The one thing that has tied the history of Greensville School together is the word change. In fact the last ten years have seen a considerable number of changes to the school both physically and from an organizational point of view.
In 1990, the parking lot on the west end of the school was paved much to the delight of the staff.
During the eighties, the school was checked for air quality. The inspector noted that the windows were so drafty that there was a constant change of air in the building. As part of an energy conservation movement, the Wentworth County Board of Education instituted a window replacement programme. In 1991, Greensville School received new windows. This saved energy and replaced some rather dangerous windows in the east wing of the building, which were either impossible to open or could cause injury if they weren't handled properly. They also improved the appearance of the library, as the windows on the north wall were installed at different times and were of different designs. The windows in the northwest corner of the library were notorious for frosting up in the winter and making a real mess when the ice melted.
The basement of the old school house had to be rebuilt and ventilated when a flood of water turned it into an indoor pond. The room has been for many years used as a storeroom and much damage was done to supplies as a result of the flooding. Many staff members have often been reluctant to go down there alone as the room often gives the impression that it should have had a ghost to make it complete.
The library has had two major changes made to it. Firstly, the blackboard on the southeast wall of the school was removed and a new reinforced wall was installed in order to support the bookshelves. Secondly, all the computers were moved into one central location and so the eastern half of the old school house became the school’s second computer room. Previous to this, all the IBM computers had been spread throughout the school, as they became available, with wires connecting all the computers to the central computer or fileserver. The new computer lab allowed a whole class to come in and work with the computers at once. The project owes a great deal of thanks to the P.T.O. who helped finance the purchase of extra equipment.
During the 90’s, Greensville School became an environmentally aware school. The W.C.B.E. established a recycling program in every school and Greensville has been a keen participant ever since. The large recycling barrels in the front hall are used for the collection of recyclable materials for each room. Each classroom in turn has a set of five containers to collect fine paper, newsprint, cardboard, bottles and cans, plastics, and biodegradable products such as paper towels and facial tissue. The process has been quite successful and it has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the amount of garbage being thrown out.
Greensville has also become a Green School. This is the result of a programme, which promoted the participation of students in projects, which enhanced the school environment. These can be anything from environmental posters to planting trees. After completing one hundred projects, the school becomes eligible to be awarded the title of Green School. Greensville’s banner proclaims that it has met all of these requirements. The next goal is to complete one hundred and fifty projects and become a Jade School.
Over the years, it has been a tradition to plant trees around the school. Many of the large trees which now grace the school property were planted ninety years ago. They will in turn need to be replaced and, consequently, a tree-planting program has assured that the school will always be shaded. We hope that when the school reaches its 200th anniversary in 2048, many of the trees that have been planted by today’s children will offer shade and beauty to their grandchildren.
On the west end of the school, a garden was established to promote the return of wildlife to the area. The main concern was to use plants and trees which were native to the area and which would attract butterflies. The project has been quite successful and hopefully it will remain so for many years to come.
Greensville has maintained its interest in music over the years. Many concerts have been presented. Included in this grouping is the ukulele band run by Mrs. Inksetter, which has gained quite a good reputation as it presents concerts in the school, and around the community.
Over the years the students and their parents have enthusiastically supported such events as Jump Rope for Heart, the M.S. Readathon and the Walk for the Environment.
One new symbol emerging in the nineties is the name of the school teams. The name Grizzlies now proudly appears on all school teams and the appropriate picture shows up on all school sportswear.
From an organizational point of view, Greensville School has changed dramatically in the last ten years. In an effort to cut expenditures, the Wentworth County Board of Education decided to twin schools in order to reduce the number of principals. When Mr. Karl Eden left for a position at Grange Public School in Ancaster, Greensville School became part of a new Spencer Valley-Greensville Unit. This made the principal of Spencer Valley School the principal of both schools. Mr. Bob Bowman was placed as vice principal of Greensville School where he spent half his time teaching and the other half doing administration work. In 1995, Mr. Barry Morlog became vice principal, a position he held until he became principal of Queens Rangers School. In January 1998, Mr. Doug Johnson became the new vice principal of the school.
The 1997/98 school year has been a busy one at the school for both teachers and students. The government of Ontario decided that in order to cut spending in education the number of school boards in Ontario should be reduced in number. Consequently, the Wentworth County Board of Education was legislated out of existence and a new board consisting of the old Hamilton Board of Education and the Wentworth County Board of Education was established under the title Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board Number 21 effective as of January 1, 1998. Thus, Greensville came under its third board of education in thirty years.
In late October, the staff of the school, along with a majority of teachers in the province of Ontario, went out on a protest strike, in order to persuade the government of Ontario to cancel a new proposed law called Bill 160. The new law would centralize the administration of all school boards within the Ministry of Education in Toronto and leave the local boards with much less power. The walkout lasted two weeks.
A new challenge that the teachers had to face this school year was the introduction of the Ontario Report Card. Previous to this, Wentworth County had had its own report card and this had been installed as a computer file in a program called Filemaker Pro. Thus, the idea of a computer-generated report card was nothing new to the Greensville teachers. The new report card instituted provincial standards on all school boards with much confusion as to what the different gradings meant. This was eventually modified by the June 1998 reports.
The report card itself caused many headaches. It had a nasty habit of disappearing off both the computer screen and the computer’s memory. It became necessary to store the report on both the hard drive and on a floppy disk as insurance that the reports would be kept permanently. Printing of the reports was another problem. The report was designed to print off of a Hewlett Packard printer and a class set could take anywhere from two and a half to five hours to print out depending on what kind of printer you were using. Hopefully, these problems will disappear as both teachers and parents become accustomed to the new report cards.
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