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Volume 43 No. 11
August 26, 2014
Mixed start for allday kindergarten By Andrew Hudson
PHOTO: ANDREW HUDSON
Dancing up a colourful storm at Festival of South Asia Dancers with Brampton’s Xtreme Bhangra Dance Studios perform August 23 at the Festival of South Asia on Gerrard Street East. “It’s a lot of fun, a good crowd, and we get to show off our colours,” says coach Ranjit Singh, who has been performing at the festival along with his students for the last three years.
CONSTRUCTION DELAYS could leave staff at two local public schools juggling for class space when they start full-day kindergarten in September. All the kindergarten students will start at their schools on time, said local TDSB trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher, but in the first few weeks those at Adam Beck may have to use alternative classrooms. Kindergarteners at Williamson Road could face a similar, likely shorter delay before they move into their final class. Ten of the 16 schools in the local TDSB ward had to add full-day kindergarten this fall to meet a provincial deadline, said Cary-Meagher. “Some were relatively simple, and at others we ran into just goofy problems,” she said. “Alongside of that, we’re doing the solar panels and roof replacements, so we’ve been stretched to the Nth degree.” At Adam Beck, crews are behind in adding two new classes and finishing renovations to a third that involved tearing down a wall and adding a door to the yard. Administrators are already planning to shuffle existing space to make room. “They’ve known for two or three weeks that the Plan B was going to be absolutely essential,” said CaryMeagher. At Williamson Road, a school that turns 100 this year, renovations for one class were slowed because of asbestos in the walls. The material was commonly used as a fire retardant in Canada before its harmful respiratory effects were better known. “Often the plaster contains asbestos, so when you need to knock out big chunks of plaster there is a lot of clean-up and remediation that has to take place,” said CaryMeagher. “It pushed us behind.” Administrators at Williamson are preparing an alternate class as a precaution, she said. The clean-
up is nearly done, and the class could be ready for a Sept. 2 start after all. Delays aside, Cary-Meagher said full-day kindergarten registrations are strong across the ward. Numbers are high enough at Norway Public that the school may open an extra kindergarten class, which is ready to go and just needs a teacher. “There’s time in the first few weeks for reorganization,” she said. “Nobody likes doing it, but with the cap on class size and that sort of thing you have to plan for it.” Overall, Cary-Meagher said she and her colleagues are pleased about the final settling-in of the program, which started rolling out five years ago. “I’m a big fan of all-day kindergarten, particularly in the inner-city schools,” she said. “It really helps those kids catch up.”
INSIDE
Art spreads through East End ...See Pages 16-17
PLUS
Police Beat.....................4 Community Calendar.....10 BMN’s Neighbourhood...11 Bottoms Up...................14 The Main Menu.............15 Gardening Views...........18 Where Are They Now?....19 Beach Memories..........20 Deja Views....................21 Sports........................24 Pet of the Month.........26
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