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Whitby Free Press, 12 Jul 1995, p. 18

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Page 18, Whitby Free Press. Wekîosday, JuIy 12. 199 $1 billion ventilation pro posal1 rej ected Tops ini quiz BILL FRY, executive director of the John Howard Society, makes a presentation to Jeremy Taylor and Jenn Cassidy, repre- senting Grade 7 and 8 students from West Lynde Public School who hai the highest percentage out of 22 Durham Region sohools participating in the Society's crime prevention qiZ. Pýhoto by Jeremy Dresar, Whitby Free Press By Mark Reesor, Despite a plea from staff Dur- ham soparate sehool board trus- tees decided that almost $1 mil- lion is too much te replace the heating/ventilation system at the board's headquarters in Oshawa. Instead they asked staff te review the project, look at chea- per alternatives and report back in the fail. "rve had calîs from parents complaining about children being in Portables with temperatures of 110 degrees » said Oshawa trustee Paul W10dcroft, noting problems with schools. (Another) school has a loaking 'roof, only part of which is going tabe fixed this year because we have no money -- rm sorry, I cannot support tliis. Pay raises for teachers By Mark Reesor Durhamn Board of Education s 2,300 elementary schooi teachers narrowly approved a new con- tract with the bard rooently. The teachers voted 51 per cent i favour of the new deal that wiil see the salaries of newer teachers jump by as much as $10P000. That's because incremontal wage hikes for teachers who haven't yot reached the top of their pay grid, frozen under the social contract, have been restoeod. An Elementary School Tea- chers' Federation officiai says the incroase is justified because the teachers lost about $15,000 over the last three years because of the social contract. To 'offset the cost of the experience increments, the union agreed te, the elimination of paid oducation improvement beaves and an annual $555 bonus paid te speciai education toachers; an We've Lowered the Prices! SAVE UP TO 50%* on ail our take home novelties! I : URI BUSTER BARS - DILLY BARS - SANDWICHES - BLIZZARD BARS - CHOOSE FROM: Vanilla Dairy Queen, cold creamy fudge & spanish nuts wrapped in a smooth chocolate coating. Vanilla Dairy Queen dipped in smooth chocolate coating. Vanilla Dairy Queen layered between chocolate cookie waters. Vanilla Dairy Queen blended with crushed Orea Cookies dipped in smooth chocolate coating. WHITBY DAIRY QUEEN 1003 Dundas St. E. 668-5342 incroase in the amount teachers pay for their benefits from 10 te 20 per cent; a reduction in tea- cher class preparation time; rosumption of teaching duties for vice-principais. There wiil aiso bo an increase of one student per class -- average ciass sizes this year range from 19 in Grade 1 and 2 te 28 in Grade 7 and 8 -- and additional savings because sevon more teachers left than what was called for in the social contract. The new doal, which will begin when the current contract expires Aug. 31, sees a resolution of ail social contract implomen- tation issues and also contains a clause calling for discussions bet- ween the union and board if there's a move teward a modified school yoar. A modified school year has been proposed for a new elemen- tary- school te hoe built on the Anderson CVI property in Whitby. CaribouHunt will be held every year Thie Great Innushare Caribou Hunt will become an annual event. And it won't be just for local schoois, but for any Canadian school wishig te heip the chil- dren of Davis Inlet, Laaor. Whitby-based Innushare, a native women's support group that bas coiiected, purchased and sent items te the Unu women's centre the _group helped te establish iDavis Inlý.bean the Caribou prograioarlier this y ear at more than 30 schoois in Drham Rogion and Toronto. Volunteer speakers go to schools and talk.te parents, tea- chers and students about Labra- dor, the caribou hunting culture, lifestyle of the Innu and issues of Canadian native land rights - and about Innushare prograins. St. Isaac Jogues Catholic School in Pickering* and Cadarackque Publie c hol in Ajax shared the first Mighty Caribou .Hunter Award ", a Crao sketch, 'Going Hunting with mLy Dad' by Davis Inlet youth Simeon ?NOer. Famous childr'en's author Robert Munsch and Inuit huntor/ author Michael Kasugak both launched the Caribou prograin at Cadarackquo. 7%e Caribou Hunt poster fea- tures a dancing caribou on the face of a com*. Retired creative directer Ted Wood, the husband of Mary Wood who is the other founder of Innushare, camne up with the concept of hunting Canadian quarters (caribous) and famous chiidren's book illustrator Bar- bara Reid designed the dancing caribou, Cari. For more information about the proran, cail 430-6776 or The current system at the boards Rossland Road hoadquar- tors is essentially a "home heat- ing and ventilation system rather than, a commercial one which isn't doing the job, argued educat ion director Grant 'Andrews. "Weve had heating and venti- lation problemis in this building smnce almost the first day we moved in here... there are tines, during the winter in particular, when we have no heat in the b*ilding.» That' caused «sickness and tiredness» among staff, he clai- med, which has inoant a loss in staff productivity and poor morale. "There have been attempts to compeate -- ail over this build- ing we have ail these little DUY i electrie heaters -- very iieff- cient and expensive to operate.» Such "band-aid solutions" are not the answer, ho said, and will prove more expensive in the long run. «Do it once and do it right; we've had enough bandaids (and) none of them worked... Fd rather do nothing than waste money on another bandaid.» Trustees originally approved retrofitting the bui1àMg in the 1994 budget at a cost of $600,000, with part of that money to come from the federal and provincial infrastructure proiMa. hey later iearned infrastruc- ture money wasn't available and the cost had risen to $1.09 mil- lion. Trustees rejected that and the project was retenderod with some'changes and thon camee in at $920,000. "Why didn't we get this iow bid the first timer» wondered board chair Tom Qîdman. <'Where's the 170,000 gone? I feel very suspi- cious about the first proposaI.» Several trustees wondered about the wisdom of spending almost a million dollars on an elaborate system when, with ris- ing enrolment, *à bigger board heaciquarters is IxKely to bo needed in the noar future. Qîdman suggostod staff should pursue a retrofit such as that done by Whitby, which replaced an 18-year-old electric heating/ air conditioning system for $250,000 last yoar. "Now oithor they're vory leth- argic... or we have to reconsider tho way we want to change the ventilation system hin this build- "The Town of Whitby buiilding 18 nothing like this buildig --it's like comparing apples with oranges,» said Andrews. Whitby doesn'have a problem with lack of insulation and has a diforet rofstructure, ho said. The board may still be on the hook for as much as $180,00 in consulting fees and pre-ordered oquipmont even though they tur- ned dlown the projeet. But Qîdman warned that if the board is stuck with such cost -, ------------ 1

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