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The Citizen, 1989-04-12, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12. 19R9. Opinion a Giving lessons in democracy? One of the hardest lessons to teach in Huron County High Schools for the rest of this year will be to convince students that democracy works after last week’s cavalier treatment of the presentation by students from Central Huron Secondary School to the Huron County Board of Education. More experienced (and cynical) observers could have told the optimistic students that they weren’t going to win a battle to get the decision transferring their principal Joe Wooden overturned by the board. The students confused democracy with politics. Politics said that the Board of Education was not likely to back down from a show of strength from students and staff. The board no doubt feels threatened: if we give in now, they say, we’ll have to face this kind of revolt every time a popular teacher gets transferred. Yet even the cynics would have thought the students’ business-like, reasonable presentation would have been treated with at least a semblance of democratic form. There wasn’t, however, even an attempt to appear as if the board would listen. Immediately following the delivery of the student’s presentation Board Chairman JohnJewitt started reading a 9-page prepared statement that answered none of the issues raised in the student’s presentation. Was the matter debated? When two trustees moved to reopen the matter of the unpopular transfers of principals, they were the only board members to support the motion. Those who have followed Board activities over the years won’t be surprised. When has there ever been free and open debate at the Board meetings? Parliamentary rules allow public bodies to go into private ‘ ‘ committee of the whole ” meetings on a very narrow range of topics. One of those is personnel matters and since many of the activities of the board deal with personnel matters, the board has more “committee of the whole’’ meetings than any other elected body. Making decisions in private is a comfortable trap to fall into to the point where it often seems that most Board decisions are made in private and only rubber-stamped in open session. The trustees can forget they are politicians and begin to operate like directors of a private corporation. In this case the trustees seem to have backed management. In a democracy the employees (the principals) can’t be seen to flaunt the wishes of the elected representatives. But is this a struggle between the principals and the trustees or between the principals and the bureaucracy at the top of the Board offices? It appears the bureaucrats have won, getting the politicians to go along meekly backing them. The politicians seem to have gotten their loyalties a little mixed up alongthe way, forgetting their first job is to represent the interests of the public, not to have solidarity with each other and with board management. Ironically the Trustees have probably brought more public support for the principals than ever. Few people outside of the teachers and students in the schools involved, were likely to have much sympathy for the principals, figuring the grief of a transfer is part of what comes with the job’s high pay. But the treatment of the students’ presentation, plus the fact that the Board ignored more than 200 written protests from the public, bring up a larger issue. Voters have a right to wonder why they elect trustees to go blindly along with the Board’s management without taking the time to discuss in public the concerns of the public. It may be in the best interests of the public to leave the principals where they are but the Trustees don’t want to represent those interests. Trustees generally get an easy ride into office. There is often little interest in Board of Education elections because the public doesn’t feel that the Trustees can accomplish anything anyway. That point is made abundantly clear by the refusal of the Board to openly discuss the matter. In closing his prepared statement, Mr. Jewitt said: “It is my intent after the close of this day not to comment on this issue further. ’’Asa politician, Mr. Jewitt, that’s not good enough. An explanation is owed to the people you represent in Hullett and Blyth. Similarly other local trustees such as Graeme Craig for McKillop (and Seaforth); Don McDonald for Brussels and Grey; Tony McQuail for East and West Wawanosh (and Ashfield) and Joan Van den Broek, Colborne (and Goderich Twp.) should be asked why they voted against re-opening the issue: how an issue the public feels is important doesn’t deserve some public discussion. Maybe it is time Trustees are reminded that they are elected to run the hired staff at the board office, not the staff hired to run the elected representatives. Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering So­ ciety. MONDAY: Billie Bean said he was glad to see the baseball season start. It gave him a chance to take his mind off the losing ways of the Maple Leafs and suffer along with the Blue Jays instead. Hank Stokes wasn’t impressed with baseball season starting though. “Seems to me ever since the Blue Jays came along we’ve had terrible weather in April about the time they play their first game at home just so the Americans can talk about the frozen north,’’ he said. “Now as if it wasn’t bad enough having rotten weather for the Blue Jays first game, they had to go and put a minor league team in London and bring two sessions of bad weather for the Americans to talk about. If we could get rid of baseball, we might have had spring in March.” TUESDAY: Tim O’Grady said that it’s not much wonder VIA rial trains are running so empty if the railway is treating its passengers anything like the CN used to treat them when passenger service was still running around here back in the 1960’s. Seemed back then, he said, the railway used to find ways to turn people off: poor schedules, grouchy conductors, seldom being on time. All of which gave Billie a new idea for making money. He figures he’ll set up a consulting service and offer himself to the government. Obviously, he says, the govern- Continued on page 25 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17 OO/yr. ($38 00 Foreign) Advertising is acceptedon the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m - Brussels; Monday, 4 p m - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968