Each week, the Beaver looks back on stories from the past. Here is what happened this week, by year…
1952
– The new Napanee and District Collegiate was to be officially opened by Ontario education minister Dr. W.J. Dunlop. Following the ceremony, members of the community were to have a chance to tour the $780,0000 facility. The new Belleville Road school, which would accommodate 650 students that year had 12 classrooms, a combined gymnasium/auditorium with a capacity of 800, and a cafeteria and kitchen. The school was said to be practically fireproof.
– With the opening of the new school, the Beaver presented a retrospective on education. In the coverage, it was noted the first rural public school in the province was built in Fredericksburgh Township in 1786. It was opened by John C. Clark and it was thought the school was built in Clarksville, which was later renamed Napanee.
– Strathcona’s Malcolm Finlay, a Queen’s University theology student, shared stories of his mission work in Western Canada at Grace United Church. He spent time in northern Saskatchewan where farmers would leave communities for the winter, closing down churches and shops. Many people in the area, he reported, weren’t church-goers and the United Church had a shortage of ministers to send to the charge. Finlay said in those conditions it was a difficult area to minister to.
1987
– The Lennox and Addington County Board of Education and its secondary school teachers officially ratified a new contract that would give the teachers wage hikes of five per cent and 4.3 per cent over the two-year term. The average secondary school teacher in the county would earn $48,865 in the second year of the deal. The deal also included some movement on the board’s benefits plan. Teachers would pay all of their own OHIP premiums, while the board would pay for other benefits including dental, vision, extended health care, group term life insurance, and long-term disability plans.
– Parents wishing to do so could send their children to Junior Kindergarten in September 1988 as the Lennox and Addington County Board of Education adopted the program and agreed to hire a resource teacher at a cost of $25,500 to develop the program to be implemented in all its schools.
– A speeding stop on Hwy 401 resulted in more charges than a Napanee OPP officer anticipated. The officer found two men from Quebec who were in possession of two loaded handguns and a box of ammunition. The men, aged 21 and 23 were arrested and taken into custody.