By Bill England
Staff Reporter
Tecumseh will have a new school by this time next year.

All it needs now is a name.

The Greater Essex County District School Board, which held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday morning at the site of the new JK-Grade 12 facility, is accepting your suggestions for what it should be called.

It could be a name of historical or geographical significance, or it could be named after a deceased person who has had an impact on education in the area, explained GECDSB spokesperson Scott Scantlebury.

Wincon Construction will be the general contractor while J.P. Thompson Architects Ltd. is handling the design of the $22.6 million project, which is located off Banwell Road north of County Road 42.

The elementary portion is scheduled to be ready for September 2011, while the secondary portion is slated to open in late 2011 or early 2012.

Projected enrollment numbers are 820 elementary students and 500 secondary students when each one opens.

This will be the first JK-Grade 12 school for the GECDSB.

“It’s not everyday that a school board experiencing declining enrollment gets to build a new school and add to their inventory,” said chairperson Gale Simko-Hatfield.

“It’s exciting for the Town of Tecumseh to have something new and innovative.”

The Board has already designated two principals – Paul Bisson for the elementary students and Joan Rankin for the secondary students.

While this is the GECDSB’s seventh new elementary school construction project in the past decade, it marks the first public secondary school to be built in over 40 years (the former Shawnee High School was the last one).

“It’s a great day for the Town of Tecumseh because it means finally we get some growth,” said Deputy Mayor Tom Burton.

“Schools generate communities by themselves and this whole area will be built up in a couple of years.

“As this school progresses, so will the community around it.”  

By Bill England
Staff Reporter

The Laughter-Boss is making its North American debut in Tecumseh, thanks to a $97,700 Ontario Trillium Foundation grant over two years to the Fools for Health clown-doctor program.

The announcement was made on Tuesday at Heron Terrace, one of five local long-term care facilities that will host training sessions for the innovative project.

Laughter-Boss is the brainchild of Dr. Peter Spitzer, of The Humour Foundation in Australia. The program will allow familial clowns from Fools for Health to train two staff volunteers from each residential facility to bring fun and laughter in daily activities with the residents and their families.

The Laughter-Boss volunteers will work in tandem with the familial-clowns on a weekly basis, thereby reaching a greater number of seniors in the region.

“The Laughter Boss – a trained member of staff – has the opportunity and experience to continue the playful humour throughout the week, working alongside the clowns,” explained Fools for Health founder Dr. Bernie Warren.

“We really couldn’t be doing our programs without the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation,” he added.

“It is really, really appreciated and I know that all the facilities that we visit thank you as well."

“I have been working for the Ontario Trillium Foundation for almost 12 years and of all the grants I’ve given out – over 3,000 of them – this has got to be one of my very favourite,” said OTF program manager Sandy Braendle.

“When this was announced, I was just absolutely thrilled and honoured that I was able to be a part of such an amazing, amazing grant.

In fact, she saw a personal connection with this grant application.

“My mother-in-law was in a long-term care facility for over four years suffering with Alzheimer’s,” Braendle explained, “and so I think I perhaps I understood the importance of this grant and the importance that this sort of program gives to the lives of individuals who are in fact in long-term nursing care.”

In addition to Heron Terrace, Kingsville Court and Richmond Terrace in Amherstburg have been selected as training sites.

Two other facilities have yet to be chosen.

Anyone interested in bringing the Laughter Boss program to their seniors’ residences is asked to call artistic director Sandy Radvanyi at 519-254-5577 ext. 76520.