 By Staff
May 28th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Another report card – we didn’t do all that well in the 2019 Canada Road Safety Week Enforcement initiative. Infractions were xx% higher than in the previous year.
During the week of May 14 -20, the Halton Regional Police Service conducted heightened traffic enforcement on area roadways. Officers focused on what has become known as the ‘Big 3’ road safety issues:
 call 9-1-1 for an immediate police response when you see this kind of behavior. Don’t call while YOU are driving. aggressive driving,
distracted driving
and impaired operation – by alcohol and/or drug.
During Canada Road Safety Week CRSW, which included the Victoria Day Long Weekend, Halton Regional Police Service officers laid a total of 3,306 non-criminal charges and warnings related to all forms of driving offences.
Charges included:
1. Speeding, Careless Driving and Stunt Driving (1,599 charges);
2. Sign and traffic light-related offences (473 charges);
3. Documentary infractions-licencing and insurance (456 charges); and
4. Cell phone- electronic devices (129 charges).
The total number of charges laid represents a 23 per cent increase over the number of charges laid during the 2018 CRSW campaign.
Halton officers also intercepted and criminally charged 13 impaired drivers during the campaign for excess blood alcohol, commonly referred to as ‘80mgs or over’. An additional 8 drivers were suspended following roadside breath alcohol testing for registering ‘warn range’ breath alcohol readings.
The Regional Police Service is “grateful” for the vast majority of citizens and area motorists who remain committed to road safety across the region.
If you observe a vehicle being operated in a manner which places you or anyone else in danger, please call 9-1-1 for an immediate police response.
 By Staff
May 23rd, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Seventy Halton District School Board elementary and secondary students participated in the 30th annual Skills Ontario Competition on May 6-8, 2019 in Toronto; a total of six Gold medals earned.
The annual three-day competition is the largest skilled trade and technology competition in Canada with more than 2,400 students participating. A broad range of skills and careers are represented across the manufacturing, transportation, construction, service and technology sectors.
Students representing the HDSB at Skills Ontario first participated in the 30th annual Halton Skills Competition on April 2, 2019 competing with approximately 1,000 elementary and secondary students in Halton. From the HDSB, 40 secondary students advanced to Skills Ontario.
Gold medal finalists (Secondary):
• Landscape Design – Nashwa Bilal, Grade 12 student at Craig Kielburger Secondary School
• Website Development – Mark Hutchison, Grade 12 student at Acton District High School
• Baking – Emma Kilgannon, Grade 11 student at Craig Kielburger Secondary School
Silver medal finalists (Secondary):
• Robotics and Control Systems – Noah Tomkins and Ella Walsh, Grade 12 students at Burlington Central High School
• Computer Aided Manufacturing – Michael Wong, Grade 10 student at Garth Webb Secondary School
Bronze medal finalist (Secondary):
• Electrical Installations – Callum Cornell, Grade 12 student at M.M. Robinson High School
Gold medalists in select contests are eligible to represent Ontario at the Skills Canada National Competition on May 28-29, 2019 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Emma Kilgannon and Mark Hutchison will advance to Skills Canada next week.
Of the elementary teams to advance to Skills Ontario, four out of eight teams placed in the Top 3 in their competition and seven out of eight teams placed in the Top 10 in their competition.
Gold medal finalists (Elementary):
• Technology – Ryan Irvani, Adam Qureshi, Alexis Tervit, and Daniel Zusman, Grade 5-6 students at Oodenawi Public School
• Lego Robotics – Venya Balaji, Manasva Katyal, Arnav Narang, and Meilin Song, Grade 8 students at West Oak Public School
• Video Production – Sam Onay and Bernard Ying, Grade 8 students at E.J. James Public School
 Bronze medal finalist (Elementary):
• VEX IQ Crossover – Aliza Ahmad, Sarim Khan, Pranav Marthi, and Maxwell Zanerips, Grade 6 students at Oodenawi Public School
Top 10 finalists (Elementary):
• Lego Robotics – Silver Creek Public School finished in 5th place (out of 16 teams)
• Green Energy – W.H. Morden Public School finished in 6th place (out of 22 teams)
• VEX IQ Crossover – McKenzie-Smith Bennett Public School finished in 7th place (out of 15 teams)
 By Staff
May 13th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
M.M Robinson High School will be cancelled today (Monday May 13) due to a water main break on Upper Middle Road in Burlington.
There is no water available at the school. We have been advised by Halton Region that the repairs will take more than 6 hours.
School bus transportation has been cancelled.
The J.W. Singleton Education Centre (Halton District School Board office), located on the same property as the school, will also be closed today.
Further updates will be provided as information is received.
 By Staff
May 7th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
This is a really nice news story.
Not too many of this kind of story comes out of the police service.
Halton Regional Police Service and Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) Partner Sign Memorandum of Understanding
The Halton Regional Police Service and Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) have a long history of partnership and collaboration in responding to and supporting youth in Halton who experience mental health issues.
 ROCK is a community based, multi-service organization that works to promote and achieve optimal mental health in children and youth from birth to 17 years of age and their families.
Members of the Halton Regional Police Service experience many mental health related interactions with youth. Police are often called to, or become aware of, youth who are experiencing a mental health crisis, or in need of mental services.
Currently, Police can facilitate mental health services through referrals to the Halton Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST).
However, COAST services are not generally available to youth under the age of 16.
 Rendering of an enlargement to the Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) facilities on James at New Street, Together, the Halton Regional Police Service and ROCK have developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was signed by both organizations on May 7, 2019 during Children’s Mental Health Week. This enhanced partnership will allow Halton Regional Police Service members to directly refer youth under 17 and their families to ROCK, with their consent, in an effort to provide improved mental health support.
For questions regarding this initiative, please contact Inspector Sue Biggs of the Regional Community Mobilization Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext. 4754
By Staff
May 6th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
On March 27, 2019, the Halton Region Health Department reported the majority of Halton is a risk area for ticks carrying the bacteria which causes Lyme disease. This is a result of active tick surveillance (tick dragging) conducted by the Health Department in 2018 and Halton has been included in Public Health Ontario’s updated estimated risk area map.
 Nothing cute about this creature. The black laegs are what xxx “Halton Region supports the health and well-being of all residents,” said Dr. Hamidah Meghani, Halton Region’s Medical Officer of Health. “Like many municipalities throughout Ontario, most of Halton is considered a risk area for ticks and Lyme disease.
While the risk remains low, residents should be aware of areas where ticks may be present and how to protect themselves and their families from tick bites.”
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread by the bite of an infected blacklegged tick, which are usually present in wooded, brushy or tall grass areas.
Residents throughout the region should continue to take precautions to prevent tick bites when enjoying the outdoors. Here are some steps to protect your health:
• If possible, avoid known tick areas (such as wooded, brushy or tall grass areas) and stay on trails when outdoors.
• Cover up by wearing long sleeved, light coloured shirts and pants with tightly woven fabric.
• Tuck your shirt into your pants and your pant legs into your socks to keep ticks away from your bare skin.
• Wear shoes that cover your entire foot, avoiding sandals or open shoes.
• Spray clothing and exposed skin with an insect repellent containing DEET or Icaridin.
• Check your clothing and body for any ticks after spending time outdoors, especially around the groin, armpits and hairline. Carefully remove any ticks from yourself or a family member.
• Check your pets regularly for ticks as they could carry ticks inside your home.
 The southern part of Halton is where the infestation appears to be highest.. The Halton Region Health Department conducts tick surveillance in the spring and fall. Residents should continue to submit ticks to the Health Department for identification.
By Pepper Parr
May 1st, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
With provincial funding for education taking a beating from the Doug Ford government the Halton District School Board has decided to celebrate Education Week from May 6-10, 2019 by focusing on innovative learning in action, and celebrate inclusivity and student and staff achievement.
The HDSB will celebrate through a different lens each day of the week to focus on the importance of schools, staff, families and the community working together to support the well-being and success of students.
 Stuart Miller, Director of Education is on the right – chatting with a teacher during a robotics event. “Education Week is an opportunity to reflect on the exciting learning opportunities taking place across our Board and celebrate the many successes of our students and staff,” says Stuart Miller, Director of Education for the HDSB. “We recognize that student success and well-being requires a partnership among schools, staff, parents/guardians and the community, and during this Education Week, we celebrate students and the entire network of people that support them each day.”
Monday, May 6 – #LoveMyHaltonSchool Social Media Contest: To kick off Education Week, students, staff, and parents/guardians are encouraged to share activities and initiatives taking place at their school on social media using the hashtag.
Take a picture – perhaps of the crossing guard that you like, or a teacher that has really been helpful – something that expresses what you feel about your school and use the hashtag to publish it.
Tuesday, May 7 – Engagement & Achievement: The HDSB will highlight how students are engaged in their learning, school, and community, and how staff contribute to a collaborative learning environment.
Wednesday, May 8 – Stewardship & Resources: The ways in which students are provided with innovative and creative opportunities and supported through technology and resources within accessible and equitable environments will be explored.
Thursday, May 9 – Equity & Well-Being: Examples will be shared of how the HDSB strives to provide an inclusive and caring learning environment while advancing a culture of respect that supports the well-being of all students and reflects the changing needs of school communities.
The Board is proud to recognize the success of students through its annual Celebration of Student Excellence event on Thursday, May 9 at Garth Webb Secondary School (2820 Westoak Trails Blvd, Oakville), beginning at 7:30 p.m. One student per school is honoured for their excellence in academics, athletics, self-improvement, community work, citizenship or student leadership. A link to the livestream of the ceremony will be on the homepage of the HDSB website (www.hdsb.ca).
Friday, May 10 – Celebrating Excellence: Following the previous evening’s Celebration of Student Excellence, the accomplishments and successes of HDSB students and staff will be recognized.
 Hundreds of parents crowded into Aldershot high school to learn more about the new iStem program to be offered in September. The HDSB has a number of things to celebrate as the begin the process of ending one school year and thinking about the next year. In September the iStem program will begin at Aldershot high school where more than 100 students will take part in an exceptional program that has the potential to be expanded throughout the Region.
iStem – a program that focuses on science, technology, engineering and matheatics. All taught with a leaning towards entrepreneurship.
Numerous HDSB schools have organized events during Education Week that focus on student success. They include:
Nelson High School: Students will visit Schlegel Villages retirement community on Tuesday, May 7 to learn about employment opportunities in the health sector of long-term care.
A number of schools will be participating in the 14th annual secondary school student art exhibit, State of the Art, which will be held at the New Street Education Centre (3250 New St., Burlington) from May 8-10.
Created by Grade 9-12 students, the works of art incorporate painting, sketching, sculpture, photography and mixed media. The opening reception will be held Wednesday, May 8 from 6-8 p.m.
On Wednesday, May 8, McKenzie-Smith Bennett Public School, in Action will provide an information night for families to engage in wellness activities such as zumba and soccer and participate in a session with staff from Woodview Day Treatment Programs, who will speak about childhood anxiety.
Eastview Public School, in Oakville, will host a student-led assembly on Thursday, May 9 to discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion. Students will read the novel You Be You and create art pieces representing themselves.
Education matters – without one you could be flipping burgers for the rest of your life or welcoming people at WalMart. Graduate.
 By Staff
April 29th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
There is said to be excitement at city hall over the launch of the Art and the City, a self-guided downtown public art walking tour.
If you can get away from your job – join Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and arts and cultural staff for the official launch on Monday, May 6 at 10 a.m. The tour will start at City Hall, rain or shine.
The event is part of the City’s launch of ParticipACTION’s Community Better Challenge and Burlington Walks the Talk program.
Art and the City is available online and accessible from any mobile device. The free web app offers a new way to explore Burlington’s downtown and learn about public art in the process. The tour provides artwork information, photographs and a suggested walking route. The web-based map works across all platforms and allows residents to tour highlights from the public art collection using any internet-enabled smartphone or tablet.
 Alumina was commissioned by the Art Gallery of Burlington in 2008. Payce explores the relationships between form and imagery and the connections of objects and ideas in his artwork. Alumina was inspired by late eighteenth century French Sevres vases and Renaissance Mediterranean apothecary jars (albarelli). Looked at from a different angle they could represent the milk cans that used to be part of the landscape before Burlington was a city. Explore Burlington’s public art collection on this self-guided tour any time and at your own pace. Tour highlights include Portal (across from City Hall), Lady of the Lake (Spencer Smith Park) and Benevolent Angel (Burlington Public Library – Central Branch). Art and the City is divided into two parts and includes 25 public artworks in total.
A limited number of printed guidebooks will soon be available at all city facilities, the Art Gallery of Burlington, Burlington Performing Arts Centre, Burlington Public Library, Museums of Burlington and Tourism Burlington. Art and the City is also available online in PDF format to download, save, and print. Both formats are available online at burlington.ca/publicart.
“Public art is but one of the many things in Burlington that makes our city livable and enhances the lives of our residents”, said Mayor Marianne Meed Ward in a prepared statement. “ Our collection is quite extensive and unique, and there is something for everyone. The Art in the City walking tour is a great way to see the fantastic pieces we have located in the downtown area and it’s a great way to get some physical activity in, especially now that spring is here.”
By Staff
April 26th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton District School Board trustees are reaching out to communities in the Region to gather feedback from parents/guardians, students, and community members to include in their submission to the Ministry of Education’s consultations on class size, mandatory e-learning courses and hiring practices. The Ministry’s proposed changes include an increase in average class size of one student in Grades 4-8 and an increase in average class size in high school from 22 to 28 students.
 Dr. Frank J. Hayden Secondary School The meetings will take place at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at three schools across the region:
• Thursday May 2, Dr. Frank J. Hayden Secondary School (3040 Tim Dobbie Drive, Burlington)
• Wednesday May 8, Abbey Park High School (1455 Glen Abbey Gate, Oakville)
• Monday May 13, Milton District High School (396 Williams Avenue, Milton)
The agenda will be interactive, with Trustees briefly setting the context followed by participants working together to provide feedback around key areas including class size, e-learning and hiring practices.
Participants are asked to bring a Wi-Fi enabled device (phone, tablet or laptop) to assist in the feedback-gathering process.
 Director of Education Stuart Miller confers with Board chair Andrea Grebenc. “It is critical that Trustees hear from the community on these important issues,” said Andréa Grebenc, Chair of the Halton District School Board. “As Trustees, our mandate as set out by the Education Act is to maintain focus on student achievement and well-being, to assist the Board in delivering effective and appropriate education programs to its pupils and to bring concerns of parents, students and supporters of the Board to the attention of the Board. Holding these meetings will assist us to meet these responsibilities in an informed way.”
To learn more about the Ministry’s consultations and the Education Action meetings, visit www.HaltonEducationAction.ca.
To indicate interest in attending a meeting, find a map to meeting locations, or to request a copy of the final submission for the consultations from the Board of Trustees to the Ministry of Education, please refer to the website. Confirmation of attendance is requested for planning purposes.
All are welcome to attend.
By Pepper Parr
April 24th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
In the past few months Community Development Halton has sponsored a number of special focus courses – five that we can count so far.
This is not a traditional area for CDH – an organizational that does a lot of research and spawns organizations that get spun off and continue to serve the wider community.
 One of the more recent focused day long course offerings from Community Development Halton.
Food 4 Thought and the Age Friendly operation are two examples.
 Retired MPP Ted McMeekin in conversation with a former Community Development Halton contract staffer. The CDH Board has gone through some significant changes – financial constraints have called for some cut backs in the number of hours staff work and a push on bringing in some revenue.
CDH came out of what was once known as the Burlington Social Planning that was headed up by retired MPP Ted McMeekin.
Like every worthwhile organization CDH is going through a transformation and learning to adapt to changing circumstances on the funding side and an even greater need for more in the way of actionable data and the creation of services that meet identifiable needs.
By Pepper Parr
April 24th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton District School Board issued 154 redundancy letters yesterday to secondary school teachers. This is in addition to the 150 redundancy notices that were issued last week to elementary school teachers.
 Stuart Miller said last week that the issuing of the notices is a requirement under the Collective Agreement the school board has with its unions.
Miller was unable to say which high schools will lose teachers come September.
It is worth noting that two of Burlington’s seven high schools were closed: Lester B. Pearson was closed last June – its students were transferred to MM Robinson.
 Robert Bateman High School is scheduled to close – the actual date was moved back and is now planned for this June. The bulk of the Bateman students will be going to Nelson High School where new facilities are being built for students with special needs.
Those who keep a close eye on public school matters wondered if the decision made three years ago to close two of the seven high schools was not a smart move – even though it wasn’t seen as a smart move at the time.
Miller said in an earlier interview that the province might come through with additional funding or school principals might find a way to shift course offerings and make it possible for a school to keep its staff.
And there is also the matter of retirements – those might open up some spaces that had to be declared redundant.
It is a pretty fluid situation for school administrators – a very uncomfortable situation for teachers who have been told they might not have a job in September.
Related news story:
Elementary school teachers get redundancy notices.
By Pepper Parr
April 18th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
There are 150 elementary school teachers with the Halton District School Board who have been told that come September 1st, they don’t have a job.
The “redundancy” notices they received were required under the collective agreement the school board has with the elementary teachers union.
That’s the bad news – and there is more to come.
Director Miller Stuart Miller, Director of Education for the school board said we will learn next week what we will have to issue in terms of redundancy notices to high school teachers.
In an interview Miller said that some of the elementary teachers might get recalled but at this point we still don’t know what our grant structure from the province is going to be. We usually have that information by now – it might be the end of May before we know what we will have in the way of grant money, what individual schools need in the way of teaching staff and what we will have in the way of retirements.
The provincial decision to increase the number of students in elementary school classes after grade 4 and the need to have bigger high school classes isn’t helping.
Redundancy notices are issued on the basis of seniority which means the newer and usually younger teachers are the first to get let go.
 Teachers reminding the public just what it is they do. Miller did add that the notices have to be issued at this point – “I am hoping that the province sees us as a board with a growing population. We are opening a new school in Oakville.
“I am working with all the secondary school principals to learn what they think their needs are going to be.
“Right now we are dealing with a lot of if’s and maybes.”
While the Halton |Board has a good working relationship with its unions – those unions don’t like what they see coming their way from the province. Think strikes in the educational sector.
Cold comfort for those teachers that got the letters telling them that there is no place for them come September.
By Staff
April 18th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
As most people get ready for a long weekend, hoping that real spring weather will show up, some time might be found to plan for the next set of school holidays.
The Halton District School Board released the calendar for the 2019-2020 school year.
The calendar has to be approved by the Ministry of Education.
Getting a calendar to this point is no small feat. The two major school boards have to get their ducks lined up and then they need to look at what else there is in the way of public holidays.
So far we are not seeing very much in the way of accommodating the Muslim community.
By Staff
April 18th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Community Development Halton has announced the second in a series of short courses for the not for profit sector
There is an opportunity for people in this sector to “strengthen your grant application skills with strong evaluation techniques. In this series, you will learn different styles of evaluation and their impact on your activities. This full-day session will provide insight into the approaches to evaluation, as well as provide a deepened understanding of “how to”. This is the second session of Measuring Impact: Evaluation Approaches workshop series.
*This series is intended for staff and board members concerned about or charged with measuring impact in their organizations and/or programs.
RESULTS-BASED ACCOUNTABILITY AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVALUATION
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Community Development Halton,
3350 South Service Rd, Burlington
Session fee: $100 Members; $125 Non-members.
Lunch will be provided.
Registration: cdhalton.ca/events
This session is focused on Results-Based Accountability and Developmental Evaluation, both of which, move in varying degrees beyond the linearity of more traditional approaches to evaluation.
Key learnings:
• Understanding key concepts that shape Results-Based Accountability as an approach to program planning, community planning, and evaluation.
• Appreciating the distinction between performance accountability and population accountability.
• Understand the planning processes inherent in both performance accountability and population accountability.
• Insight into the challenges of evaluating innovative initiatives in complex systems using more traditional evaluation approaches.
• Understand when developmental evaluation is appropriate to use.
• Develop an appreciation for systems thinking and the role of the evaluator in developmental evaluation.
Facilitator: JODY ORR, of The Chrysalis Group has an extensive background in designing and carrying out evaluation in the human services sector. With a master’s degree in Sociology and founding principal in an organizational and community development consulting firm, Jody has worked for 17 years in the nonprofit sector. Currently the embedded evaluator with the Centre for Innovation in Peer Support, her consulting work involves research and policy analysis.
Upcoming session (session #3.) Research Methods to Support Evaluation and Evaluation Readiness (Wednesday, June 12, 2019 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.)
For more information find the flyer attached or contact 1-855-395-8807 ext. 2 or acoburn@cdhalton.ca
 By Janet Gadeski
April16th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The title of the talk that is to take place at the Library on New Street on Thursday, May 2 from 7 to 8:30 pm certainly catches the eye.
“Death is not a medical event. It is a social process,”
 Kathy-Kortes-Miller – author. Kathy Kortes-Miller. A social worker and palliative care specialist, speaks from systemic and personal experience.
Kathy’s book, Talking About Death Won’t Kill You (ECW Press, 2018), came out of that journey. Its helpful chapters include strategies and tips for becoming better informed; talking openly with family members, especially children; sharing with co-workers, creating compassionate workplaces for yourself and others; working through personal and medical decisions; making your values and wishes clear in an advance care plan; managing and benefitting from digital communications, including social media; and considering medical assistance in dying.
 She has earned a reputation for managing this topic with expertise, empathy, and humour. If you’d like her to tell you more about preparing for death and dying, join her at Burlington’s Central Library, Centennial Room, from 7 to 8:30 pm on Thursday, May 2. There will be plenty of time for your questions. Copies of the book will be available for sale too. The event is co-sponsored by the Burlington Public Library and Carpenter Hospice with the assistance of The Different Drummer in support of The 100% Certainty Project.
To register for this free event, go to https://attend.bpl.on.ca/event/1666855. See you there!
Burlington resident Janet Gadeski is a former board member of The Carpenter Hospice. An avid reader, she represents the Hospice on The 100% Certainty Project’s working group, a project dedicated to helping people talk about and prepare for dying, death, and bereavement.
 By Staff
April 16th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
There is a program delivered to many schools in Halton Region: Food for Thought.
Food for Thought is a Region wide program that works with elementary and high schools to ensure that every student has access to a proper breakfast.
The program takes place every day of the week at 130 schools across Halton and feeds more than 27,000 students a week. They have over 2,100 volunteers (including 930 students) and dozens of community partners who all work together to feed students in their communities.
For the first time ever, Halton Food for Thought is hosting an online auction as part of our annual Breakfast Bash!
Some amazing items have been donated by community partners and corporations. All proceeds for the online auction will go directly to support the 2019 Breakfast Bash goal of $68,000.
Please send us a message if you have anything you can donate!
You won’t want to miss this event!
Auction items will be added shortly, and bidders will have a week to preview before the bidding starts.
Bidding will start at 9 am on Wednesday, April 24! This portion of our Breakfast Bash event will only be run on Facebook.
Any items not securing a minimum bid online will be transferred to the Silent Auction at our Breakfast Bash on May 3rd.
The Food for Thought story.
Link to the Facebook page
By Staff
April 16th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
A lot of the members of the Burlington Fire Department got their start as volunteers.
The department is accepting volunteer applications online from the public from April 15 to May 3, 2019.
 Pump trucks – ready to roll in an instant. All applicants must:
• be 18 years of age or older
• be legally entitled to work in Canada
• pass a health and medical evaluation, and fitness assessment
• have a permanent residence within six minutes travel time to Station No. 5 at 2241 Kilbride St. or reside in Burlington within 20 minutes of Station No. 1 at 1255 Fairview St.
For more information and the online application form, please visit www.burlington.ca/firevol and www.burlington.ca/careers.
The application period opened April 15 and closes at 11:59 p.m. on May 3, 2019.
The Burlington Fire Department consists of both professional and volunteer firefighters. New recruits will be assigned to Fire Headquarters, Station No. 1 or Fire Station No. 5, based on where the applicant lives. The Kilbride station covers the rural areas of Burlington, mostly north of No. 2 Sideroad.
 Fire fighters being trained how to use hoses when extinguishing a car on fire. Deputy Fire Chief Karen Roche, who you will get to know very well if you are accepted as a volunteer, explains what they are looking for:
“We are looking for people who want to join the Burlington Fire Department. Applicants should be passionate about public safety and be interested in a challenging opportunity to serve Burlington as a volunteer firefighter. Being a volunteer firefighter is no ordinary job; the work is varied and challenging but also highly rewarding.”
By Staff
April 11th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Halton District School Board students captured the highest number of awards in the 59th annual Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF) in Hamilton from March 29 – April 2.
More than 450 students took part in the ArcelorMittal Dofasco-sponsored BASEF at Mohawk College, where more than $300,000 worth of prizes were awarded to celebrate young science and engineering enthusiasts.
Burlington public school board students didn’t do all that well when compared to other schools. Oakville students cleaned up and a number of students from Trinity Christian School did very well. The gender split was also very good. For a look at all the winners CLICK HERE.
 Hailey Israel, St. Mary’s Elementary School.  Connor Beaupre and Phillip Kim  Levi Fox, Trinity Christian School.  Beatrice Faber, Trinity Christian School. Within the HDSB, 15 schools participated with students creating 160 projects and capturing 147 prizes while competing against six other school boards and independent schools.
The Best-In-Fair award was won by Sabrina Mogus, Grade 9 student at White Oaks SS for her project, ‘Need some TLC? Tigernut Liquid Coagulant: An undiscovered biocoagulant for water turbidity reduction’. Mogus is also the recipient of the Best High School Project award. Arielle Ainabe, Grade 12 student at Garth Webb SS, came in third place for her project, ‘Tardigrade Mech: Using Boron Nitride Nanotubes for Space Radiation Protection’.
Mogus and Ainabe are also among the four high school students chosen to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, taking place mid-May in Phoenix, Arizona.
W.H. Morden PS in Oakville earned the Top Elementary School award.
Qualifying for the Canada Wide Science Fair, taking place mid-May in Fredericton, New Brunswick are:
• Jeffrey Klinck, Grade 8 student at W.H. Morden PS – ‘Using B.C.I. and A.I. for Emotion Detection for Mental Health Applications’
• Monica Mahut, Grade 11 student at M.M. Robinson HS – ‘Elevator to Everywhere’
• Evan Shvetsov, Grade 8 student at Maple Grove PS – ‘How Neurolinguistic Programming in Media Affects Consumers’
• Lily Smales, Grade 8 student at W.H. Morden PS – ‘Convolutional Neural Network to Detect Eyes with Early Stages of Visual Impairment’
• Mohammed Torkmani and Raphael Xu, Grade 8 students at Maple Grove PS – ‘Plastic Delicacies’
By Staff
April 5th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Parents can now plan some of their off-season travel plans – the Halton District School Board has released the Professional Activity (PA) days for the 2019-2020 school year. There will be seven of these days for the school year that starts next September.
The list was approved by the Board of Trustees last week and, subject to provincial approval, this is what the schedule will be:
The school year calendar is developed with input from the School Year Calendar Committee consisting of representatives from interested and affected groups, including parents/guardians. The 2019-2020 school year calendar is aligned with the Halton Catholic District School Board calendar, to save resources on school bus transportation, which is shared between the boards.
The calendar outlines the Professional Activity days (P.A.) for staff when schools will be closed to students. Note that two of the P.A. days will take place on Mondays (September 16, 2019 and April 27, 2020).
By Staff
April 1st, 2019
Burlington, ON
 With information coming at you faster than a mile a second – it is a challenge to keep up – and an even bigger challenge to get the attention you want.
 There are all kinds of graphics tools that can help you make a point. Strong graphic presentations are part of that “a picture is worth a thousand words” phrase. The trick is to know just what kind of graphic to use.
Community Development Halton is running a class on Letting Data Tell Your Story.
In this workshop you will:
• Understand the changing demographics of Halton based on Our Halton 2018 series
• Discuss where to find specific data, how and when to use data
• Learn how to start building a data culture in your organization
• Discover what data to collect and the application of it.
TED HILDEBRANDT, Director of Social Planning at Community Development Halton, oversees the acquisition and analysis of data, including the publications of Halton Social Profiles, Community Lens, and the Our Halton 2018 series. Ted also works with other nonprofit organizations addressing their specific issues such as diversity, poverty, and housing affordability. Ted will be the class presenter.
 Registration at cdhalton.ca/events ; Limited space available.
$50 CDH Members; $60 Non-members
Contact: office@cdhalton.ca or 1-855-395-8807
 By Ray Rivers
March 28th, 2109
BURLINGTON, ON
“When students are currently preparing to go off to post-secondary education, we’re hearing from professors and employers alike that they’re lacking coping skills and they’re lacking resiliency….By increasing class sizes in high school, we’re preparing them for the reality of post-secondary as well as the world of work.” (Hon. Lisa Thompson MMP, Ontario Minister of Education – CBC Radio’s Metro Morning).
When it came to appointing Ontario’s new minister of education Mr. Ford had a problem – too many farmers and not enough educators. So Ernie Hardeman got the agriculture ministry. After all he’d been there before, back in the Harris days.
That left Ford with a problem called Lisa Thompson. He could have just left her on the backbench but perhaps the romantic notion of a goat farmer herding those gruff teachers amused him. In addition, Thompson has a certificate in agricultural leadership, so who better to shepherd the province’s kids.
Besides, having scant knowledge of Ontario’s education system might be an advantage. Ontario’s educators would never make the mistake of assuming she’s one of them. And she’d have no reason to feel any collegiality towards them. In addition, having that kind of barrier between knowledgeable teachers and a blissfully ignorant minister, about to shred their future, is probably a good thing. At least from Mr. Ford’s view point.
Her marching orders from the Premier were to chop a billion dollars or so from the provincial education budget. So she followed her instincts and did what she would have done on the farm whenever the budget got tight. It’s obvious. Cutting the herd reduces the feed bill.
 However, the fact is that more teachers and smaller classrooms have transformed Ontario’s education system. Graduation rates have skyrocketed from 68 percent at the end of the Harris/Eves government to over 86 percent today. That is a jump of 18 percentage points in the fifteen years the Liberal government policy of smaller classrooms had been in place.
Even the Fraser Institute, the go to place for your Tory Bible, hasn’t tried to minimize that statistic. They do quibble otherwise about test results, arguably cherry picking their examples. But even they don’t quibble that graduation better prepares our youth for their next step in life.
The Liberals increased education spending by about $6 billion over their time in office. After adjusting for inflation that is less than a couple billion dollars. That was the price Ontario paid for full day kindergarten and to achieve graduation rates approaching 90%. And does anyone, other than the government, argue that early education and completing graduation make for less resilient youth entering the workplace?
Lisa Thompson really needs to go back to class if she wants to understand her portfolio. A simple google search would have unambiguously shown her that the only association between resilience/coping skills and class size is that smaller is always better. Not the other way around.
So she made it up. Those “professors and employers” were fictional, or they, like her, are blessed with a keen ability to shovel goat manure. It’s dishonest at best, and how can we expect our children to grow up to be ethical, with that kind of role model at the highest level of their education system?
Lisa Thompson is supposed to be the minister of education, not the minister of propaganda.
 The grade rates are good for students on the academic side – barely acceptable for the applied level. The billion dollars Ford is after in education pales when weighed against the near $900 billion GDP economy of this province. And that GDP is driven by its human capital. There may not be benefit-cost studies which demonstrate the added contribution to our economy from smaller classes in high school, but it’s not zero. And it’s not negative as the minister would have you believe.
Teachers would rather walk on broken glass than think back on the good old Mike Harris years. How well they’d recall another unqualified education minister, a grade 11 drop out, who deliberately created a crisis and then started a war. And that war between teachers and parents and the Harris/ Eves government lasted until the bums were finally booted from office. Nobody is asking for its replay.
Lisa Thompson stepped in it, as they say down on the farm, when she shot her mouth off about something she clearly knows nothing about. Perhaps it’s time she moved on to something she does understand.
 Ray Rivers writes regularly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Class Sizes – Resilience – Lisa Thompson –
Smaller Classes – Graduation Rates – Fraser Institute –
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