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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-11-09, Page 37PAGE' 16A-,GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 , 1978 FOR SCHOOL BOARD.. from page 15 efforts it has made. 3. How do you view the present financial position of the board and do you think everything possible is being done to prepare for financial problems being forecast by declining enrolment, cutbacks in provincial and federal aid increased salary and operating costs. Do you feel an adequate spending priority has been established by the board for the next five to ten years? The Huron County Board of Education is aware of the forecasted enrolments in as far as they can be accurately forecast. Short of closing schools in the face of violent opposition by parents and cutting programs there are few options from which to choose. One of our committees is studying what if anything can be done to alleviate the problems of declining enrolment. ; 4. Would you support a board decision to close a ,sehool. In your con- stituency if it clearly showed that it would enable the county system to continue to operate satisfactorily or would, you oppose it just because the school was in your 11 area? . Not, relevant to. the Goderich trustees. 5. Do yOu feel the board acted properly banning ; The Diviners from the list of approved textbookslor high school English classes? Would you support a move in the future to have other books banned from classroom use? I regret the Board's decision to ban The Diviners. I would not - support the banning of any book considered by our teachers to be worthy of study. I will continue to oppose the imposition of. the will of. one group on !* the freedom of ' another. Our students do now have the freedom (except for The Diviners) to reject the study of any book they wish and to choose an alternative. In my opinion this is the way it should'remain. 6. Do you feel board of education trustees have a closelenough rapport' w ith taxpayers or do you feel the board has, over the past few years, allowed itself to get out of touch' with the community it serves? ' If the Huron County Board of Education is indeed out of touch with the taxpayers, which I doubt, it is equally the fault of the taxpayers. The Board at all times welcomes visitors and delegations to its meetings. After each meeting there is now a 15 - minute question period (following the example of the Goderich Town Council). Although every alternate meeting is held in the evening there are seldom either visitors or delegations pretent. I have been one of your trustees on the Huron County Board for about ten years and, except for the period of the strike thisspring; have not received ten phone calls having to do with our for LIFE INSURANCE Terry Crowley iterproseirtirts London roar, aikoLife MVOS schools in all that time. I am your representative. If you have any com- plaints or suggestions please telephone me. 7.. Do you feel the board does too much or too little business behind closed doors or do you feel everything is being done to make everyone aware of the business handled by the board? The Education Act lists the business which is to be conducted in camera: - personnel matters, board liability, reports on instructional efficiency of the schools, purehase or sale of property, programs of salary negotiations, suspensions and indigent pupils. These are the topics which are discussed in private by the Huron County Board. All ather business is conducted in the public. 8. Do you envision any major changes In the education system in Huron County in the next ten years and if so what are they? My forecast is not very cheerful. As inflation and salaries continue to in- crease and enrolments decline I can see only a decline in the quality and variety of what your Board can offer its students during the years ahead. The large in- creases -in taxation which would compensate for 'those factais sim par cannot be borne. If we are forced to eliminate or offer only in certain schools, courses. with, small enrolments which would be, generally speaking, those chosen by students headed for university, then the quality of our educational system will suffer. This is already the case at the G.D.C.I,. where senior Latin call only be studied by, correspondence courses. In the face of declining enrolments few young teachers with fresh ideas can be brought into our schools. There is little opportunity*, to teachers for advancement • or for different experiences under other Boards. All these factors will have a depressing effect on education across the country. 9. Rave you any ideas or recommendations to make to the board on how it can cut costs or do you intend to rely on the board's senior ad- ministrators to come up with those Ideas? There are very few areas in which there are any opportunities to cut costs. The education funds are spent as follows: Salaries and benefits, 75 percent; debenture payments, 5 percent; transportation, 7 percent; tuition payments to other boards, 2 percent; plant operation and main- tenance, 4 percent; supplies and services, 5 percent; equipment, 1 percent; building projects 1 percent. The last three, 11 percent, are the only areas in which our budget committee can make any savings and those are minimal as the schools have to be heated and supplies have to be bought. This means that playground equip- ment, T.V. sets or any such "frills" will have to be acquired by com- munity effort as hap- pened this summer at Huron Centennial School or by students selling chocolate bars as they have been ,recently in Goderich for Victoria School and St. Mary's. • It; may.,11e.,pf interest, to —the local taxpayer to know that, in Huron, we are currently receiving 68 percent of our education dollar from the Province of Ontario, 28 percent from municipal taxes and 4 percent from tuition fees andrentals. We would be receiving more money in grants but only if .we raise the local tax rate. 10. Do you feel the board of education does' an effective job running the education system in Huron County or do you feel in a great many areas it is merely a rubber stamp for ad- ministration? I have never felt that our Board "rubber stamps" administrative decisions and I am sure the administration would agree that it does not get automatic agreement to its suggestions. It is difficult to judge the performance of a Board of Education but as long as our students are being welcomed at Universities for the soundness of their marks and their ability to keep up their courses there and out of 157 technical graduates of the last three years in the Central Huron Sec-ondary School all but 31 are employed in related fields and only one is unemployed, then somebody somewhere in the system must be doing something right. • • Shirley Haziitt 1. Are you prepared to make the decision to close a 'school to permit the board of ed cad n to operate within he on - fines of its p ent financial position or do you feetwholesalecuts-in a variety of areas such as staff and programs can be cut across the board to keep all schools presently operating open? Yes, I am prepared to make a decision on school closings after I have found out enrolments, busing distances, teachers' willingness to teach multiple grades, parental expectations of school programs' and cost savings. Each situation must be studied on an individual base. As for programs, a subject might be in demand in one high school but only attracting a:few students, in another school. It would be irresponsible to crit the program across the board, but justified to cut it in the one school. 2. Do you feel" that the board is doing everything it can to improve Its relationship with teachers and other staff or do you feel that the present relationship is adequate? I feel the board tries to think of ways to improve relationships with our staff. eg. The board and elementary teachers have set up a liaison committee, also some board members have tried to attend Professional Develop- ment Days, and school activities. The board initiated one evening meeting per month so that teachers and the public would have an apportunity to attend meetings. I personally feel there are op- portunities for good relationships, if only both teachers and trustees took full advantage off them. 3, How do you view the present financial position of the board and do you think everything possible is being done to prepare for financial problems being forecast by declining enrolment, cutbacks in provincial and federal aid increased salary and operating costs. Do you feel an adequate spending priority has been established by the board for the next five to tem years? ,,,..31ere are „sqmany into questions rolled one that 1 really don't know where to begin. The Huron County board has endeavoured to provide good value for our tax dollar. We must stop and think about the well maintained buildings; our over 800 employees, and the choice of programs offered in our schools. I'm not saying we don't have problems, rather that our ,problems are few in comparison to the things we should be thankful for.. In the next few years it is going to be difficult to maintain the system at itsr present level. , What do we as parents, students and teachers expect of the system? If we expect Utopia then we can ex- pect to foot the bill. CANADA'S ONLY DISCOUNT TOY CHAIN WITH MORE THAN 50 LOCATIONS TOY LIQUIDATORS OF NAME BRAND TOYS • MATTEL • PARKER •COLECO • ROMPER ROOM SAVE TO 70% FOUR EXCITING TANK BATTLE GAMES • Combat • Night Battle • Robot Bettie • C aMOullaqe Combat Telstar Ranger Exciting new games to play right on your TV screen! 1978-9 "CONSUMERS" CATALOGUE PRICE $64.95 TOYERAMA PRICE $3995 _ SAVE '25.00 TELSTAR RANGER 1977-8 "CONSUMERS" CAT. PRICE 59.95 Coleco Teistar Ranger. Features tennishockey; handball and squash plus two exalting target games! Target games feature moving targets. On- screen digital scoring, variable paddle: speed control, three distinct audio •beep' sounds, 2 player remote control. (Operates on 6 'C' batteries, not incl.) TOYERAMA PRICE WELCOME BACK "KOTTER" 99 DOLL§ 1977 CATALOGUE PRICE 95 99 ALL CHARACTERS GANZ' KNICKERBOCKER HOLLY HOBBY "PURSE & SCARF" VP 6249 AMY OR BETSEY CLARK "SESAME STREET" ERNIE RAG DOLLS MINIATURES 5/$1 GANZ' KNICKERBOCKER ORIGINAL BETSEY CLARK DOLL $299 "MATTEL", AS SEEN ON T.V. KNITTING $9 99 MACHINE • KNIT, AFGHANS, PILLOWS, PURSES, WITH GRANNY CIRCLES MFG. LIST '19.99 "HOLLYHOBBIES" BROTHER "ROBBIE" $1 RAGDOLLS .49 BY "GANZ" REG. '2.99 OPEN DAILY TILL 6 P.M. THURS. FRI TILL $ P.M. NEXT TO ZEHRS GODERICH SHOPPING CENTRE ' No. a Way. ACROSSLMOM SHEAFFEVEN GODERICH FIUDSONS DEPT. STORE LONDON HIGHOURY & NEXT TO IINIFALOAR FAMILY FAIN "'"‘""N LAY AWAY NOW FOR XMAS 4. Would you support a board decision to close a school in your con- stituenCy if It clearly showed that it would enable the county system to continue to operate satisfactorily or would you oppose it just because the school was in your area? Please read my an- swers to question one. 5. Do you feel the board acted properly banning The Diviners from the list of approved textbooks for high school English classes? Would you support a move in the future to have other books banned from classroom use? It is not my place to sit in judgement of my fellow board members. I vote ' as- I feel' in a responsible way even, though at .times it may not please everyone. I am sure everyone knows that I voted against banning The Diviners. As far as future books are con- cerned, I can't decide on the unknown. 6. Do you feel board of education trustees have a .elese.enough rapport with taxpayers or do you feel the board has, over the past few years, allowed itself to get out of touch with the community it serves? I do feel there is ample •opportunity for ratepayers to get in- board initiated an evening meeting per month and also a question period for ratepayers at each meeting. People are busy and unfortunately only burningissues bring • them to a meeting. The board also invited municipal represen- tatives to our budget meeting. I have found that my newsletters have been well received and they have helped ratepayers to feel free to call me not only with concerns but also with constructive ideas. I appreciate these calls very muth. 7. Do you feel the board does too much or too little business behind closed doors or do you feel everything Is being done to make everyone aware of the business handled by the board? In camera sessions are always controversial. A public board often finds itself in a difficult position. We negotiate four contracts that must be kept confidential until settled; we let tenders and do not want newspapers reporting what we expect to pay before the tender is called, and we have personnel problems from time to time that if reported in headlines Turn to page 17 • ELECT BRIAN KNIGHTS FOR • COUNCIL ELECT LAWRENCE COX GODERICH TOWNSHIP COUNCIL NOVEMBER 13 SQUARE 0 0. 0 ,voderich Ar u) 441111, MOST STORES WILL CLOSE From 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon REMEMBRANCE DAY Saturday, November 11 To &Bow their staff on opportunity to attend Remembrance Day services MOST STORES OPEN Until 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon to Discover, Explore, Enjoy... tit° K *WEDDING BOUQUETS *FUNERAL DESIGNS *GREEN PLANTS *HANGING PLANTS AND POTS •FULL LINE OF FRESH, SILK AND DRIED FLOWERS • "FLORAL DECORATIONS FOR ALL OCCASIONS" A DIVISION OF SMITH'S FARM & GARDEN CENTRE 82 South St., Goderich PHONE 524-8761 EVENINGS 524-7243 New anada Savings Bonds Safetwinstantsash and a good rehire New Canada Savings Bonds are a safe, secure investment. 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