HERALD Wednesday May 11991 School News- Halton board hopes to avoid OMB hearing The cost of an O B hearing and the one to four million dollars in additional costs resulting from the delay in con are not justified and to proceed on such a course Is much less than financially prudent That statement was made last Thursday by ViceChair of the Halton Board of Education Dave Coons as he introduced a motion to fund the relocation of Oakvile Trafalgar High School fro reserves rather than debent Its regrettable that some citizens believe that the OMB should be forced to rediscuss the O T H S issue when a legal was reached by a majority of the Board Our auditor has given me his assurance that our Board is well able to handle the debt itself and our own Business Ser vices have confirmed funding the school from reserves will not feet the other programs and ser vices we offer to students The motion followed a state ment to the Board by Chair Bill Harrison which focused on the inability to reach a resolution on by May 15 In an attempt to be flex ible with the OMB our Board successfully arranged a 30day extension of the existing lender until May 15 thus protecting taxpayers interests by guaranteeing the favorable tender price It is with disap pointment that I tell you that we have been notified by the B that it is impossible- to reach a hearing resolution prior to the ex of the extension of the tender stated Harrison Though appreciative of the 0 M B s attempts to commodate the Board by setting aside the week of June 3 for hear ings Harrison emphasized that In practical terms the hard facts are that even if the hearing could go ahead on June and even if we could maintain our tender until that date which we can it is highly unlikely that the matter would be resolved in a week It would also be simply unrealistic of us not to expect the opponents of the debenturing to use resources they have at their disposal to further obstruct the building of the reocated This is par it daily true in view of their to the mulia that it is prudent to delay the construction of the school Harrison stressed that The Board reached the decision to relocate 0 T H S after an and democratic process of public consultation and involve ment It was a leggl decision en students excel in math You dont need a mathematical mind to know that 8th place out of competitors in the Cana Mathematic Competition is a big achievement for Georgetown and District High School student Stuart- Hagge a Grade student placed 8th in the Fermat division of the Canadian Mathematics Competition administered by the University of Waterloo in which a total of students represen ting 1630 schools participated Other GDHS students also did well was in the competition while fellow Grade student Ben Zimmer had an excellent score that placed him in the top three per cent of all students across Canada Together these Grade 11 mathematicians led GDHS to a first place in Halton Peel region 9th place in Ontario and 17th place in Canada In the Grade 10 Cayley contest Bruce Davison placed first and Mary Fry and Joe gave fine performances The Pascal contest for Grade 9 students was contested by Micah Zarnke who finished in the top one per cent from over 30000 students Greg Taylor was in the top three per cent and Kim Tim contributed a fine score to place the Grade team In the top per cent of alt Canadian schools Passive Reducing Salon toning s TANNING SE5Sl0NS SPECIAL120 8734907 Rear Entrance Georgetown WERE YOUR INSURANCE BROKERS WE UNDERSTAND PAUL C ARMSTRONG INSURANCE BROKERS LTD 143 MILL ST Hills Georgetown Ontario 8770133 IF THE SHOE FITS But if not you should have shopped in HALTON HILLS We all know that exchanges can be a hassle especially if you have to go out of town to make them Smart shoppers know they save time money and avoid incon venience when they shop with local merchants Keep part of dollars you spend in HALTON HILLS by the Ministry of Educa tion and we continue to feel confi dent that the decision reached is in the very best interests of our students and community We also have every confidence that a lengthy OMB process would support our decision Harrison expressed strong con cerns about What is quite simp ly a matter of discrimination We are displeased that public Board we have to be subject to an OMB procedure that is not ap plied to Catholic School Boards Catholic Boards are not required to seek approval to issue OMB debentures It is ludicrous that such a double dard exists I want to point out to you that there were less than twenty let ters of objection received by the OMB out of the tens of thousands of public school ratepayers that we serve As a Board we stated that we might be willing to bear the con siderable expense of an OMB hearing but would not force our local taxpayers to be liable for the spiralling costs that would nse each day wr delayed past May 15 the B is clearly unable to meet that deadline Harrison warned the Board that Beyond the cost for a lengthy hearing the financial penalty for our taxpayers if the project is delayed beyond the ex tended date of May 15 could well be in excess of one million dollars and as high as several million dollars Costs are going to escalate rapidly and we have to remember first and foremost the needs of our taxpayers and students It is necessary for us to balance the need for even further public consultation with the very real concern of the significant costs involved to the taxpayers in Halton We are sensitive of course to all points of view but the bottom line has to be our legal and morale obligations to tax payers and students Georgetown 8779896 of Fit Wont Ltd Main Street South Downtown Georgetown 8731 GIC RATE Rate Subject To Change Without Notice money concepts FOR SUMMERTIME FUN JUST ADD WATER ACADIAN POOLS ANNUAL SPRING SALE INGROUND Mil 4 Year Warranty 14x28rect 16x32rect 18x36rect 20x40rect ABOVE GROUND a MM Year Warranty 6 ROUND 1 8 ROUND ROUND 24 ROUND MICALS BUY A SEASONS SUPPLYOF 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