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OPINION Doris Mattear doesn't strike us as a rabble- rouser; rather a concerned parent with a le- gitimate complaint. It was Mattear who last week "blew a gas- ket" when she discovered a teacher at Stew- arttown Middle School allegedly assigned at least one class (possibly two) to draw up pro- test posters emblazoned with pro-union and anti-government slogans prior to a planned teachers' day of protest that was called off at the last minute Friday. "The teachers are there to teach, not to in- doctrinate my kids," said the mother of four, who has one child in the art class in ques- tion. Mattear said the teacher who allegedly had kids draw up posters with slogans such as "My Teacher is Being Bullied and I Won't Stand By" and My Teacher Taught Me About Democracy (And it's not Spelled Bill 115", is a "fantastic teacher" and she didn't want to name him. Rather, she suggested parents should be "more direct" with their kids about what's being discussed in the classroom. The Halton District School Board, through executive director of human resources Debra McFadden, told this newspaper Monday they were investigating Mattear's complaint but later said neither Mattear, other parents of students in the class(es) or the public would be told the outcome of that investigation. Mattear was rightfully angered at the board's lack of disclosure. We believe the teacher involved in this mat- ter made a terribly poor error in judgment, if he, in fact, instructed his students to create protest posters. He overstepped his bounds and hopefully the HDSB took appropriate and strong action (although we will never know). We also understand parental interference can, at times, be problematic for teachers. But when a grievous mistake is made by the teacher in the classroom parents, like Mattear, have every right to voice their concerns-- and should be commended for doing so. The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Edi- torial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Independent & Free Press A lesson for all Steve Nease Letters to the editor Dear editor, The IFP's articles of Oct. 18/12 and Jan. 3/13 discussed a new 'Menkes Enclaves' housing development at the corners of Guelph Street and McFar- lane Drive. While the MTO believes traffi c signals are not required at the pres- ent time through their Traffi c Impact Study, have the following really been considered: Turning left off Hall Road onto Guelph Street is busy now and re- quires crossing three lanes to get into the proper lane. As well, turning left off McFarlane Drive can be busy with the Sands condos and also requires crossing three lanes to get into the proper lane also. With the addition of 184 housing units (an average of at least 1.5 cars per unit) there could be at least an- other 270 cars using McFarlane daily, on top of the residents of the Sands. McFarlane is the road used for ingress and egress from this new subdivision. Both Hall and McFarlane have small islands to manoeuvre and navi- gate at the intersection also. Hall Road and McFarlane Dr, could now easily serve more than 500 cars. Hall Road is also used by another four roads in the area and upwards to 300 cars, so this area has 1,000 cars com- ing and going. We need a traffi c light at Hall Road and McFarlane Drive now! Maybe the decision-makers (MTO, CVC, Town staff, Halton Region) need to live in this area affected, to get some idea of the situation. You have no idea what we encounter daily get- ting in and out of our subdivision. A traffi c light would assist the residents and will save a life someday. A fi nal note: as reported "Currently the intersection doesn't warrant traffi c signals....But Menkes will contribute a signifi cant portion of cost of putting in traffi c signals should that change." Why not do it now when costs will only escalate in the future? John Elliott, Georgetown Letters policy 905-873-0301 Publisher: Dana Robbins General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@theifp.ca) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifi eds Kristie Pells (classifi ed@theifp.ca) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) If Ontario public school teachers stage one-day 'protests', how would you view their actions? • They would be staging an illegal strike and should bear the consequences (72%) • It would be their legal, democratic right to do so (28%) WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.theifp.ca) Lights required at intersection Speed limit changed Dinner a big success Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Dear editor, I noticed recently that the speed lim- it on Hwy. 7 at the west end of George- town between the Watchtower entrance and Trafalgar Rd. has been lowered to 60 km/h from the previous 80 km/h. This new lower limit is not accom- panied by signs showing "new," so it is easy to miss this change. Alan Woosnam, Georgetown Dear editor, On behalf of St. Alban the Martyr church in Glen Williams a heartfelt thank you to the many people in Glen Williams and the broader Halton Hills community for their generous support of our free Christmas Day dinner. A total of approximately 100 guests and volunteers attended. The dinner made it possible for a large number of people who would otherwise have had limited family or community support on Christmas Day to enjoy the hospi- tality and companionship of a diverse warm and sharing group. Through unsolicited feedback from guests we know that most left with a warm and happy feeling. The event could not have been the success it was without the support from the volunteers and supporters. The event was further blessed by the active involvement of about 15 young people who participated, not only as smiling friendly servers, but many of whom also added their musical talents to leading our guests in song-- thanks to all of you, the future community is in great hands. The dinner provided a wonderful demonstration of the close- ness and generosity of this commu- nity-- you should all be proud. Don Robinson, on behalf of St. Alban's •T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs d ay , J an ua ry 1 7, 2 01 3 6 << /ASCII85EncodePages false /AllowTransparency false /AutoPositionEPSFiles true /AutoRotatePages /None /Binding /Left /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%) /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2) /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error /CompatibilityLevel 1.3 /CompressObjects /Tags /CompressPages true /ConvertImagesToIndexed true /PassThroughJPEGImages true /CreateJobTicket false /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default /DetectBlends true /DetectCurves 0.1000 /ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged /DoThumbnails false /EmbedAllFonts true /EmbedOpenType false /ParseICCProfilesInComments true /EmbedJobOptions true /DSCReportingLevel 0 /EmitDSCWarnings false /EndPage -1 /ImageMemory 1048576 /LockDistillerParams false /MaxSubsetPct 100 /Optimize true /OPM 1 /ParseDSCComments true /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true 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