations on existing ones. But school boards will have to wait until the budget is released before they can decide how and where they will allocate those funds.

Paris wants to assure residents the new Waverley school project is still scheduled to be completed by Sept. 2010. “The last word I heard was that all is still on schedule. My concern is that at the end of construction, they have allowed enough time for the school to off-gas, before the students enter.”

“These families have been waiting for this replacement school since 2003,” said Paris. “They’ve heard all of the excuses, been through frustrating delays and have had their questions and concerns go unanswered. The students of the school and their families deserve better. They deserve a firm commitment from this government. a commitment that will be honoured.”

Paris says rumours of an upcoming provincial election “should have no negative impact on the timeline” of plans for the new school. “An election should not halt or delay the construction of the new Waverley school,” he said.

The new school was supposed to be built a number of years ago however those plans were put on hold when Paris was elected to office. Paris, the NDP Education Critic for Nova Scotia, said he fully understands parents concerns that plans will once again get pushed to the side. “The good residents of Waverley will realize this school was promised by the PC government. The former MLA was part of that government, and there was not an issue with building the school until I was elected. One of the reasons parents in Waverley are so concerned, and one of the reasons I am so on top of this, is because it’s one of those things that have been around and promised for a long, long time; it’s incumbent upon me to see it’s still progressing as promised, to ensure it stays on-track,” he said. Now that tender has finally been announced, the MLA says he plans to stay firm on the matter to ensure plans don’t get pushed to the side once again.

“I’m pleased, but hope for the sake of the parents and students that this is for real this time,” said Paris. “The Waverley Memorial/LC Skerry Elementary School has a litany of problems and needed to be replaced years ago. This process has been slow and frustrating for myself and residents, but we’re very happy and optimistic that the new school is closer to becoming a reality.”

Over the last two years, Paris has raised many issues on behalf of hte parents and students of Waverley Memorial/LC Skerry School.

“This school has a basement that floods, a leaky roof, potential mould problems, crumbling walls, pipes with asbestos insulation running below the ceilings of may classrooms,” said Paris. “Perhaps even more serious, students and parents have reported significant health problems as a result of the schools condition. The Conservative government cannot continue to neglect this issue, or the health and well-being of these students. A replacement school is needed, and it is needed immediately.”

Waverley (D2N) – Both L.C. Skerry School and Waverley Memorial will be torn down when the new school is built. “We need input from the community to decide what the new school will be like,’ said Paris. “There is a transition team in place, consisting of parents and school administrators. The school advisory committee would have played a lead role in that transition team.” The job of the school advisory committee is to guide and facilitate the schools construction.

The tender calls for construction input. Whoever bids would have to be a bonded, certified company.

“It is great to see the residents of Waverley pulling with me in this, and together we got it done; this school will be built,” said Paris. “I feel better today than I did two months ago, or six months ago; I’ll feel even better once construction starts.”

In a phone call to the Excel offices on May 5, a spokesperson confirmed that students enrolled at Ash Lee Jefferson Elementary School in Fall River would not have to pay lunch fees as of Sept. 2008, citing “distance” as the deciding factor.

Although no one was available to speak about the issue in detail that day, the woman who answered the phone stated: “The lunch fees have been removed for everyone at Ash Lee Jefferson during the lunch hour. It has been confirmed; there is no mistake. No one is required to pay for lunch hour supervision at Ash Lee Jefferson School as of Sept. 2008.”

This means each and every “walking” child can stay at school and enjoy lunch with their friends or take part in a lunch hour activity or club, without paying a fee to do so.

The controversy over the lunch fees in HRM became heated at times, threatening to divide communities. Paris had actively advocated for amendments to be made to the existing Legislation, and he was seemingly successful – until in response the HRM School Board said they would not supervise the additional students, inferring that they would instead require the children to be removed during the lunch hour and parents would be required to find outside supervision.

It was a response that had Paris shaking his head. “Leave it to them to try to get around the amendment. Lunch hour is not separate from the school day; it is a part of the school day,” he said at that time. “Every child should be able to stay at school through the lunch hour. The amendment was not done so this would happen, so the School Board could then say, ‘OK then, we won’t supervise the kids at all; we’ll get around the legislation and do it by offering nothing’.”

When Bill 51 was passed in December, amending existing legislation and banning lunch supervision fees altogether, many parents of walking students and French Immersion students cheered the decision, clearing the way for what they initially thought was free lunch hour supervision for all children. But their joy was short-lived when the HRM School Board responded, saying they would not provide lunch supervision. The Minister of Education, Karen Casey, also suddenly announced it would be acceptable for some schools to continue to charge fees, even though the legislation banned them outright. She said the legislation was only intended to include students in French Immersion and those who lived over the new shorter distance (that was yet to be determined) from the school. The Minister said the amendment had been taken out of context, and that it really did not mean what folks thought it meant. Her announcement left some politicians scratching their heads in confusion.

Liberal Education Critic Leo Glavine, who introduced the bill to amend the lunch hour supervision laws, said the bill was intended to abolish lunch fees altogether and pave the way for a free school-day. “My vote absolutely did mean I intended for the lunch fees to be removed altogether and right away, not later or for a chosen few,” he said a the time. “I only hope the Minister and her party now work to ensure it happens, that they work towards the goal of free public schooling for all.”

NDP Education Critic Percy Paris was quick to address the matter at the time, saying “How can the Minister say that? This is about the spirit of the legislation, and the spirit of the legislation was very clear. Each and every member who voted agreed the lunch fees were not fair. The vote brought all three parties together in agreement and it was unanimous – abolish the lunch supervision fees for all children, not just a few.”

But now, there seems to be another problem arising from the situation. The School Boards are saying they simply do not have enough money to cover lunch hour supervision. And according to the recently released Provincial Budget, there is not going to be an increase anytime soon for educational needs in Nova Scotia. The Halifax School Board says they are in a quandary– if they cannot charge a fee for lunch hour supervision they are facing a potential shortfall of over $2 million to cover the costs involved, and that could mean lay-offs of human resource personnel, including teachers’ aids.

At the moment, Minister Casey says she has no intention of giving more money to Nova Scotia School Boards. In a recent statement she said teachers in many schools supervise the lunch hour through teacher volunteers, leaving School Boards believing she is advocating teachers share lunch hour supervision duties. Under their collective agreement, teachers are entitled to a lunch hour.

Paris says he is not surprised by the confusion. “This is just one more mess this existing government seems to have made of things,” he said. “The Minister knew what was involved here when she voted to pass Bill 51, she understood the reason the School Board would not pay to cover lunch hour supervision for all students and that is because of the money involved in doing it. Now she is suggesting the teachers go against their contract and volunteer to cover this cost.”

Paris says he is tired of party members saying one thing and doing another. “All three parties agreed to this bill: the Liberals who introduced it, the NDP who advocated for it, and the PC’s who passed it. Now the PC’s are saying they don’t have the funding, the Liberals are saying to charge while working towards getting the money in place, but here I am, the NDP Education Critic, still fighting for the same thing to get looked after. I have not changed my mind or position on the issue. Should government not have taken the appropriate steps to ensure everything was in place before they voted for it? If I were the Minister, would I not have investigated and taken steps to see this was all handled? Would I not have consulted the stake-holders, and known where this all stands before I took it to a vote? I would do due diligence and have things in place before I voted to pass this bill.”

Fall River mom Peggy Aikenhead is thrilled to hear the fees have been removed from Ash Lee Jefferson School as of this coming Sept., although she says she would not have paid for the coming school year anyhow. “Again, it is the point that we were being forced to pay for something our tax dollars are supposed to cover. I really believe public schools need to be publicly funded. You should not pay extra fees to send your children to public school,” she said.

Aikenhead seems to agree with at least one thing the Education Minister suggested regarding the controversial debate: “This is not just a money issue. Part of this whole problem is the fact that there are not enough people to supervise the lunch hours. I really feel teachers could give up a lunch hour here and there to make this work. If a teacher wants to take time off at the end of their day, why not simply supervise the kids during the lunch hour to make up that time?” she said. It is a suggestion that has two very strong and opposing sides, and it is a suggestion that is very unlikely to happen.

“This is not the School Board’s problem,’ says Paris, “This is a problem the Provincial Government needs to handle. Government created the problem and only made it worse.”

Paris sticks to his original view of the situation and thinks it is great walking students will no longer have to pay to stay at school during their lunch hour. “The school day is the school day,” said Paris, “and we need to ensure our children have a secure and safe place to be while learning.”