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02 | 28 | 2015 VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 09
Choral group a New community undertaking LIVING HERE PAGE 24
COMMENT PAGE 6
Sex ed. is the least of province’s schooling issues
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Man airlifted to hospital following gerber road collision
An 18-year-old Wellesley man was airlifted to hospital after sustaining serious but non-life-threatening injuries in a head-on collision near 1379 Gerber Rd. just after noon Feb. 24. The man, travelling westbound, lost control of his Toyota Echo after sliding along a snowbank, tossing the vehicle into a Toyota Corolla heading eastbound. The 46-year-old Wellesley man driving the Corolla suffered minor injuries and was transported to hospital by ambulance. Weather – strong gusting winds with drifting snow – and road conditions are considered factors in the accident, Waterloo Regional Police said. Part of Gerber Road was closed for several hours for cleanup and an investigation. Charges are pending. [scott barber / the observer]
Schools ramp up for new sex. ed curriculum First changes in better part of two decades welcomed by some, panned by others as board gets ready to rollout directives from Ministry of Education
Scott Barber After nearly two decades, Ontario is on the brink of an updated sexual education curriculum. Predictably, the issue has spurred much controversy, debate and political posturing. But here in the Waterloo Region, it’s business as usual for both the public and Catholic school boards. “At this point in time we are certainly in the process
of reviewing the curriculum and looking at what that might be in terms of the roll out while awaiting the ministry training which will take place at the end of April,” Waterloo Region District School Board superintendent Scott Lomax said, while noting that the human development and sexual health components only make up roughly 10 per cent of the material. “This is the health and physical education curricu-
lum and it is about healthy and active living and supporting our students in understanding what that means. And, the sensitive components of it, if you look at the curriculum, are really handled in a factual, biological way because we want to make sure that our students have the information that is important and relevant and accurate, rather than other means of getting that information.” The Catholic board on
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the other hand, wouldn’t comment on the curriculum itself. “As part of the rollout of the curriculum, Catholic boards will be receiving a set of resources via the Institute for Catholic Education,” Waterloo Catholic District School Board chief managing officer John Shewchuk said. “Our understanding is those resources will guide teach-
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