WhItby Free Proe, Wednosdy, NMarch 6. 1996 ,Page 7 Sehool councils i Sometimes, maybe even by now, education minister John Snobelen will have unveiedmore plans for the future of education i Ontario. Top billing for the changes has gone to Snobelen's "tool kit": the handy-dandy tools that sehool boards and sehool managers are te be given te trim education cos. This is shorthand for the dismantling of collective agreements. That may not be fair, but may be legal. But while teachers are getting it in the left ear, other changes may be hidden in the fine print - loat in the statie 50 te speak. Included among "ther issues" may be some declaration of the government's intent on school councils. Sehool councils, or parent councils, have been on the education-circuit buzz-word generator recently. Aberta has mnvoked some version thereof. New Brunswick has replaced ail school boards with parent coundils. Ini Ontario, the concept of parent councils bas been kicked about by the past two governments. That we will have such councils now seems a given. The idea bebind parent councils appears simple. Parents whose children attend -a school elect a half dozen of tbefr members te serve as a council and advise school manageme nt. The current Ontario version also adds a teacher rep, someone from, non-teacbing staff~, maybe two coenmmnity members representing business or commu.nity organizations, and in senior grades a student or two. Ibeir job: te advise the board and school management in a variety of are, including student behaviour code, curriculum goals--and priorities, selection of principals, budget priorities and a host of others. This may sound like a PTA on steroida. Like drug- enhanced performance, it has dangers. The number one danger lurks in the emasculation of school boards. (Remember what New Brunswick did? Abolished school boards. But in New Brunswick school boards didn't have any responsibiity over tax inatters.) Ontario plans a reduction in school boards. Don't expect, however, that parent councils wiil pick up powers school boards lose. By g*vin local school councils more abiity to advise, and school boards less abiity te make meaningful decisions, where does the power go? Extra powers and strength will revert te the-Ministry of Eduction. Sceptics dlaim that the ministry's main job lies i malcing the minister look good. If that is'so, is this the group we want malcing more and more decisions about your child's education? Just a thought. The other danger lurks in the very construction o! our subdivisions. Our pioneer anoestors built communities and these communities i turn built schools. From this emerged the concept o! sehool trustees. Trustees of individual achools, or even tewnships, ended more than 30 years ago. Ini a way, parent councils harken back te those days. But teday's subdivisions resemble i no way the communities o! pioneers. Today~s subdivisions are designed te wail us off firom each other. Ini spite o! this, schools do create a sense of community. This is usually due te the bard work o! principale, teachers and a smal core of parents. Ideally, parent councils should enhanoe this sense of comunity, te give it shape, fibre, te strengthen it. But each school area barbours special interest groups. A school council could easily become a target for takeover by ny n fthm hreta apes-an oe tw II1-1 Li ri PARADE DURJNG FIRST WORLD WAR ON DUNDAS sTREET, MAROR.3,1916, Theso soldiers, dressed in hoavy greatcoats, are marching west on Dundas Street at Perry Street, heading toward a flag-raising oeremony at the Whitby Armories (now the site of the Toronto Dominion Bank bosido the Cenotaph). The armories building was demolished in 1970. WhItby Archive photo 10 YEARS AGO from the Wednesday, March 5, 1986 edition of the W9MBY FREE PRESS 0 Durham Region Council bas approvod $1,125,O00 to widen Tbickson Road from Consumers Drive to, Dundas Street as ts share of the $5.5 million project. 0 Whitby Public Sehool Concert Band received a top award at the Toronto Klwanis Music Festival. 0 Durham Region Block Parents are hosting a provincial conference In 1988.. a Whitby sports organizations bought a Mul-page advertisement in the Free Press, urging residents te, support the expansion offIroquois Park. 35 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, March 2, 1961 edition of the WHITY WEEKLY NEWS 0 A new municipal works depot le being constructed on Victoria Street east of the CNR tracks, using roof trusses from the old town hall. a Earle J. Bryant o! Whitby Public Utilities Commission, was elected a director o! the Ontario Municipal Electric Association. 0 Thirty-five mon in Whitby have found employment under the Winter Works Program. a A benefit gaine is planned for Tommy Chasoeewski, a Junior "B" hockey player who lost an oye in a local hockey game. 100 YEARS AGO from the Friday, March 6, 1896 edition o! the WWITY CHONIL 9 At least six Young residonts offlrooklin wiil move te Mlanitoba durinig the next three weeks. a Hon. John Dryden of Broollin, Ontarios Minister of Agriculture, ia est.ablishing a pioneer farm in the Wabigoon country, Rainy River district. a The Ontario County Council will discuss the building of a poor hou-se at its next session. 0 For the second time in two weeks the Ashburn football team tied the, Brooklin teain 1-1. 1-I.-