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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday May 31, 2000 T h e O akville B eaver Ian Oliver P ublisher Neil Oliver Associate P ublisher Norman Alexander E d ito r Kelly Montague, A d vertising D irector Steve Crozier C ircu la tio n D irector Teri Casas Office M anager M ark Dills Production M anager RizieroVertolli D irector o f Photography Metroland Printing. Pubfcfmg & Dewxittng Ud.. includes: Aiax/Wckenng News AtJJertser. Afcton Heratt'C ouwr, Banle AcVance, Banyls Bay The Week. Belton Enterprise. Brampton Guardan. Birtngton Post. Birtngton Snapping News. Oty Parent. CoUngwoocWV&saga Connection. East Yafc Mrror, Em Adwocata'C oirtry Routes, B obccke Guardan. Ramtxroucyi Poa. Georgetown ndependent/Acton Free Press. K ro ne Busness Times. Kingston The Week. Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomtet & Sun, Mictand/Penetanguishine Mirror. M ilton Canadian Champion, M ilton Shopping News. Msassauga Busness Tmes. Mssesauga News. Napanee Gude, Newmaiket/Airora Era-Banner. 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CNA 7* t Canadian Community Now spapers H n ^ I e B e II FuNd *O T V & J T tih e m C o w a rd ' ~ Z o h e w a rd s 467 Speers Rd,, Oakville O n t L6K3S4 (905) 8 4 6 -3 8 2 4 Fax; 3 3 7 -5 5 6 7 Classified Advertising; 8 4 5 -2 8 0 9 Circulation: 8 4 5 -9 7 4 2 O a k v ille T V A M P T in u TV AUCTION United Way ot Oakville l^TONESS E X C E LLE N C E S K t Suburban N ew spapers of Am erica BRON THE : i;t U T T E R F L V ON T A R I O fin d | oakville galleries j Editorials Lure of education There was a time in Ontario when one of the most-feared individuals by school-aged children in any town or city was the truant officer. He was the guy that school boards sent out to find children who decided to `skip' classes. In earlier times, the miant officer and his job was taken not very senously. Nowadays however, it seems that attending the case in other areas o f the school, or rather not attending school, partialm vin C e and one school larly at the high school level, isn t much of a big board has perm itted a deal. When the student brings home his or her report, the number of late days or absences is school with particularly reported-end of story. Granted, public school truancy isn't as big a high absentee rates, to seek concern, particularly given the system o f som e unique solutions. checks that raises red flags if a student is absent w ithout previous notification by a parent or guardian. But that's Oakville. The same situation is not the case in other areas of the province and one school board has permitted a school with particularly high absentee rates, to seek some unique solutions. In Brantford, school board officials have a problem with truancy. In short, it's hard to even get children to school, let alone learn. But the bright lights in the Bell City came up with a solution. King George School has 400 students from kindergarten to grade 8 and it have instituted an incentive program for students to show up for class. They've used a Breakfast Basketball Program and a Late Arrival Program that sees partic ipating students receive prizes such as pizzas and video rentals for showing up to class on time. The prizes have been donated by local businesses and the truancy rate at the school is now almost nil. Knowing the way youngsters play the system, we wonder what these kids will hold out for once they get to high school? How about a VCR? Some might call the idea common sense, we call it bizarre. 1 1 1 1 1 6 1 w G w m m I M I f f ly l \m 1M J1 1 ANP Your father is a life -L o ng 1 Letters to the Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, OnL L6K 3S4 ( Accountability Act another attack on teachers The introduction o f Bill 74, the Education Accountability Act, is a reprehensible action that is a d ire c t a tta c k on fu n d a m e n ta l rights and long-held values. Bill 74 effectively takes away the right o f teachers to agree to the terms o f their work with their employers. The established tradi tion of free, collective bargaining in O ntario has been elim inated. W o rk lo ad an d w o rk d a y s fo r teachers are being extended with out any opportunity to negotiate w ith their em ployers about the length o f those assignm ents, or about compensation for the addi tional workload. T h e p ro v is io n s o f the B ill a u th o riz e th e a s s ig n m e n t o f teachers to work at any time dur ing 24 hours in a day, or on any day of the week during the school year. The Bill also authorizes that the teachers' assignments are not limited to schools -- they can, in fact, be assigned to work in other c itie s o r p ro v in c e s w ith o u t appeal. In effect, O n tario's teachers w ill h a v e fe w e r rig h ts ab o u t determining their working condi tions than prisoners in jail. This Bill continues the central ization of power in the hands of one person at Q ueen's Park -- the M in iste r o f E d u c a tio n . N o tw ith stan d in g the fact th at school trustees are democratically elected to represent their commu nities, the Bill w ould give the M in ister the ab so lu te rig h t to overrule the school board deci sions she does not like. In fact, the M in is te r w o u ld have the authority to unilaterally dismiss democratically elected represen tatives of the people. Bill 74 also gives the Minister the power to disregard the rela tionship between em ployer and em p lo y e e and d ism iss any em ployee o f the school board without any consultation or right of appeal. The basic principles of democ racy that Ontarians expect to be upheld can only be protected by the withdrawal of this Bill. T he O n ta rio T e a c h e rs ' F ederation represents 144,000 full-tim e, part-tim e, and occa sional teachers in the public, sep arate and francophone schools in Ontario. B arbara S argent President, Ontario Teachers' Federation Letter of the Week Movie theatre behaviour scary At 29 years, am I so old? Have times changed so much? O r has youth always been despicable? Speaking with friends recently, I declared that I had yet to experience what each of them claimed to be commonplace: Moviehouse mayhem. I experienced it tonight. I was appalled, disgusted, fearful and, ultimately, saddened. My 10-year-old step-son is studying ancient Rome in school. Coincidentally, Hollywood just released a film set in ancient Rome: Gladiators. Despite the violent subject matter and AA rating, I decided to take my step-son to see his history lessons come to life. Although the theatre was full of noisy young teens who wouldn't sit still or stop talking, we enjoyed the film. My step-son whispered to me several times about Roman sym bols and customs as they appeared on screen before us. Unfortunately, the projection room ran into technical diffi culties. The film stopped, the screen blanked, and the cur tains drew closed I would expect a packed house to begin mumbling, to be anxious for the film to restart. I would not expect the audience to act no better than the raucous crowds of the coliseum cm screen. Even after the movie had come to its third breakdow n, I would expect people either to sit patiently until the problem became resolved, or leave qui etly, respectful of the other patrons, to make their com plaints in the lobby. I would not expect, or even believe, had I not been there to witness it, that members of the audi ence would stand up and shout obscenities: "Open the f***ing curtains!" `Turn on the f***ing sound!" It's ironic that, as the characters in the movie discussed the mechan ics of mob mentality, we found ourselves in the middle of one. We left. The film was no more than two-thirds over, but we left. After feeling the spray from two drinks thrown over our heads from one row of shouting young people to another, we left. For fear that it was no longer safe to remain, we left. V Am I dreaming when I remember a time when audi ences respected the theatre and each other? W hen one could comfortably enjoy a big screen event? When one did not have to fear being hit by flying soda pop? No wonder video rentals are so popular, especially among us old folk. N eil M acNaughton Dictatorial legislation an affront to democracy Historically, local control and accountability have been the cornerstones of Ontario's pufrlicly-funded education system. A school board is responsible for governing the local school system on behalf of the community it serves, in the best interests o f all students. Now, more then ever, boards are held accountable by their com m unity for the way they interpret and implement provincially-driven policies. Local control is best exercised by the public election o f trustees, who are knowledgeable about community priorities and local condi tions. Trustees also have a duty and responsibil ity to hold the government accountable for the am ount o f fu n d in g the board re c e iv e s. U ltim ately, in d iv id u al tru ste e s sh o u ld be accountable for their decisions at the polls, not to the Premier's office. The m ost draconian am endm ents to the Education Act recently proposed by the provin cial government involve extra-curricular activi ties and compliance mechanisms. Clearly, the government has again targeted two groups in this legislation -- teachers and trustees. One has to ask, why us, why now? No serious improvement in education is pos sible without the enthusiastic cooperation of every teacher. These are the very people to whom we have entrusted society's most impor tant job: educating our children. They are a resource beyond value. By m andating that teachers be forced to supervise extra-curricular activities which are now provided voluntarily, the government has created an environment that will further demor alize educators, not improve the quality of edu cation. The government's plan for the assign ment of co-instructional duties is ironically no different than the informal practice which exist ed in schools prior to Bill 160. It is unfortunate that the atmosphere in a few school systems has descended to such a level that what was once voluntary is now being legislated provincially. Any good teacher knows that you don't give a class detention because of the actions of one or two students. The attack by the provincial government on the decision-making power of locally elected representatives is also totally unwarranted. The O ntario Public School Boards' Association wishes to emphasize that public boards have always been subject to and respected the laws of the land. Boards have consistently reached collective agreements that are fair, legal and comply with the government's ever-changing rules. The proposed amendments would put in place an enforcement mechanism to allow the provincial government to intervene in cases where boards fail to comply or are perceived to be in non-compliance with various elements of its agenda. Once the investigative powers are triggered, the rights of natural justice are sus pended. The Minister, sitting in Toronto, will have the power to fire any board employee who is perceived to be in non-compliance with the government agenda. The M inister will also have absolute pow er to discipline boards, including fines for individual trustees and the removal of their right to stand for re-election. Local voters will lose the right to elect peo ple who best represent their vision of public education in their community. The Ontario Public School Boards' Association believes the government has acted in a punitive and arbitrary manner, in order to discourage and ultimately silence local government. Public school boards want to get on with the work of implementing the new curriculum and providing quality education for all of our stu dents. Our task is to provide a learning environ ment that promotes responsibility, respect, civil ity, and academic excellence. T he O ntario P ublic S chool B o a rd s' A ssociation called upon the M in ister o f Education and the provincial government to stop this unending interference in local democ racy. It is not too late to tone down the rhetoric, to remove obviously offensive amendments to the Education Act, to recognize that respect is a two-way street, and to work to strengthen, not diminish, our children's future. To quote one of our long-standing trustees: "The dictatorial nature of this legislation is dis heartening, especially if you cherish democra cy." Liz Sandals President Ontario Public School Boards 'Association Take time to smell the roses The gerbil generation lives on a treadmill, running like mad but getting nowhere. The problem is the greed gap, the distance between what we need and what we want. The latter part of the last century saw a rapid widening of the gap. Both parents were forced into the workplace, daycare mushroomed, and the personal debt load skyrocketed. Unable to put off satisfying desires until we could afford them, we picked up the pace, worked loads of over-time, and took second jobs. Recent studies show there has been no increase in dispos able income over the last 20 years which is no surprise if you consider that every red cent goes to staying in the black. Monstrous mortgages on bigger houses soak up our excess funds. Marriages break-down, kids rebel and people do horrendous things to other people. Young people congregate in raves and take ecstacy in hopes of making sense of what appears to be a meaningless existence of getting more of things that don't seem to matter. We need to stop wanting the possessions we don't have and learn to appreciate those we have, like our precious children, our loving spouse, and the very life we've been given to live. Jim Newton Pud ( MAX 15 AT SUCH A WONDERFUL ASE-. by Steve Nease 3-YfeAR OLDS ARE so IN -S E IF C O N ^ IO U S . HAPPY, C A R EFR EEA N D TRUE to o -BUT I STILL SAY HE ^ " ` H AVEFANTSON HE COMES OUT T D W A V E B v E -P (E ^ --- iH l