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Whtby Free Press, Wednesday, Augut 28,1996, Page 7 Mr. Suobelen, currently Minister of Education in the province that is yours to discover, last week issued a few hints about the. directions he wishes to take education. Note that I said "directions» - the same kind in which Stephen Leacock'se jilted lover gailoped off.. Snobelen has the. same sense of purpose.,, commissioned a review of Bill 100, which is the law regulating labour negotiations between teuchers and their school boards. Well enough. Almost in the same breath he also released a study that purports to show that teachers' salaries i Ontario exceed those in other provinces by 24 Per cent. -And that Ontario spends $624 more per student in elementary and secondary schools than do other -provinces. Ini the midst of ail this, Mr. Snobelen asserts he would like to create a system that g*ve taxpayers value for their money, and serves students well. 1Aoeording to the Globe and Mail he would «ike to see a system of negotiations where we didn't have to have job actions.» Job actions being, of course, no action on the job. In otIher woiÃ"ds, a strik. By week's end, Mr. Snobelen had ridden off ini several directions. The media then proceeded to ride off in ail the remaining directions, creating as well rounded a policy' map as Mike Hamsi's Common Sense Revolution has yet produced. A year ago, Mr. Snobelen said that to change any organization you must first create a crisis. Then, in solving the. crisis, you can change the. furniture to suit yourself. Sort of 1ke starting a barroom brawl so you can cail in the. interior design crew afterward. For his crisis, Mfr. Snobelen says, first, students aren't achievmng what they should; second, that education costa more in Ontario than anywhere else in Canada; third, that teachers get paid more in Ontario than anywhere else; and four, we could solve problemns two and- three if the province didn't have to bargain with teachers. Translation: the province may force province-wide bargaining with teachers, or eliminate teachers' right to strike. That way, the governinent could cut the costs of education by more than a billion dollars. In trying to make sense of ail this, it would do well to keep in mind that last falI, Mr. Suobelen cut some $400,000 out of education, and promised to cut perhaps another billion. Thats stifi bis objective, and he plans to take that billion from the. bides of teachers. He dithered the past year away with little progresa. Hi. only hold on bis cabinet position now may be a promise to Harris that he will apply the Common Sens. Révolution to education. Yes, Mr. Harris, Sir I wiil save us a billion dollars. Thus, Mr. Suobelen has indicated his wilingness to declare war on teachers. The public may support that promise: that fat cat lazy teachers need to, be frimmed. Hie may do that. He may get bis- billion' dollars of flesh out of teachers. Nie may also get al his schoolboy frustrationsout of bis system. But bis willingness te declare war wiil get hlm nowhere uxless he la willing to go te war. In that war, everything è1.. will get lrampled: students, boards, teachers.,And if h. dithers away another year, dluttering up plans- for the next election, he may even tbreaten Harris' Commnon Sens. Revolution. He now bas only a few months te show results or be turfed. Anybody taking bots? So lin a way, Suobelen is right'- there is a crisis i education. Pity h. does not see that he is it. Crieating* a crisis John (Letfs Create a Crisis) Sniobelen has, mathey say, flung the gauntiet. Having done so, he may yet have to run it. * The. hstoe Lynde Houswus moved ftom Dundas and D'Hfllier Streeta teo, ullen GardenB on August 22.. * Tii. Environmental Assessment Board ha, given conditional approval totthe Decom medical waste transfer station proposed for Whltby. * Màny Whltby achools are getting new principal. ln September. *Whitby Seniors' activity Centre'i. celebratingita lOth anmiversiaxy. 35 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, August 24, 1961 edition of the WIIETBY WEEKLYNEWS * Wiiitby's new Official Plan lias been approved after months of discussion. *Polioe fired shots at a stolen c»Wr i.l downtown Whltby at maidight on August 21 but the. two culprits eucaped. *There will b. a. plebiscite on flouridation 0f Whitby's water "ystem at 'the December municipal elections. * Witby GSiren Club wli hold its fa flower show and tea at the arena onAugust 31. Admission is 50 cents. WhitI~7 Archives photo " The wmnd blew up such élouds of dust lni Brooklini that one could not 819 acrous thie main street. " George Cormackis shipping large amounts of lumiber and timber'from Port Whitbyto the. Unlted States and Belfast, Ireland. " A lire at the. buckle factory was quickly extigulshed, with 11W.l damage don. " The Chronicle complains that a nunîber of Wty residents are letting tlieir osrun loose in the. streets at night. I ;l i 11--ýA -ý I ~DII; Ils. M~hM! PUPILS 0IF ASHBURN PUBLIC SCU004, OCTOBER 109 18 The. Asiiburzi Public School, known as Sciiool Section No. 7, Whitby Township, was built of gnidte fieldetone about 1861 and closed in 1967 wiien it was oenvertedito a communlty centre.-Tht. was a one-room sciiool wiiere Grades 1 to 8 were taugiit by a single teaciier, N.W. Cragg (back row at far rigiit). 10 YEARS AGO from tiie Wednesday, August 27,1986 edition of the fro ti. 100 YERS AGO -rmtéFriday, Auguat 28,1896 édition of the WHITY CR0NCJJ, liII With Our Fr...,,,et UP by Bill Swan