Trillium Lakelands Archives — Lindsay Advocate

Food choking incident at local school has parents demanding more supervision

Published on May 21, 2019 in Education by Roderick Benns

A Lindsay couple whose daughter choked on food at Leslie Frost Public School while there was no adult in the classroom is fighting for more supervision for students.

Meanwhile, a Trillium Lakelands District School Board spokesperson says “students are not left alone unsupervised.”

Neil and Jena-Lyn Westerby say their daughter Lexie, 7, choked on a piece of orange on March 22 which upset her enough that she wanted to call home. She was not allowed to call home, the parents say, although the teacher did notify the parents via a text message after the school day and after Lexie had already told her parents about what had happened.

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Board losing millions in funding; Director of education says ‘change is upon us’

Published on April 24, 2019 in Education/Provincial by Roderick Benns

The widespread cuts to education by the PC government will mean millions of dollars will be lost to the Trillium Lakelands District School Board. However, Director of Education, Larry Hope, says a highly regarded construction program at LCVI can’t solely be blamed on the PC government.

Among other cuts, the board is facing:

a $423,000 shortfall for Early Childhood Educators (ECEs).
a $526,000 drop in board funding because of new classroom caps for Grades 4-8.
a $3.8 million shortfall as secondary class sizes balloon from 22 to 28 students as a cap

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Students to walk out of class on Thursday to protest Ford’s education cuts

Published on April 2, 2019 in Education by Roderick Benns

Hundreds of students in Kawartha Lakes are expected to walk out of class at 1:15 pm Thursday to protest the PC government’s cuts to education.

While Trillium Lakelands District School Board’s position is they would “prefer students didn’t,” according to Catherine Shedden, district manager of corporate communications, they are “welcome to do so peacefully.”

Shedden says they know area schools are interested in expressing their disagreement with recent announcements from the provincial government on education matters.

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How parents can best support their kids in school

Published on October 10, 2018 in Education by Lindsay Advocate

By now, most of us with school-aged children have settled into the routines of fall and the new school year. Of course, this means getting up early, packing lunches, driving here and there in our very busy lives and of course hearing about the school day at the dinner table.

If your kids are anything like mine, you likely hear stories about what their friends did that day, who the favourite teachers are and how they’ve done on their assignments. Of course, we always hope the stories are positive and that your child’s experience at school is a good one.

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New TLDSB superintendent of business services

Published on September 26, 2018 in Education by Lindsay Advocate

Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) trustees approved the appointment of Tim Ellis as the board’s new superintendent of business services, replacing Bob Kaye who will be retiring after working for 28 years with the board.

Ellis will be responsible for system fiscal management and accountability, as well as leadership of facility and transportation departments.

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EQAO results show local students struggling, especially Grade 3

Published on September 20, 2018 in Community/Education by Lindsay Advocate

EQAO results show students struggling, especially Grade 3

Local Grade 3 EQAO results from the Education Quality and Assessment Office (EQAO) show a drop in all three assessment areas — reading, writing, and math. Reading and writing results in Grade 6 are holding steady, indicating a slight decline of one per cent in math, just as the provincial results also dropped by one per cent in Grade 6 math.

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Board finds needed $2 million in estimated teacher sick leave

Published on September 8, 2018 in Community/Education by Roderick Benns

As the Trillium Lakelands District School Board grapples with a $2 million funding shortfall in expected revenues, it found the solution in decreasing the amount of money it is allocating for teacher sick leave.

Director of Education Larry Hope just hopes it wasn’t a one-time solution, and so has reached out to the local union presidents for support.

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Back To School: Post-Secondary pursuits, past and present

Published on September 2, 2018 in Education/Just in Time by Ian McKechnie

A familiar ritual plays out across Kawartha Lakes on the first Tuesday of September. It’s a ritual that most of us have participated in – sometimes grudgingly, often anxiously. For those living in the countryside, this ritual involves waiting at the end of a long laneway for a yellow bus.

For those in town, it involves making a five, 10, 15, or 20-minute journey by foot, or occasionally by car. Parents reassure their children that they will do well on their first day of Kindergarten, while down the street their teen-aged counterparts are gaily exchanging pleasantries about their summer break, and comparing notes about who is taking what classes this semester.

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French Immersion enrollment swells, forces school board to use Central Senior

Published on May 30, 2018 in Around Town/Community/Education by Roderick Benns

Overcrowding at Leslie Frost Public School in Lindsay – the only public system school in all of Kawartha Lakes that had offered French Immersion – has forced the school board to send its Grade 7-8 French Immersion students elsewhere this fall.

The decision was made public for the first time May 22 by Trillium Lakelands District School Board. Superintendent of Education Katherine MacIver says the decision will affect about 67 students in Grades 7 and 8 who otherwise would have gone to Leslie Frost.

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One hundred days of school marked by 300 acts of kindness at Leslie Frost

Published on February 16, 2018 in Around Town/Community/Education by Roderick Benns

Teacher Sylvie Dugas couldn’t have known that trying out something new this year to celebrate the recent 100th day of school could yield such a cascade of positive energy.

And yet when she asked her 20 students to do five random acts of kindness in celebration of the 100th day of learning this year, two co-workers heard about the plan and ran with it, too.