Board stands firm Continued from Pige One HintonB claim saying the administration did not pro ceed with implementation of chalrmenships knowing they might be illegal He said this administration may have many faults but being deliberately dishonest cer tainly isnt one of them Hlnton suggested the ad ministration was forcefully pursuing for fame and glory as Innovators and Lavender denied that too observing We have more fame and glory than we can handle We dont need any more said if the board continues acting illegally the teachers might take the board to court He suggested if the board doesnt take care of the problem themselves then it was the teachers duty to take the board to court think it is highly irable that we let our position deteriorate this point through stated He said many parents have contacted him about lhi3 sub ject and ore concerned about experimentation with their children in the form of chair believing the qual ity of education could suffer It is not this board but our children and grandchildren who will suffer if our quality of education decreases and the morale of our teachers continues to decrease said Hal ton Is losing fine teachers who just dont want to fight the politics of Hal ton education and sug gested if go through the administration might then decide to do away with viceprincipals We will have the most effi cient schools in the world and will be able to produce uneducated students at a rate that even by todays dards would seem Hinton pointed out chair men dont have to be subject special Is so they wont com mand the same respect from teachers that department heads do He said good teachers with high tions will leave because there arent as many opportunities for advancement and they dont want the hassles We innovate and then pyramid innovation on in novation without reasonable evaluation Our students have been the guinea pigs for a of Ontario He noted the board has ad It ted feelings over this issue could result in teachers quit ting He summed up the boards attitude is If you cant live with company policy change companies Hinton suggested this can work two ways He said per cent of last year s board members are working for other companies now If this increases to per cent in the next election the admin istratlon will be faced with the same problem Lavender noted there is a difference between the teachers position and H in to since the teachers arent against in the schools where they exist now but the Acton trustee is against chairman ships anywhere in Burlington Trustee Bill Pries tiler said he has never supported chalrmenships but thought the board should follow through on things now since the whole subject Is in the hands of an arbitration board He said after the ar bitration decision Is handed down is the lime for the board to debate Milton Trustee Ivan Arm strong lost out in a bid to am end the reaffirmation of board policy on the motion He wanted to add schools which have been reorganized already be allowed to con the system He anticl the possibility the might drop chairmen ships leaving the schools which have reorganized high and dry Chairman Garry Morton ruled it was out of order and Armstrong asked for a ruling by the whole board The board supported Morton decision Hinton said Armstrongs amendment didnt oppose the motion so it should stand Armltage replied Trustee has demonstrated as I knew he would his broad ignorance of parliamentary procedure I have years experience in ignorance countered before both men were urged by Morton to quit throwing darts the table at each other said when were first introduced headships had gotten out of hand and was being used as an incentive to stay at a school He noted the board couldnt seem to re duce the number of depart ment heads but the threat of chalrmenships has He said the board should only change something when it is going to get either re duced costs or better pro gram He pointed out reorganization of nine more schools won do either Armstrong says public sentiment precludes reorgan because parents are saying Quit making changes until my children get through school Then you all the changes you want Another Milton board member Trustee Bill Law son said the board is running a large business and noted there arent any other large businesses which operate under a multi system of management He said all the schools should have and countered that it will affect the quality of education How does it affect the quality of education Georgetown Trustee Don Long said the in con was quality of education costs and improved efficiency He said there was no dence regarding the relation ship between and the quality and while the administration says chair and department head systems cost just about the same a study he did would indicate otherwise Long said he had compared Lord Elgin High School with Georgetown High School which have roughly the same number of pupils and George town has a staff of 107 and Lord Elgin too On lop of the regular staffers Lord Elgin also has another paraprofessionals and audio visual technicians Based on these figures we must conclude the Lord Elgin costs are higher than George town Long observed He pointed out chairmen teach Tier cent of the time while department heads spend per cent of their time teaching Long said this means teachers at schools which have chairmen have has about consultants and who are work ing on develop ment when that is a job car- marked for chairmen Long added it is assumed schools offer essentially the same program Based on the job descrip tion of the chairmen at the very least we would appear to be creating another level of teaching bureaucracy He said he t support reorganization until there is solid proof that it wilt im prove the quality of education and reduce costs In the recent past we have had the educational lum swing from a highly conservative severely system which operated for decades to an ultra liber al doyourown thingsystem Hopefully our objective is to keep closer to the middle ground and avoid excesses of extreme conservatism or liberalism Long urged the board keep both the sys tern and department head and let the school and community pick the one which best meets needs He said this would give each tern a chance to prove it is the superior method of school organization Trustee Elsie till son branded thiirmenships an experiment whieh is being tried in only areas besides throughout Canada and the United States She said the argument the teachers are fighting it and it is threat to the board of management is a smoke screen Jim forced end of debate putting forth motion which called for the vote on the question said it was sad that more trusties con enough to speak up and Trustee Lon Crosier that unlike he didn need to make long speeches Long ant issuer ibc pressed making a hasty decision be cause of time restraints The Acton Free Press Wednesday February 18 1977 5 Teacher talks underway MISS HOPKINS grade four class at Speystde despite their protestations of Valentines day love seem to be more interested in the photographer Regon told no freeze lUvwis- an import sueind the board tbc pressed into Theres nothing wrong with a speculator buying farmland and holding it for years and building on it Peter Branch of Norval told the Regional Planning To cut off this discussion is not good judgment said he sympathized with Long since am used to being cut off But he public will take of this problem in the next election the vole was called tried unsuccessfully to have separate school repre sentatives kept from voting on the basis that chairmen must have expertise in curn taught in grade kin dergarten to He said since elementary school concerns are chairmens concerns separate school reprcsenta lives shouldnt vote since their interests must be con fined to the high school level said re marks obviously indicated he couldnt read since chair apply only to high schools When the vote was called long Armstrong Elaine Iteihm and dam Jackson all new trustees voted against Incumbent trustees Judy Alexander Bill Herd Garry Morion Noel Cooper Auger Or Helen Howard Lock Edna Robinson Cle- land Crosier Armitage and Priestner were joined by new board mem bers John Bradley and in supporting Committee Tuesday after noon He told the committee hed welcome the opportunity of renting land from a developer or speculator near or ad jacent his land While Mr Branch isn t a full time former he says his wife is and the operation is assisted by three farm helpers Mr Branch appeared at the meeting to present a brief he had drawn up in opposition to the goals and objectives that would lead to he official plan He spoke against plans to permanently zone or freeze lands into agricultural use He told the committee that the plan should concentrate more on encouraging Ottawa and Queen s Park to ensure markets for farm produce If that was done and far mere were encouraged to produce at Iheir optimum there would be less need to freeze the land he argued Hills councillor Hoy Booth suggested the specula tor could help farmers in the short term but eventually all of he land would be gobbled up He fell many of the problems rested with farm marketing boards Councillor Ben of Burlington said the onus was on the region to designate and preserve farmlands He agreed that the region should be concerned with and other protection for the farm operation but felt that preservation of farmland through zoning was a must Councillor Archie suggested hat the zoning designation of farm land should be like any other zoning designation Theres nothing to say can I get a reporting It I a freeze Mr Branch quarrelled with that statement noting it took his family four years and a great deal of money to have an official plan amendment passed in another municipal ity He indicated it is very difficult to remove zoning restrictions once they are applied Negotiations between Halton Board of Education and its teachers for a new contract are underway The board announced last week negotiations got started February 3 with bargainers for both the lary Teachers Federation and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation District Halton involved The boards negotiators are Oakville Trustee and former board vicechairman Bill Herd and Superintendent of Public meetings Board of Education will let the public know how much it plans to spend this year at a meeting on February The board Is also inviting the public to make presentations re garding spending at three meetings in March The portion of board meetings open to the public usually start p m but for the special meeting deal with expenditures the public m In the past the board pre sented its budget both ex and revenues in four parts over four meet ings but this year things are being changed so the public and trustees will be able to get a belter overall picture of what the board plans to spend Program John Bolch up is the teachers opposition Talks will deal with to the planned change from salaries fringe benefits and the department head system working conditions One to chairmanship at nine subject which is sure to come high schools this fall up 19 Mill St E SHOES CAROLINE J FLOWER GARDEN CENTRE Leading Florist 8532980 THE ACTON FREE PRESS ai Second Mail Postal Registration Number GUELPHS ONLY SPECIALTY LIGHTING STORE CHATELAINE LIGHTING York Road Multi Bright Ideas for all your Lighting Needs EXTENSIVE SELECTION OF HOUSE FIXTURES Door L Electric Hot ind Cemril Vacuum Cleaning Systems Winng Donees Parti etc Hoods Fans etc FREE PARKING Cut Flowers Potted Plants Funeral Arrangements Corsages Etc ALWAYS A GOOD SUPPLY OF FRESH CUT FLOWERS DRIED ARRANGEMENTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS Bird Feeders Terranums Open 6 Day A Weak Sam to 30 Closed All Day Wednesday During February LAST 4 DAYS of our MidWinter Sale 50 off Selected lines IS WE MUST CLEAR OUT THESE REMAINING LINES TO MAKE ROOM FOR OUR SPRING WEAR ARRIVING DAILY OIL CHANGE and LUBRICATION Oil Oil Filter Grease and Labour Included FOR MOST AMERICAN CARS Filter Included Firestone Stores USE OUR CftEOrrplAN MOORE PARK PLAZA GEORGETOWN Handicapped people can be productive and selfsupporting This is what Ontario is doing to help Your Ontario Government operates a program called Vocational Rehabilitation Services which is designed to assist physically mentally and emotionally handicapped people to become employable and where possible sellsupporting These services are available without charge They include medical and vocational assessments vocational guidance and counselling work adjustment training job placement artificial limbs wheelchairs and braces training in community colleges universities trade and business institutes and industry Last year 1 800 handicapped persons received one or more these services The program also helps employers by job applicants providing information about their abilities wage payments during initial onthejob training and offering many other supportive services Through the Ontario Ministry Community and Social Services a staff of trained counsellors and supervisors helps the handicapped person develop his or her work potential For more information write for your copy of the free booklet Help for the Vocationally Handicapped which the Vocational Rehabilitation Services program in detail Contact your local Ministry of Community and Social Services office or write to Rehabilitation Branch Ministry of Community and Social Services Hepburn Block Floor Queen s Park Toronto Ontario M7A Keith Norton Minister of Community and Social Services William Davis Premier Province of Ontario