The rotary system is back for grade 7 and 8 students in public schools in Grey Bruce.
The school board’s Trustees yesterday voted in favour of a motion that would allow principals to schedule up to half of the total classes in the old rotary model.
The decision ends what had been a contentious issue between parents and the Bluewater District School Board on which model to adopt.
The rotary model uses a rotation of teachers that are specialized in specific fields like science and the arts where in the home room model all classes are taught by 1 teacher.
Vice-Chair Jan Johnstone says the rotary model is what parents and schools want to have and it will end up producing happier teachers and students.
Johnstone says the Trustees were initially told by board administrators that the move to a home room model was an operational decision that didn’t require Board approval.
She says they later found out that the Trustees did indeed have the power to decide which teaching model to adopt.
Trustee Cindy Aitken was the lone Board member voting against the motion saying there is too much being made on this issue.
She also suggested tactics were used to pressure the Board into going back to the rotary model.
About a dozen parents who were at yesterdays board meeting applauded the Board’s decision.
One of the parents — Kevin Larson — says there are 3 major Ministry of Education reports that prove that the rotary model works the best.
Larson — the Chair of the School Community Council for Saugeen District Secondary School — says Aitken is wrong to support the administrations activities of using students as guinea pigs.
Larson says there are principals who fear of repercussions by board administrators that don’t favour the home room model.
He says it will be up to parents to make sure that the decision of the Board is followed.
The partial rotary system will be implemented in time for the 2009-2010 school year.