Education
The Renfrew Mercury - EMC - January 19, 2012
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Returning County District School Board chair outlines priorities Dave Shields has been acclaimed to his second term as chair of the Renfrew County District School Board. Vice chair is trustee Terry Harkins. In his acceptance speech, he identified the board priorities for 2012 as: • implementation of the board’s third and final year of its current strategic plan; • development of a new board logo and motto; and, • a new board website. “It promises to be an exciting and action-packed year as we continue to provide our students with excellence in teaching and learning, a safe and respectful learning environment and work with our community stakeholders as we continue to be wise with our resources,” Shields said. 2011 FLASHBACK Shields also reflected on the board’s 2011 achievements. Among them, co-op student Jillian Smith worked with the board for four months to help develop, build and promote the board’s communication plan and advance marketability of the board. The draft communications plan, approved by the board in June, called for the hiring of a commu-
nication officer and that position was filled by Jake Davies in the fall. The board also enlisted the services of Steve Blok as an instructional technology leader to work with the board’s IT department “to champion the effective use of technologies that increase student engagement and support student achievement for the 21st century classroom.” Last year the board introduced 193 interactive white boards in classrooms, student netbook pilots at Renfrew Collegiate and Mackenzie Community School and a new WAN which provides increased bandwidth. The IT department is also piloting the use of iPads with special needs students. Events hosted by the board in 2011 included a Character Champions Day, Environmental Champions Day, and a provincial election all-candidates debate. “This event was successful because it brought education to the forefront,” said Shields, who congratulated MPP John Yakabuski and said he has been very supportive of the board and effective in bringing the board’s issues to the attention of the Minister of Education.” In September the board opened its first kindergar-
ten-to-12 school in Deep River, a facility Shields described as a “state-of-theart facility that has many enhancements to meet the needs of the Deep River students.” “In the coming year, we hope to receive final approval for the new K-to-12 school in Petawawa. This will be a major priority for the board,” Shields added. Shields said the Renfrew district board is one of the few in the province that has a very active parent involvement (PI) council who continue to engage parents in the county and who bring the unique differences and qualities of each community to the forefront of the board. “They have been instrumental in organizing the PIC Symposium in October, the director’s forum with principals in November and the panel discussion with representatives from CHEO on teenage suicide, depression and bullying in December,” Renfrew County District School Board Vice Chair Terry Harkins and Chair Dave Shields Shields noted. pose following the decision they would retain their positions for 2012. WORD OF THANKS Following his Dec. 12 election as chair, Shields also thanked the board for the honour and called it a “delight to work with a board of dedicated trustees that keep the best interest of our students at
the centre of every conversation and decision that is made.” He also thanked and praised a long list of people, from “excellent teachers and support staff ” to “top-notch principals and vice-principals” to board managers, consultants
and office staff, to a “homegrown” administration team. “I want to thank our director of education, Roger Clarke, our superintendents, Lisa Schimmens-Kuehl, Deb Rantz, Gayle Bishop and Dennis Jenkins, our executive as-
sistant, Stephanie Giesebrecht, and our administrative assistant, Shelley McIntyre for their hard work and professionalism. “They are a pleasure to work with and they promote and enhance public confidence in our education system,” Shields said.
A word of caution about the 2011 BRIDAL TRIBUTE change in tax refund payments LAURA HUNTER Renfrew County Legal Clinic
The Ontario Government has been changing the way that it pays out refundable tax credits from one lump-sum payment to cheques issued throughout the year. Most people with lower income in Ontario are eligible to get money back when they file their income tax return from credits like the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit and the Ontario Sales Tax Credit. In years past, these amounts were paid as a lump-sum refund (which could also include federal tax credits and refunds on taxes paid on work income). Many people would file their income taxes as early as possible using a tax preparation company and get an upfront payment from that company (less their fee) equal to the estimated refund. For many low income people, that money was used to pay for Christmas presents or winter clothing or to get caught up on bills early in the New Year. With this change in the way credits are paid out, that lump sum refund at tax time may be much smaller or nonexistent. Instead, some of the credits have already started to be paid out at different times of the year, and as of July of 2012, all the credits will be bundled together and will paid out monthly as the Ontario Trillium Benefit. The change is meant to help low income Ontarians by making this money available to them throughout the year, rather than having to wait to the end of the year. But it is having unintended consequences as well. Some tax preparation companies are changing the way they do business around the filing of tax returns. With no lump sum refund coming to their clients, these companies have asked their customers to sign up for a “bank account” (owned by a
cheque cashing company) and to change their direct deposit instructions to Canada Revenue Agency to have all their future tax credits and tax-delivered benefits (including the HST credit, the Ontario Child Benefit, the Canada Child Tax Benefit and the NCBS) directed to this account. Once money starts flowing into this account, the tax preparation company takes their fee for the preparation of the return, and another fee is taken out for the debit card that is needed to access the account. Then there are additional $2.00 fees for using the debit card for almost every transaction including buying something, taking out cash from a bank machine (other than their bank machine), and even making inquiries about your account. There is also a monthly fee for the bank account itself. Those fees could really add up in the long run. It’s a bit of a catch-22, because everyone needs to file their income tax return to be eligible for these credits. However, there are other options to filing your return which many people don’t know about. For example, there are free tax preparation clinics for low income people run by community agencies, like Seniors Home Support in Renfrew area and Carefor in the Pembroke region. In addition, people with simple tax returns may be able to use the Canada Revenue Agency’s Telefile service to file by telephone. If you have already signed the papers to agree to open this type of “bank account” and later change your mind, The Consumer Protection Act gives you the right to cancel any contract within 10 days of receiving a copy of the papers you signed. If it is has been more than 10 days since you received your copy of the contract, you can contact the Renfrew County Legal Clinic (613-432-8146 or 1-800-267-5871) for advice or speak to John Yakabuski’s office if you have other concerns.
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