Vol. 7, Issue 5
Free of Charge
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Great Lakes high school
Rotating strikes
Add a leaky roof to the ‘frustrating’ problems at overdue reconstruction project
U
NICOLE SCHULTZ USES music and a megaphone to encourage her fellow elementary school teachers picketing the Lambton Kent District School Board office in Sarnia last week. Teachers from 15 schools took part in the legal, one-day strike, said Shultz, a field marshal with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. Unless a provincial settlement is reached, all local elementary schools were scheduled to close again on Tuesday and Thursday this week. TROY SHANTZ The Journal
Students recognized for intervening in assault
F
CATHY DOBSON THE JOURNAL
ive students have been commended for stepping up to rescue a victim and apprehend his assailant during a vicious assault at the Lambton College residence on Jan. 12. Winston Chan, Brielle McInnis, Dylan Climie, Kate Flanigan
and Quinton Pluzak were recognized by Sarnia Police Chief Norm Hansen last week. Each was presented with a ‘Chief ’s Coin,’ an honour reserved for exceptional conduct. “These students saved a person and acted in an appropriate fashion,” said police spokesperson Const. John Sottosanti. “The way it was done, and the end result, impressed everyone,
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especially the chief.” On Jan. 12 at 12:30 a.m. the students found the assailant punching a 28-year-old man, who was already unconscious, police said. “Three of the students controlled the aggressor, another cared for the person knocked out, and another called 911,” Sottosanti said. Police arrived and arrested
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nfinished. Unsafe. Unwelcoming. That’s how one senior described her first semester at the still-under-construction Great Lakes Secondary School in Sarnia. The school opened on Murphy Road last September, one full year behind schedule, after the contractor repeatedly missed deadlines on the $25.2-million renovation. Now, five months later, a 550-seat auditorium, two music rooms and an Indigenous studies centre are still unfinished while students encounter workers in hallways on ladders. What’s more, the roof is leaking. Rain and melting snow have entered the school and pooled in light fixtures and stained freshly installed ceiling tiles, several of which collapsed this past semester. “I along with my classmates wish they would have let us be, and given our younger peers the homecoming they deserved when the school was actually ready,” the Grade 12 student said on condition of anonymity. “No construction, no unfinished halls, no sketchy workers walking around. Great Lakes isn’t what it deserves to be. Great Lakes deserves a home, not a construction zone.” Continued on 3
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a 19-year-old man. He was charged with assault causing bodily harm. No names were released and the college wouldn’t confirm the victim was a Lambton student, citing privacy laws. The five students who intervened did exactly the right thing, said Sottosanti. “And they asked for it to be kept low key.” Continued on 2
TROY SHANTZ THE JOURNAL
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