GOLD COUNTRY BOOK PAGE 2
FIRE HALL EXPANSION PAGE 3
WORLD JUNIOR REPORT PAGE 12
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
School enrolment down 48 students By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
British Columbia Lt-Gov. Judith Guichon inspects an honour guard outside the B.C. Legislature after being sworn in as the 29th lieutenant-governor of the province during a ceremony in Victoria, B.C., on Friday. Guichon replaces lieutenant-governor Steven Point, who was appointed in 2007. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
Lieutenant Governor a ‘steward of the land’ By Tom Fletcher
‘As I tell the stu-
BLACK PRESS
Merritt-area rancher Judith Guichon was sworn in Friday as B.C.’s 29th Lieutenant Governor. Guichon and her husband Bruno Mailloux were welcomed to the B.C. legislature with a blessing by Lottie Lindley, elder of the Upper Nicola Band of the Okanagan Nation. Guichon, 65, succeeds Steven Point, who completed his term Thursday. She is the second female lieutenant governor in B.C. history, following former MP Iona Campagnolo,
dents who visit the ranch, they came for the gold, but they stayed for the grass.’ —LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR JUDITH GUICHON
who preceded Point. In her inaugural speech, Guichon said she will carry on the work of her predecessors, including support for literacy and reconciliation with aboriginal people in B.C. As owner of the historic
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grassland. She intends to make Gerard Guichon Ranch on that approach a theme for her the shore of Nicola Lake and a former president of the B.C. term. “As generations become furCattlemen’s Association, she vowed to continue her work as ther removed from an agrarian lifestyle, and as we lose coma “steward of the land. “Many of the first ranchers, munity, I fear that civil society becomes less civil,” Guichon including the Guichon family, said. “It is at our peril that the came to British Columbia 150 years ago, chasing their dreams great cities of the world forget that civilization relies on the of gold,” Guichon said. “As I health of the soil upon which tell the students who visit the it rests.” ranch, they came for the gold, Guichon was also inducted but they stayed for the grass.” into the Order of B.C., with Guichon and her late the title of chancellor that is husband Lawrence Guichon given to every lieutenant govare credited with introducing ernor. holistic management to the B.C. cattle industry, emphasizing preservation of natural See ‘Point ends’ Page 3
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Enrolment in schools in Nicola-Similkameen School District 58 is down about 48 students from last spring’s projections, which played a role in Coquihalla Middle School’s closure, according to an enrolment update at the school board’s meeting on Oct. 19. “At Central and Diamond Vale, we had more kids transition out and most of those kids seemed to transition out of town,” SD 58 Supt. Bob Peacock said. “Whether it was because of the job market or housing market, we don’t know.” The results are due more to the limited number of kindergarten students, rather than a decrease in the high school and distance education enrolment. “I think bricks-andmortar schools were down 70 and when we take distributed learning in, they were 22 above what they projected,” Peacock said as he explained how the school board arrived at 48 students shy of projections.
streams under one roof. The school, which used to be called Kengard Alternate School, offers kindergarten to Grade 12 distance education through the South Central Interior Distance Education School (SCIDES), and face-to-face programs with Hearts and Hands for young mothers, and an alternate program for secondary school. “We’ve re-jigged the alternate programs in the north end of the district,” Kengard Principal Alan Mackay-Smith said. “It’s a new approach for our students to meet their same needs but to do it in one facility.” Mackay-Smith said the centre has between 65 and 70 students in its face-to-face program, and between 800 and 900 distance education students from around the province. “It’s all about providing choices for kids,” Mackay-Smith said. “In some cases, students can learn quite well in an online environment. I think the other place education is going to go is in blended learning, where you have a mixture of face-to-face and online content. That’s one of the things we’re afforded with this school. It just shows you that there’s more than one way of doing schoolwork.”
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