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PAGE2THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, JANUARY 17,2001 Public board, high school teachers accept deal BY JENNIFER STONE Staff Writer High school teachers and the local public school board have voted to accept accept a one-yéar deal one union leader is describing as "the best we and the board could do" under current provincial legislation. legislation. The contract, which runs until Aug. 31,2001, was unanimously ratified by the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board Monday night. The union voted on the agreement Friday, and though it was accepted, the negotiating team has elected not to release the percentage percentage of teachers voting to accept the deal, says Dan Fewings, vice-president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Teachers' Federation. The'deal, which includes a 1.95 per 'We want to control our own destiny': Mayor WE from page 1 going to be able to take an umbrella approach approach to the GTA. We don't want to lose autonomy with planning. We don't want a GTA-wide planning authority. We want to control our own destiny.". That isn't to say Clarington is ready to opt out of the GTSB, adds the mayor. Transit, a big issue for Clarington, has ■ also been flagged as a key area of focus for the board. "With the amount of commuters in Clarington we have to get . the GO train out to Bowmanville as quickly as possible. The only way that's ; going to be done is to solidify funding ! at the provincial and federal level." In his speech, Dr. Chong told GTSB members, "Our citizens are unhappy. You can see it in their faces as they sit in their trucks, cars, buses or streetcars in the congestion that is slowly paralyzing paralyzing the movement of goods and people in the GTA." He suggested the GTSB must step up its lobbying effort at the provincial and federal levels. "Once we have developed a solid transit and transportation plan... we have to apply a full-court press and not let up until we get what the citizens of the GTA need and deserve." The GTSB chairman has been extended extended an invitation to visit Clarington to get a better understanding of the municipality, municipality, the mayor says. Priest, on tfial PRIEST from page 1 j ( . . ( j j i \ J. !.. b L ' •' 1: at the church rectory, where he said Fr. Herlihey lived in an adjoining apartment. apartment. He testified the pair shared the same tent and sleeping bag while bn a canoe trip with the church group the next summer in the Muskoka area. "Every time I slept with Mr. Herlihey Herlihey he would be naked. I would start off clothed but he would coax me to remove remove my clothes," the man testified. "He would pull me on top of him... We would just talk and we'd kiss à little bit," the man said, adding Fr. Herlihey would rub his back and buttocks. The man said Fr. Herlihey frequently frequently visited his mother and stayed overnight at the residence, many times sleeping in his bed with no clothes. On those occasions, as well, "he would coax me to take my clothes off... and then pull me on top of him... Our bodies bodies would be touching," the man testified. testified. Another time, he said, Fr. Herlihey caressed his body while the pair was naked in a sauna and told the teen "it's natural" to be sexually aroused. When he was 17, "I decided that was enough," He said Fr. Herlihey joined him in bed during another sleep- over at his home, but he told the priest he wasn't feeling well and went downstairs downstairs to spend the night on a couch. The complainant said he "didn't want to rock the boat" and kept the sex assaults secret. "I didn't want to end what I had...What I had was someone who was there for me. I felt very alone. I was new in the area... "I never mentioned it to anybody. I just kept it in as long as I could." A couple years later, he said told his mother about the incidents. About a decade later, in 1999, a relative filed a report with Durham Regional Police and the complainant, then living in western Canada, got a call from his father father informing him an investigation was being conducted by the police, he said. Defence lawyer William Markle suggested in cross-examination the man had to be persuaded to return to the region to give a statement to police. The lawyer also suggested he did not disclose the alleged assaults to his mother, as he claims, but rather he only described an incident in which Fr. Herlihey Herlihey "inadvertently touched you on the ' stomach" while they were sharing a bed, Mr. Markle told the man his mother will testify that she reported that incident incident to the bishop for the diocese, but she was not told anything more. "I don't agree," the man responded. "She may very well say that." He rejected the lawyer's assertion "nothing of a sexually inappropriate nature" ever occurred between himself and the priest, cent salary increase retroactive to September, September, and an additional 1.4 per cent increase effective April 1,2001, follows teaching time requirements set out in Bill 74, the Province's Education Accountability Accountability Act. Under that legislation, and the new contract, teachers must be in the classroom 6.5 periods out of eight per year, and spend another .17 of a period period working with students on a teacher advisor program. That's half a period more than teachers were previously required required to teach. The contract also deals with benefits, and the amount of supervision supervision time a teacher may be assigned. Mr. Fewings says teaching time is still an issue, but isn't something that, under the current legislation, can be solved by the board or the union. "Given Bill 74, (the new contract) is the best we and the board could do," says Mr. Fewings. The contract doesn't deal with the contentious issue of teacher involvement in extracurricular activities, nor could it have, says Mr. Fewings. "My sense is that this agreement won't solve this problem because it's the extra 0.5 (class teachers are required to teach) that has caused the problem," he notes, adding the union has said it's "an individual member's decision" as to whether they participate in constructional constructional activities, such as coaching sports teams. Education Minister Janet Ecker has said teacher workload is not up for discussion, and the board had no room to move on the matter, notes KPR's chairman. "The missing piece is the extracur ricular, which is beyond the board's ability to resolve" since trustees aren't allowed to change the workload situation, situation, says Clarington trustee Bob Wili- slier, chairman of the board. Clarification A story in the Friday, Jan. 12 edition edition of Clarington This Week identifying Bernice Petryshyn as the opponent to rezoning of a north Courtice autobody j shop and appellant to the Ontario Municipal Municipal Board should have stated she was not the original complainant to the j municipal bylaw department. Notice Of ANNUAL MEETING OF ALL ^MEMBERS QF THE BOWMANVILLE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AREA DATE: Tuesday, March 13,2001 TIME: 7:30 p.m. PLACE: Courtroom #1, Clarington Resource Centre 132 Church Street, Bowmanville The meeting's agenda will include, a vote to approve the budget for 2001 and the election of members to the board of management for the three-year term. 8B 3H BOWMANVII.I.E BUSINESS CENTRE Nomination forms are available, for nominating a member to the board, at Strike, Salmers & Furlong, Barristers, at 38 King Street West Bowmanville. *Mcmbcrs include nil property owners, and their commercial tenants who are located within the designated area. St. Stephen's Secondary School imfl Grade Eight Parents' Open House & Information Night (for September 2001 entry) Thursday January 25 th 7:00 p.m. in the Cafetorium St. Stephen's Secondary School 30 Middle Road, Bowmanville L1C 3K2 - • ■ ■:•■■■■ o5 <u IS C US c c C S 5 <x> o CO CO 3.S o Belinda Clarke bscihonind Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine acupuncture herbal medicine nutrition homeopathy lifestyle counselling Bowmanville Family Chiropractic Centre 234 King Street East Bowmanville (905) 623-8388 Please visit our website at www.sleepfaetorv.com Remember, we are the factory. Please visit our website at www.sleepfactory.com