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CA$H FOR GOLD & JEWELLERY 905-337-0051 LONDON GOLD Upper Oakville Shopping Centre Oak-land Ford Lincoln SNA NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 2010 ontario's top newspaper - 2005-2008 Van Koeverden is ready Sports 905.844.3273 www.oak-land.com A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 50 No. 94 "Using Communication To Build Better Communities" WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2012 52 pages $1.00 (plus tax) Olympic cheer By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Deadline is unrealistic: educators MARTA IWANEK / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @halton_photog Message to London: The RBC Hometown Champions Cheer Tour stopped in Bronte Village Monday. Residents were invited to show their support for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes -- particularly those hometown champions who hail from Oakville -- by recording a greeting from inside a London-style taxi cab. Here, Simon Pereira, 12, Lola Pereira, 5, and Will Pereira, 10, cheer. The tour is making its way across Canada, collecting messages to send to athletes competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. To view a video of Oakville messages sent to London, visit www.oakvillebeaver.com and search the video tab. Ontario Minister of Education Laurel Broten is giving school boards and teachers' unions until the end of August to sign new contracts -- or else. The `or else' comes in the way of a threat of legislation to force teachers to work if they do not sign new collective bargaining agreements by Aug. 31. Late last week, Premier Dalton McGuinty indicated he was prepared to recall the Legislature this month to allow a vote on such legislation. However, unions and school boards across the province are calling the demands unrealistic and one union is calling the threat unnecessary. "No one has ever threatened the schools would not open and the students wouldn't receive the education we're all used to, so there seems to be a bit of fear mongering going on," charged Ken Coran, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), which represents about 140 bargaining units across the province. Giving teachers and school boards a month to negotiate, especially over the summer when schools are closed, is unrealistic, Coran said, claiming the ministry is putting pressure on local school boards. "To expect a board to get a negotiating team together that's fully apprised of all of the concerns that are out there, to have them address local issues and to have that finalized by Sept.1, I just think it's never been done before and I don't think it will ever be done in that time frame," he said. Coran said, historically, new collective bargaining agreements are negotiated after the previous ones expired, not before. Locally, Halton District School Board Chair Don Vrooman agrees the demand is unrealistic. See Aug. page 7 Optimize Performance (Adults and Children) · Attention span is short · Difficulty organizing & completing work · also helpful for Asperger's · also Psycho-educational testing ADD Centre MacLachlan College Oakville's only IB World School, proudly offering the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Pre-school to grade 12 · Call to inquire about applying for Sept. 2012 www.maclachlan.ca · 905-844-0372 · 337 Trafalgar Road, Oakville www.addcentre.com Neurofeedback and learning strategies can provide a lasting improvement. Co-author with Pediatrician William Sears of The A.D.D. Book: New Understandings, New Approaches to Parenting Your Child. Director: Lynda M. Thompson, Ph.D., 905-803-8066