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Acton Free Press Wednesday Aug 17 Hinton leads new trustees stimulates lively discussions by Murray Board of Education has been enjoying some of its liveliest and most interesting meetings ever this year and much of the credit belongs to Bert Just eight months after staging a successful return to public life the school trustee for Acton and Esquesing has developed into the most vocal and controversial persons to ever sit on the eight year old regional board Hinton who sat on Acton councils for many years and served a term as warden of County in the early 60s had slipped from public view when he launched his come back announcing he would try to unseat incumbent veteran board member Tom Watson last fall While not main as high a public profile was still tive before jumping back into the political arena serving as chairman of the board of Sheridan College for a few years He ran vigorous issue campaign stressing cost of education and a back to basics theme It worked very well for He swamped his two opponents picking up votes compared to for VYatson and for Doug Pierce of Terra was one of eight new trustees to join the board in January of this year a radical change on a public body which had been relatively stable in member ship since its inception He quickly became the leader of the new rebels taking on old board members for past policies and pushing many new ideas In a recent interview said he views the sion of new blood the voters gave the board as significant He says the per cent change in board membership shows the public is demand change and answers notes he had specific objectives in running for the board which he tried to make clear to everyone and his actions of the past eight months are simply aimed at trying to achieve these objec tives and not a bid for head lines So far hasnt been able to translate many of his ideas into new board policies but says he isnt disappointed or frustrated since he fully realizes one person can change the world I will continue to try and bring about change regardless of the odds He feels his efforts haven t been wasted since his com ments have prompted con side able debate around the board table At the same time his remarks have also raised the Ire of colleagues espec ially whose who have served a few terms but this doesnt seem to bather him If I can cause a discussion and force the administration to come up with answers about things then I have achieved something he says If a person sets out to create change he must be patient An environment for change must be created I have the patience to wait for the proper climate for change I will feel no frustration as long as I am directing my efforts towards my const needs Hinton believes that over the years the board slipped into a posture of simply ac cepting administration New judge for Halton A yearold St Catharines lawyer has been appointed a county judge Tor Halton Justice Minister Ron Bas tard announced last week that Thomas would be joining judges Alan Kenneth Blair on the bench Judge hopes to assume his new duties In Oc tober Currently he is looking for a house in Milton proposals and policies but since he and other new comers joined the board this situation has been changing with even veteran trustees probing a little deeper for solutions He says he approached the board fortunately with the realization elementary and secondary education is dif ferent than college and while there are similarities bet ween the Board of Education and councils and boards he has served on in the past he Is discovering many new wrinkles to public life In the 70s For one thing ob served the Board of Education is highly procedure conscious and you can hardly open your mouth if you havent re searched the rules of pro cedure thoroughly says he dcicded if the rules of pro cedure are too restrictive At times it has appeared this year that the rules of pro cedure are being applied fairly to stifle but he thinks chairman Garry Morton has been fair with him When I do find the rules too limiting I demand a mice detects some changes at the board recently which he views as aging Early in this term it was evident a schism was developing which saw old trustees generally vote in a block against the newer members Over the past few months however there has been a shift and trustees are no longer lining up in an old new pattern He vie wing some of the issues he has raised since joining the board pointed to his hard work on this year s over million budget I think this is the first time the board has ever been challenged on its budget and salary negotiations member or the finance committee fought hard to force the board to stop taking the previous year budget and simply adding more money to it There was a real lack of desire among committee members to use any sense of priorities m setting the budget He earned his fight from where he lost to the whole board but was a lone voice in the wilderness urged the board to start setting real priorities for spending each year in stead of just adding to the budget to cover Inflation He made a lenghlhy speech which apparently fell on deaf ears While he failed in this bid to get the board back on what he considers is the right finan cial track at budget time he feels his message did get across since there has been some consideration of zero base budgeting at recent meetings He says the board has to start cutting costs in the area of teacher and administration salaries to make worthwhile budget reductions But isnt suggests there is no reason the board cant start at zero on wages He thinks teachers should be paid com parative wages with similar work in the private and public sector but other guidelines should be the individual worth and what tax payers can afford to pay He thinks Ihere is a con savings just around the corner if the board started cutting down the size of staff by eliminating superfluous employees There is a hell of an oppor tunity to make cuts in the area of administration he says believes principals should be given the powers they once had to run schools Then he says the board need all the consul tan Is and pulling in hefty pay cheques Im not in favor of cutting teachers salaries because they have a tremendous responsibility He thinks excellent teachers deserve good wages but is afraid there are many high priced teachers with lots of experience and academic qualifications who just arent efficient or good enough to demand so much money says the board could gel many excellent less expensive teachers who may not have the years of and qualifications but would perform just as well in the classroom He think teaching excellence is dependent on qualifications or experience What Is expensive about education is inefficient teachers in the system he says is concerned about the drain out of of excellent educators He says teachers who t tive and don support the administrations education philosophy are overlooked for advancement and often leave the board The Ministry of Education isnt completely blameless either for the state of cation They allowed boards and administrations to proceed without guidelines Now people are demanding guidelines Another subject he Is con cerned about is the hiring of gays to teach He admits he has made some cracks in the past about gays which might be viewed as frivolous but says he is genuinely worried and wonders how many gays are teaching in He says he mind gays having rights though he docs consider them deviants but strongly objects to them being allowed to teach school hopes if there are gay teachers they keep personal views to themselves but expects this is probably a chore How can you expect morality to be trans planted to children if gays are being hired he asks He is a strong booster or the public school system and is alarmed at the high number of parents moving children into separate and private schools wishes these parents would keep their drcn in public school and fight for much needed reforms A long career is politics has helped develop a thick hide so he says he doesn mind complaints and criticism He has taken a lot of lumps since joining the board There have been raps for his bid to cut trustees wages too per cent He couldnt even get a seconder for the motion but he isnt giving up in his bid to see trustees a year salaries chopped At a meeting later this month will put forth the motion that members serve without pay again and Choice PRIME RIB R Tender PRIME RIB S Choice RUMP ROASTS We Stock and Order McCALL STYLE SIMPLICITY PATTERNS to 100 STORE Choice SIRLOIN TIP TOP ROUND ROASTS 139 A Tender BLADE SHORT oft ft RIB R J J J STE BEEF 29 GRO BEEF 10 Fresh SMALL LINK SAUSAGE Maple Leaf Sliced 1 1b SIDE BACON Lean FOR YOUR FREEZER GROUND BEEF Lb Freezer Pac LOVELL BROS MODERN MEAT MARKET this time he has a seconder but not necessarily a sup porter He isnt optimistic about the chances of the motion passing expects the same attitude which pre vented the subject from being discussed in July assures Its defeat He is hoping an will be put forth though for at least a partial pay cut Maybe if I can get the board to look at its own pay it will look at the whole question of the budget Is glad he decided to run for the board and noted he feels very much at home at the board despite the fact many of his fellow trustees dont agree with his ideas He believes he has grudging respect from colleagues for his approach to the job The tremendous power base Burlington has at the board prompts to think both the north and south of the region would be much better off if there were two boards He thinks this might not be though If there are as many changes in board membership in the next election as there were Authority ed program better H Hinton after the last one Despite much criticism sticks to his previous statements that high school teachers are gutless He says the teachers sold out on the chairmanship issue and abandoned their concern for quality education He likes the direction the new board is moving since educators can I run the system like a business but trustees can He is delighted to see the board is demanding more input I think the old trustees ore beginning to understand things will never be the same again he says Mr Murray is the Free Press School Board reporter Agreeing that the Credit Valley Conservation Auth Education Program had gone over bigger than expected Authority executive received Education Officer George report at a recent meeting Chairman Grant commented he thought education for children on water courses was most Important Ail we need is one major flood he added According to s nearly students used the Terra Cotta area for organized school activities during the school year General and pond ecology was taught at the Terra Cotta fcducation centre comprising indoor sessions using pro jectors films audiovisual aids and scientific field work consists of nature walks exposure to learned knowledge scientific analysis and general tion Students where also 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