The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

m flood of letters vi- in it i ii fred armitage- chairman of the halton county board of education lias branded the sug- gestion by esquesing council that the salaries paid trustees be reduced as ridiculous and suggested they look in their own back yard for places to save the publics money his remarks were made in a press release issued last week after esquesing passed a res plutipn urging the honoraria fort school board trustees be reduced from 3000 to 1500 employees salaries be chop ped by as miieh as 23 per cent and teachers salaries be held he said in his release tie press recently carried a motion of the esquesing township council proposing certain measures to keep down municipality the cost of education the hal- ton county board of education is always witting- to receive constructive suggestions in all matters the fact that the mo tion passed the esquesing township council unanimously adds considerable weight to the recommendation a detailed consideration of the proposal has been made one of the suggestions is that members of the board cut their fees by 50 with no mileage allowance the fact that this comment comes from the one council which doubled its own honoraria this year does not necessarily destroy the suggestion a survey of the honoraria pid to members of councils in rial ton county is as follows amt of monofaria in 1969 budpat acton 10200 burlington 36000 esquesing 8000 georgetown 25000 milton 9250 nassagaweya 3200 oakville 20520 county council 31200 total halton councils 143370 haltoticbunty bd of ed fees to board members 58600 cost par capita 213 44 38 162 123 102 36 17 cost per capita 80 cost per capita 33 tnere does seem to be be hind the motion the naive be lief that if a cost is scattered jnto smaller packages in many places it is not as large coun cil honoraria cost the county taxpayer two and one half tim es as much as the honoraria to board of education members the suggestion that the board investigate the use of ex- most stringent controls from the fire marshall the health department and other agencies the amount of light the ceil ing height the volume of air exchange enclosed stairwells fire doors etc are all restric tions upon the accommodation we use and the normal build ings in the community do not meet these requirements even for staff the board has always acted responsibly this year we may experience difficulty because of the size of recent wage settlements in commerce and industry the special fac tors surrounding tome of these jobs are not applicable to teaching however our great est difficulty will be the fact that many municipal v employ ees tfave received salary settle ments far in excess of what we can offer we just wonder how we can explain what councils mean when a policeman re ceives 8550 and rightly so and a teacher with a ba in a high school with the same ex perience receives 7800 and a public school teacher receives 20iin the light of settle ments w other sectors of the economy the suggestion that we hold the line is really not while the board has a res ponsibility o control and de rive maximum benefit from the educational dollar it also has a most important responsi bility that the quality of educa tion be consistent with the needs of the students and the demands of the ratepayers the concern of the ratepayers as represented by some municipal bqdies over educational costs resentment the holidays be ing june july and august is a remark based on a lack of understanding june is one of the heaviest months for he staff june 28 is the closing date for school during the summer months the staff is heavily engaged in the elementary schools 483 teachers tools courses at universities during this sum mer and 50 more taught cours es at the secondary level 287 teachers took university and department courses and 112 taught courses in the mail bag misleading derogatory teachers blasts council employees in many cases seek employment in these fields to avoid the competition of priv ate business and to avoid any possible unemployment is not worthy of answer and is based upon the sheerest ignorance the suggestion that the board of education publish estimates and hold public meetings to hear objections and answer questions is one which all public bodies includ ing councils might follow tie board does publish its budget and distributes this information widely the halton education news goes to every parent the minutes of the board includ- tag budget goes to every school at budget time are not consis- every library every council the cornment that board morawf of the majority of 42 greystone dear ir the teaching profession 1s one which is the subject of a great deal of criticism irt these crucial times of change in the field of education some of the criticisms are valid indeed and we in the profession give these due regard on the other hand teachers a well as those in other professions are recipients of broad sweeping generalizations which are poor ly considered by the people who advance them such state ments tend to be harmful destructive and datmagyig to tent with their demand for bet ter programs improved facili ties and improved qualification of teachers during the remaind er of the year in light of the foregoing the suggestion that salaries be reduced is utterly ridiculous and in fact an in sult to the staff of the board of education the board particularly re- istlng buildings for temporary as temporary accommodation classrooms is not an acceptable for five years jsents the attack on its staff and one the board is subject to the in the matter of salariesl the suggestions must arouse public meetings have been held to hear objections as anyone who reads the newspapers should know councils might be advised to adopt the same pro cedure urges unite public school teachers demand more salary 60 maple ave east dear sir after last weeks article con cerning teachers and their sal tries i feel that another view is necessary the first point that must be made is that there are many washers in this profession who are trying to make a living if the statistics are studied it will be found that over half of all the public school teachers are in the lower two categories this means that many of the teachers are earning between five and seven thousand dollars i see no reason why the tea chers shouldnt demand a sub stantial increase there is a strong need for the teachers to back up their negotiating com stronger action used in the essary take than has been past there are several reasons why an increase is necessary num ber one in order to keep up with the ever rising cost of liv ing another reason concerns the fact that many areas of la bour have negotiated such large increases that teachers are falling further behind on the economic scale my personal opinion with re gard to public school teachers is as follows after obtaining their permanent certificate which comes after a minimum of two years teaching along with many inspections teachers should be paid a wage which is capable of supporting a family mitteee to the hilt and if nee- at the present rate a public need kids shoes too teachers no different r its all working 12 i he reads r 2 georgetown i man needs after hours a day that carpenters somewhere are apparently ma king 14000 a year with btc holiday pay electricians plum bers in fact most tradesmen are receiving similar remuner ation for thirtysix hours e week he thinks it is about time tradesmen were paid a fair wage and that our youngsters were encouraged to join the construction indu y to help build our country to its fullest potential he reads on that local farm era are selling their lands off at 2000 to 3000 an acre well why not the farmers should be permitted to make as much as the land speculators who have leeched off the public for too long now he notes that stores are rais ing their prices he realizes that they alone cannot should er the responsibilities of rising costs it is after all a vicious circle he looks at his own accounts and sees that there is not en ough in the bank to buy the kids shoes this week in fact this months pay has gone al ready oh well he sighs ill get a raise this yer to keep up with the cost of living but he reads on and conies across a lengthy resolution sponsored by some knotheaded council lor this idiot who has been chosen to represent the people on council tells him that his wages must be frozen that the hard working school board members must cut their salar ies in half that the most im portant man in the community the principal of the school should be reduced to a pover- tirftrieken student teacher trai nee who mutt stop leading chil dren and revert to the good old days of beating the little win into odwiaubn yes its all a man needs after leaving home at 630 am to get to school at 7 am to coach the senior basketball team then encourage cajole discuss and even argue to help the kids gain a better under standing of life after school is over get the chess club togeth er and laugh and joke with them for another hour or so then of course there is a mee- continuod on page 1 school teacher in this position would be earning less than 6000 in regard to the note that teachers enter the profession for the holidays and for a safe guard against unemployment my reply is as follows in the present set up if a teacher wishes to surpass the 5200 income bracket courses must be taken summer and win ter at a cost of 120 a course there goes the holidays along with a good piece of the pover ty rate income believe it or not many people pick this profession because they are interested in the citi zens of the future as well as the field of teaching i believe that unless there are some drastic changes many excellent teachers are going to be forced out of the teaching profession and into more lucra tive areas i personally believe that it is time for all teachers especial ly public school teachers to unite and stand up and be counted and change the leth argic and listless image that has been bestowed upon them teachers are not perform ing a babysitting service they should be paid a salary that is commensurate with their res ponsibility in the classroom in the school or in your com munity yours sincerely david mcnally the idea that board of ed ucation should confer with mu nicipal councils before setting the budget is a satisfactory one assuming that councils will do the same conferring with the board on their budgots asj when the topic of teacher much intercommunication as lsisalaries was dealt with in the possible between public bodies resolution i feel that the atp is a good move in municipal gothors got a bit carried away vernment however if it is as- to say the least their choice individuals to whom they refer- on the whole very little is done in the way of publicly defending the victims of ill- considered criticism perhaps teachers doctors lawyers and other professionals are too re luctant at times to speak out in their own defense still there are times when such de fense becomes due last week in your x per one of the lead stories concerned a resolution vhieh was passed by the esquesing council one high official of fered comment on thl resolu tion calling it a well written document and a lot of sense 1 cannot agree i having spoken briefly over the telephone to a member of the esquesing council i gather that the purpose of this reso lution is to arouse public con cern over the spending of the taxpayers money in the area of education i think that this purpose is commendable as a taxpayer as well as a teacher i welcome watchdog pre cautions over the spending of public funds crescentgroup as i whole- r- it is an irresponsible statement in any context bet to see it in an off icial document passed by an elected group of men is ap palling in addition i do not think that the majority of the general public would support such a sweeping condemna tion of the people who have charge of the education of of their children having taught for nearly ten years i have conversed at length with liter ally hundreds of parents they have almost unanimously de monstrated their support of and faith in teachers i think that i can safely say that teachers in all areas of this province would echo nv re marks alon we deeply reseat irre sponsible attacks agaihstit yours truly doug migwood- stowarttown sr public school bridge club jin gloria coats and w coats were south south win ners and mrstti collier mrs nellie gomham were east west winners at the georgetown du plicate bridge club on imesday november 4 i other winners were north south a norris b dickson j maurer f alien george ellen- ton and mrs sue sullivan east west mrs doris barber tom barber peggy stevens flora smith j cooper and e tom- ajko 12 tables werein play thi oiorobtown hiralct thursday nov 13th 194- page6 rr h lakeview wit centre 126 main n acted paint wallpaper profinished panels floerinp carpets 8531190 open sat to 530 pjp free delivery sumed that this sugestion means that either board or councils have any control over the other in any matter then what is be ing proposed is a legal fiction both bodies are responsible dir of words was most unfortun ate their attempts to hold the salaries at the present level are admirable from a taxpay ers point of view but i dont think that anyone who gives ectly to the electorate and have i the matter serious thought been so for over a century in holds out much hone for suc- this province cess in that aim the present the halton county board of inflationary trend in all areas the resolution also states that in some cases the rea sons for teaching are june july and august in some cases this may be irue but what about- the thousands of teachers and principals who sacrifice their summer months along with millions of dollars in order to improve qualifi cations and upgraavtheir teaching techniques no men tion is made of thm in the resolution it id regrettable that our council fails to re cognize and acknowledge this aspect of the teaching profes sion to conclude mr editor i feel that the vast majority of the dedicated teachers in our area and our province have been sadly maligned by the esques ing council through their un animous support of such a mis leading and derogatory resolu tion i hope that both teach ers and parents alike clearly demonstrate their indignation over the obvious faults in this document contrary to the ap parent belief of the council members most teachers are dedicated to their profession we are proud of our profes- see me for your state farinr money tree an uptodate life insurance policy from state farm life low cost protection from the company with long reputation for value there are 28 different stato farm money trees for the one thatll t your needs and budget exactly see mc nowl geo e drumm 118 deliei blvd 8776148 8tate farm life insurance company canadian rlead office scarborough ontario education is always prepared to receive and study construct ive proposals it is prepared to sit in consultation with any re sponsible group to consider measures which are in the in terests of the students in the county and in the interests of the ratpayers it has demonstr ated this willingness on numer ous occasions the board can not however deal with attacks carried by the press against its staff even though the proposing body claims these attacks to be constructive suggestions 1 of oir economy seems to pre clude this in the same clause of the resolution the assertion is made that in many cases teachers and boandempioyees seek employment in these fields to avoid the competi tion of private business and to avoid any possible unemploy ment this statement ts simply not tru and the mere fact of its inclusion in a reso lution passed unanimously by an elected council does not re flect too favourably upon the bramptons only alcan dealer offers you 20 year double guarantee superior workmanship no down payment bank financing storm doors windows awnings carports canopies siding zall today george kent aluminum productl sinci 1m for free estimate call 4s0231 wants marshall motion backed by ratepayers 31 byron street gentlemen the resolutions submitted by councillor ken marshall at the esquesing township council meeting monday night novem ber 3rd should be backed up by every resident of halton cbunty his call for a drastic reduc tion in the amounts paid to em ployees of the halton county school board and the trustees should not merely be a request but a demand that this be ef fective with the first of janu ary 1970 from what i have read of opposition from the southern part of the county to the high rates being paid i feel sure that the reductions suggested by mr marshall should be bac ked up by all the areas of hal ton county and made effective at the end of this year we remember- in george town for example we had three trustees on the public school board whose services added up to a total of over 60 years of service which was rendered practically- without any cost to the municipality until such time as the regional board took over now we are sunk with high taxes to pay these exorbitant salaries and it is high time to end all this nonsense if those affected are dissatis fied with the new rat- i they can resign their positions lets hear from the ratepayers and their groups on this issue yours truly ed a peters shipping moving by land air sea and rail overseas packing and crating modern heated storage local ft long distance moving 24 hour service call arrow world wide shipping moving 189426 metro toronto moore park plaza su n mm fine fooos steaks round sirloin tbone red or blue brand 95 g lb maple leaf waxed bologna by the piece 39 c lb first grade regular butter 67 c lb macs gradea large eggs 63 c di abc detergent giant size reg 69c at m00re park plaza store spkiais on iau thursday november 13 to saturday november 15 only f see our various thr wstorl mouu x