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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-03-29, Page 2Page 2,—I,uckuow Sentinel, Wednesday, Maw. 29, 1978 The teachers and the board No matter who is right or wrong in the present school board teacher impasse one thing is clear. The in- nocent third party - the students - are suffering. On the surface, the difference ap- pears to be clear. The teachers want two provisions in last year's contract: to remain. They want. to determine class sizes and work loads and secondly they want a sick leave gratuity - hard cash in place of sick leave not used up - and they want to be able to cash in any accumulated sick leave on resigning or retiring after age 42.. The board as the elected representatives of Huron taxpayers, considers the size of classes - in other words the quality of and degree of education which Huron pupils receive, to be its responsibility. It doesn't want to eliminate sick leave credit but believes a teacher should be at least 50 and have given 12 years of service to receive the payment. OUT FRONT ISSUES These are the out in front issues. Underneath however, are a number of factors neither side talks about but which certainly loom large in the thinking of each side. The root of the matter is declining enrollment. Teachers fear they may be redundant as school populations decline. They want to protect them- selves against this possibility by having the right to determine the number of students they are in contact with in a day - in other words class size. As the number -of students becomes less, the number of classes increases but the number of teachers required remains the same. Of course, the conscientious teacher is concerned for the kids and lowered standards which might flow from larger classes, but deep down they are also concerned about job security. The board is concerned that as school population dwindles it may have to keep teachers on to service ever smaller classes. No doubt it agrees, a pupil teacher ratio of perhaps 1-10 would be great for the students, but it properly asks "Can we afford it?", WHO DECIDES? Who is to decide the degree to which a. job is to be carried out? Does the employee accept a position and then have the right to decide how .and the extent to which he or she will fill it. Or has management - the employer - a responsibility to define the basis on which the job will be carried out? The teachers understandably are upset because they feel they are losing something , they already have. Historically the labor movement has had to fight long and hard to prevent action it regards as the thin edge of a wedge born of depression or as, in this case, fewer pupils, stripping from it hard won gains. Probably there are many among the teachers who would rather be teaching but who are stan- ding on that principle. The teachers are quite right in thinking that the board is trying to take away something that previously had ,been given then. But it was given in the good old days when boards thought or were encouraged to think that there was no limit to the money they could spend. It was a time when everyone connected with' education - from the ministry down - had only to ask for in order to receive. Boards were easy - easier than business would have been - and they are paying the price. All this leads to what, for this newspaper and for many people in Huron County, is the crux of the matter and this is that teachers in Huronin recent years have been treated most fairly most generously, True the teachers information pamphlet states "Th.e. dispute has nothing to do with what- we are paid." No it doesn't, because after all our secondary school teachers who average about $23,000 are paid, as Exeter-rTimes Advocate editor Bill Batten points out, twice at least what .the average Huron County taxpayer makes. A HARD JOB We are the first to grant that teaching is a hard, demanding job. For the conscientious teacher, there is a lot of extra out of class work that goes unrewarded and unnoticed but so there is for the concerned citizen, be he merchant or mechanic, who assumes responsibility in organizations in his community. In the case of the teachers perhaps, the unrecognized ' con- tributions are balanced by the Christmas, the Easter and the summer holidays that are peculiar to the profession. Our teachers, we submit, make enough and are well enough treated by their employers, the taxpayers, that they can afford to give in on even such an important principle as class size and dollar -and centsissue of sick leave. It's not that .they are going to lose anything if they really are sick. ASALARYCUT? If the disruption in the Huron educational program is really about class size and quality of .education, would the teachers agree to salary cuts that would recognize the lessened work load that smaller classes would result in? Business people and farmers and factory workers have accepted reductions 'in income -before now to maintain their jobs. If they would., the cynicism of a lot cf Huron "people concerning the validity of teacher demands which un- fortunately have gained .ground in recent years, would fast disappear. This strike's a whole lot bigger than Huron County. Boards across Ontario and OSSTF people from across the province havea lot at stake in what happens in Huron. The province is overstocked with teachers and understocked with pupils. Teachers are seeking to hold onto job security while boards want to make sure they have room to manouever, even when that means fewer jobs when cost cutting is necessary. ARBITRATOR We'd like to see the arbitrator the teachers have called for. We don't like the impression we're getting that the board is content to let the teachers.and our kids, stew the province steps in. But on the i- sues, boththose up front and those tha; are hidden; we have to say we support the board. That being said, let's see the two parties stay at the table and keep talking until the teachers, are backfin the classroom. Events'this`week indicate that talks have resumed and at press time, the teachers are continuing to consider a further board proposal. That is good. Huron teachers in the main are a dedicated lot and like those serving on the board are seriously concerned ` about the students and what is best for them. (The Huron Expositor) Teachers out...... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 sides huddled in separate corners in caucus meetings. The end result was a total impasse with the situation seemingly worse than it had ever been. All that remained was for the teachers to decide whether or not they would be in front of classes Tuesday morning. Both negoti<ating teams were disappointed and disillusioned after the Good Friday , meeting. Board spokesmen said they were dumbfounded by the teacher proposals claiming they were harsher than the original demands that were the centre of the strike. Cayley Hill, in anoutburst following ' the 45 minute marathon session, said he had never encountered such militancy from teachers and said the board of education "will not be blackmailed by the teachers and will not have the children of Huron County put up for ransom as far as their education goes". .Hill said the teachers came into the meeting with a proposal that amounted to demands that must be in the contract and weren't negotiable. He said the teachers made it\ "abun- dantly clear" that the working conditions they proposed "must be in the contract". He said the teachers gave no indication they would back off and that the apparent refusal to budge brought the marathon sesgion to an early end. He added that no other proposals were even discussed. Hill's disappointment was increased by teacher salary requests for the 1978-79 school year that the boars] of education simply couldn't pay. He said the first proposal for salaries for the next contract year amounted to a 13.5 percent increase. He added that the parties didn't` discuss salaries for the coming year 'and that he didn't know how adamant, the teachers were about the proposal. Shirley Weary said the fiasco on Good Friday clearly showed that as the con- troversy wore on both sides became more firmly en- trenched. She said the teacher have become "in- creasingly militant" and have as much as said to her "we've gone this far don't even dare to ask us to go back for that (the latest board *offer) after what we've given up". She said last Friday's session left her with the feeling that things had never been worse. She said it was as though "someone had driven a bulldozer between us". Weary said she planned to go to the Education Relations Commission and request that a mediator be appointed to assist the contract talks. She said she felt there was no way the. two parties were going to come to any agreement and it would take a third party to settle the matter. Board cancels buses The Huron County Board of Education announced Tuesday morning that in view of the secondary school teachers failure to report to school Tuesday morning the board waswithdrawing bus service to its five secondary schools. In a release Tuesday the board said in view of Tuesday morning's development' whereby 100 percent of the secondary school teachers of Huron decided not to report to school the buses would not be operating until further notice. The board said when acknowledgement is received from the teachers of their interest in the educational process of this county bus service will be resumed. In the meantime the schools will remain open for any student who can derive benefit 9from attendance. Board looking for volunteers to tutor • The Huron County 13oard of Education is in the market for tutors for Grade 12 and 13 secondary school students. The board announced Tuesday morning that it is considering the use of adult volunteers in the secondary schools who feel capable of acting as tutors or discussion leaders at the Grade 12 and 13 level. The board has asked that anyone interested in providing the service for the students contact the school principal ' in their area or contact the board . office. When the board has deter- mined how many volunteers it has to work with it plans on making a decision on how to implement the program. •••••••••• ••••••%%\%••••••••••\•••••••• •%•••• The Lucknow Sentinel LUCKNOW, ONTARIO "The Sepoy Town" On the Huron -Bruce Boundary Established 1873 - Published Wednesday Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. A Robt. G. Shrier - president and publisher Sharon J. Dietz - editor Anthony N. Johnstone -. general manager Subscription rate, $10 per year in advance Senior Citizens rate, $8.00 per year in advance U.S.A. and Foreign, $14 per year in advance Business ,and Editorial Office Telephone 528-2822 Mailing Address P.O. Box 400, Lucknow NOG 2Hb Second class mail registration number - 0847 .•...♦>. .%%. ...... ................♦ %%,• ...