Pontiac results low in Report Card – École Secondaire Sieur de Coulonge ranks highest among Pontiac schools: At the end of October the Fraser Institute and the Montreal Economic Institute released the first Report Card on Quebec’s Secondary Schools. The report is the only independent measurement of the province’s largest 476 public and private, French and English, secondary schools.

The Report Card is an overall rating of each school’s academic performance on a scale from zero to ten. This rating is based on the students’ results in four academic courses: English, French, History and Physical Science.

For each school, for the six school years 1993–1994 through 1998–1999, four indicators of school performance were calculated: the average uniform examination mark; the percentage of these courses that the students failed; grade inflation by the school (the difference between their average raw examination mark and their average raw school mark); and the differences between the results of male and female students on the previous measure.

Out of the 476 schools evaluated, Pontiac High School ranked 406 in ’98–’99 and ranked 419 from 1995 to 1999. Jean-Paul II in Campbell’s Bay ranked 436 in ’98–’99 and ranked 395 from 1995 to 1999. St. Alphonsus in Chapeau ranked 344 in 1998–99 and 1995–99 ranked 270.

Of all the Pontiac Schools, École Secondaire Sieur de Coulonge in Fort-Coulonge placed the highest with 95 in 1998–99 and 1995–99 ranked 101.

The information available is intended to help school communities to make plans to improve the school’s results. Parents can use the report card as a way to help them decide which school to choose for their kids.

Wine bottles get local labels for Christmas: If you are planning on purchasing some wine for your Christmas feast this year, you may consider buying a bottle with the Shawville–Clarendon label on it.

As a promotion, the SAQ is labelling wine with labels of the municipalities of Pontiac. People can purchase a bottle of wine with their municipality on it and keep it as a souvenir.

This promotion comes in time for Christmas when people may be looking for some last-minute gift ideas.

Kristessa satellite dish sales soar: A satellite dish promotion has beamed a local installation company to the far reaches of Quebec City and southern Ontario. Kristessa Electronics, of Shawville, was called to install satellite dishes in those areas after Bell Expressvu offered a free installation promotion, which resulted in a demand for the small dishes.

“First, they phoned us to send a truck to Quebec City,” says Dan Tremblay, co-owner of Kristessa Electronics.

Tremblay sent his installation technicians in September to install 160 dishes in Quebec City and about 70 in Fort Erie, Ont. (near Niagara Falls). In addition to the long distance installations, Kristessa also installed more than 200 in the Ottawa Valley.

“The promotion worked really well,” Tremblay says. “I guess they phoned us because our technicians have a lot of experience. We have no recalls or complaints; the work is done professionally.”