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But Hendry, a former schoolâ€"board chair seeking election to the board after running for city council in And she said that the board is committed to keepâ€" ing school sizes in check with the optimal student population average of 1,100 students at the highâ€"school level. sion to keep SoutHv;éa;i secondary school in Camâ€" brnge open. Fife, seeking her second term on the board, said no school in the region needs to be closed, defending the board‘s controversial deciâ€" They were asked about school accommodation in light of the province‘s deciâ€" sion last week to lift its moratorium on school cloâ€" sures. candidates featuring incumâ€" bents Catherine Fife and John Monteith, and John Hendry, Kathleen Woodcock and Anthony Cramer. It started with one of the first questions posed to the But they also made sure to take swipes at each other during an allâ€"candidates meeting last Wednesday in Waterloo. in public educalri;)â€"n:u;-t.;é province and its flawed funding formula. board are trai'i;\"g“;h'(;ls at what the_y call the real bully Funding formula fires up candidates running for public schoolâ€"board seats ocal candidates for seats on the Waterloo Region district school Chronicle There was also a spirited exchange over the use of reserve funds to make up for a budget shortfall that the public school board faced last year. "I don‘t think it was a flawed decision," responded Fife. "And I stand by my decision. "No other school board in Ontario was closing down successful schools at the time and pitting one comâ€" munity against another community." support it," said Hendry about school population sizes. "But the decision was made to justify a bad deciâ€" sion a few years ago." "If that plan was made under any other circumâ€" stances I would probably 2003, said that decision was made to justify a bad deciâ€" sion by the board to keep Southwood open. As it stands Cambridge now has five public high schools, while Waterloo, which has a population almost the same size, only has three. "The school board recently balanced its budget ... by draining all of our savings." â€"Anthony Cramer candidate "Reserve funds are monies you put aside for a rainy day," said Monteith. 'ight now in education in He said the province has been promising to fix the funding formula for the past three years but has failed to do so. Monteith, who has served on the school board for nine years and is seeking another fourâ€"year term, backed the use of those reserve funds. "It was the right decision at the right time," said Fife. "We weren‘t going to cut outdoor education just to have money sitting in a reserve fund." When it came to a tradeâ€" off between maintaining the reserve funds or preserving services, she choose to preâ€" serve services. Fife said she had no regrets in making that deciâ€" sion and said the local board was one of 35 school boards in the province that had to use its reserve funds to balance its budget. "L leave it for the voters to decide if the school board safeguarded our money and wisely directed the public system‘s finances over the last three years." recently balanced its budget as required by law not by addressing the financial shortfall, but by draining all of our savings," said Anthoâ€" ny Cramer, a local youth employment consultant running for school board trustee for the first time. 28â€"Novâ€"06 27â€"Novâ€"06 23â€"Novâ€"06 22â€"Novâ€"06 He also sarcastically thanked the province for waiting for three years to address remuneration for schoolâ€"board trustees, makâ€" ing it an election issue in 20â€"Novâ€"06 16â€"Novâ€"06 When the province does make a funding promise, Monteith said the Ministry of Education usually takes it away from another area. Monteith said the boards are still waiting for a change to the transportation fundâ€" ing, which is still one of the biggest bones of contention with local parents. 15â€"Novâ€"06 this province it‘s pouring." i arenane 4 Region of Waterico PUBLIC HEALTH Q)nflnuedonpage“ Kitchener New Hamburg Cambridge Kitchener Waterloo 3:30 p.m. â€" 8:00 p.m. 10:00 a.m. â€" 6:00 p.m. ’2:00 p.m. â€" 8:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m. â€" 8:00 p.m 2:00 p.m. â€" 8:00 p.m 10:00 a.m. â€" 8:00 p.m 10:00 a.m. â€" 8:00 p.m COMMUNITY INFLUENZA CLINICS 2006 â€" 2007 Getting the influenza vaccine can help you and your family stay healthy! buss _ BB _ COsE CR www3. sympatico.ca/ja.vieth/ +d S C W UREWTT * Teâ€"ustate Tevrenment Fes! Puicy Camemanity Contee * Exhance City of Waterize Website lewmadcamic ooo i. 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