Times-Advocate, 1986-09-10, Page 27Debated by Huron board of education
Times -Advocate, September 10, 1986 Page 11 A
Nepereusslons of bill may be serlous
The possible repercussions of Bill 30
could be of serious concern in the
county, says the Huron County Board
of Education.
At their September meeting, board
members voiced grave concerns
regarding the new legislation and its
possible impact on Huron County.
Bill 30 provides all secondary school
students in the province with full ac-
cess to both public and separate high
schools. The legislation also gives
children of public school supporters
attending Roman Catholic high
schools an automatic exemption from
religious studies.
This September the Huron -Perth
Separate School Board ( HPSSB )
opened a separate high school in
Stratford. The separate board has in-
dicated that it will consider the
establishment of a similar secondary
school for Huron County in 1988.
The issue does not end there, accor-
ding to the Huron County Board of
Education.
At a special meeting in July the
board passed a motion, requesting
assistance of the minister of educa-
tion, Sean Conway, local members of
parliament and other support groups
to recify the impact of Bill 30 in Huron
County.
Art Clark, chairman of the Huron
Board, wrote to Mr. Conway, "Huron
County ratepayers felt assured that
the proposed legislation had no im-
mediate impact upon them. Public
school ratepayers went to the polls in
the November municipal election and
elected board members to represent
them. Separate school ratepayers
elected two members to the Huron
County Board of Education to repre-
sent them for secondary school pur-
poses. Both public and separate
school supporters were confident and
comfortable that this was the best
possible arrangement to accom-
modate the secondary education re-
quirements in this county until 1988.
"The recently enacted legislation
appears to frustrate the ratepayers of
the county and deny them the
representation which they believe
they elected to serve them until 1988.
We request your assistance to rectify
this matter."
The board found the answers to its
concerns in a letter written by Mr.
Conway to William Eckert, director
of the HPSSB. Mr. Conway's letter
confirmed that the separate board
could proceed with its a lans to imp -
A
WIN "B" TROPHY -- The Ilderton Mosquito team defeated Lucan in a shoot out for the consolation
division in Bryanston, Saturday. Standing in the back is Peter Miko, Wayne Flanigan, Brian Jewell, Kevin
VanBommel, Jason Seymour, coach Allan Warwick, Melissa Zupancic, and R.T. De Forge. Centre row
is Michael Taylor, Jason Manual, Brian McIntyre, Brad Sumner, and Geoff Small. Kneeling in the front
is John Guy Urbshott, Adam Taylor, Chris Manual, Gordie Cormier, Keith Robson, Sanford Siddall, Derek
McClary and Paul Grant.
Librarian offers deal
along with resignation
Bill Partridge, the chief librarian
for Huron County, says he is prepared
to resign his position over allegations
of mismanagement by staff at the
county library headquarters in
Goderich.
At the county council meeting on
September 4, Partridge told council
that at the end of his holidays in Ju-
ly, he was told to attend an emergen-
cy meeting of the Library Board on
�Jujy 15; In the closed meeting, he 00.
the board discussed two letters ad-
dressed to board chairman Tom Cun-
ningham signed by six library head -
quarter's staff members, dated June
11 and July 10, which outlined a varie-
ty of concerns over the running of the
headquarters by the head librarian.
After the meeting, Partridge said
he consulted with a law firm from
London to represent him during any
discussion by the board on any mat-
ters regarding the allegations.
I'm not ashamed of the service I've
given in Iluron County. I think I've
given full worth in my 14 years'here.
I will consider leaving because of the
situation at headquarters. I hope this
clears up some of the questions," said.
Partridge at the council meeting.
in an interview on September 5,
Partridge said he has given both a
verbal response to the allegations and
has furnished the Lihrary Board with
a letter from his solicitors, Siskind
and Cromarty of London, regarding
his position on the matter.
In the letter, dated August 22 and
addressed to Board Chairman Torn
Cunningham, Partridge says he is
prepared to give his resignation to the
Library Board conditional upon the
board granting him as much time as
needed to find a similar position with
another public library board, which
he expects will take an estimated six
months. He also expects the board to
give him a "fair recommendation"
for his 14 years of service as head of
the county library system.
However, he said if the Lihrary
Board will not accept the proposal, it
will be "in for a fight like they've
never seen before" in order to clear
his name and resolve the situation.
Partridge said he has yet to receive
a reply from the board regarding his
proposal.
Tom Cunningham, chairman of the
library board, said it is a personnel
matter that the board intends to deal
AID FOOD DAY
Agriculture Minister John Wise has
announced a $60,000 contribution to
the World Food Day Association of
Canada.
World Food Day was established
five years ago to commemorate the
founding of the United Nations' Food
and Agriculture Organization in
Quebec City in 1946. it is celebrated
on October 16 in 150 countries around
the world.
"This is an opportunity to focus on
issues that will have to be resolved if
iware to win the war against hunger
n a wosld where widespread under-
nourishment and food surpluses co-
exist." Mr. Wise said.
Agriculture Canada administers
more than $I00 million dollars' worth
of international development projects
each year. ,
Mr. Wist' stressed the fact that
maintaining a healthy agriculture in-
dustry in Canada is our country's ma-
jor contribution to helping solve the
world's food problems.
The World Food 1)ay theme in
Canada for 1986 is "Fisheries and
Development"
with within the board, and not have
it become public until all the parties
have been heard..
"The board felt it should be dealt
with in -camera, and it should stay
that way. We ask for council's in-
dulgence as we feel it's a personal
matter and we intend to hear all sides
of the matter....We have not taken a
position and we will not until all sides-
have
ideshave been heard.
'3VP-09PQt,w ,t,9,Wash our dirty
laundry in public and we don't want
to make anyone feel bad in public,"
said Cunningham.
Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston
questioned the board's refusal to
make the situation public, so council
can deal with, and possibly rectify,
the ordeal.
"The people on the streets seem to
know more than the people on coun-
ty council. The board can only recom-
mend measures while it's the job of -
county council to act on these recom-
mendations. The matter should be
before this body and not on the streets
of Iluron County where it is present-
ly," said Mr. Johnston.
Lionel Wilder, Reeve of Hay
Township, says the morale of the staff
and the chief librarian has suffered
severely because of the situation
which has been in the hands of the
Library board for the past two
months.
"Patience is going to run thin very
soon. It's the people of Huron County
who will suffer," said Wilder.
Cunningham says he realizes the
morale at the library headquarters is
not high, but he says he wasn't aware
that any problems existed until he
first received a verbal report and
later two written reports by head-
quarters staff about the various
problems.
"it was a complete surprise to me
when these concerns were brought to
me. i never solicited any concerns to
be brought forward," he said.
Cunningham says he hopes to have
a full report to council on the matter
"by September or October, but we
can't guarantee anything."
ment a secondary school.
In response, Clark said, "I took the
letter as quite a severe setback. It
was rather a blunt letter saying that's
the way it is folks, like it or not."
Eugene Frayne, a separate school
representative on the Huron board
noted, "Ninety percent of the people
(ratepayers) don't know what's going
on. They don't realize that they won't
be represented."
He suggested that Bill 30 could lead
to fragmentation between the
separate and public school supporters
in Huron County.
Clark has further supported this
concern in letters he has written to
Jack Riddell, Huron -Middlesex MPP
and Murray Elston, Huron -Bruce
MP. Clark asked for their assistance
in determining a solution, noting,
"This matter is a significant concern.
We believe this problem, if not resolv-
ed by the minister, will become a ma-
jor political issue in our jurisdiction."
At the September meeting of the
Huron board, members emphasized
that they have always worked for,
and represented all the people in
Huron County.
Separate school staff
get new salary pact
The Huron -Perth County Roman
Catholic Separate School Board and
its teachers jointly announced Mon-
day night that settlement was reach-
ed on a contract for 1986-87 on June
30. The teachers gave their approval
on September 4 while the trustees
ratified the agreement at the board
meeting on September 8.
The new contract gives teachers a
3.5 percent increase effective
September 1 and a further two per-
cent plus $100 in each category star-
ting January 1, 1987, for an annualiz-
ed rate of 4.9 percent.
Salary rates range from a
minimum of $18,250 in level D with no
experience to a maximum of $47,610
in the top category with 12 years ex-
perience. Under the new contract the
average annual salary increases from
$34,190 to $36,180.
The Huron -Perth Catholic school
system has 148.5 full time equivalent
teachers and 2,792 pupils, up 100
pupils or a five percent increase, over
last year.
The board set the salary for the
Director of Education, William
Eckert, for 1966-87 at $68,800 or $11,000
above the maximum secondary
school principal's salary.
The salaries for the two
Superintendents of Education, John
McCauley and Gaetan Blanchette,
were set at $6,000 above the max-
imum secondary school principal's
salary; while the salary for the
Superintendent of Business and
Search continues.
for health officer
While efforts'have beer1Ytfade to ac-
quire a new Medical Officer of Health
(MOH) for Huron County over the
summer recess, an official with the
health unit admits the search is back
to square one.
Brian McBurney, the chairman of
the board of health for the county,
said the board was set to hire Dr.
James Fan, the MOH for the Western
Newfoundland Health Unit for the
past year, over two other applicants
for the position. However, the board
recently received a letter from Dr.
Fan, stating he was unable to take the
job because of "problems with
immigration".
The decision to hire Dr. Fan was
based upon good recommendations
made by the Associate Deputy
Minister of the government of New-
foundland and Labrador, the depart-
ment of health, and the associate
deputy minister for whom Dr. Fan
had been working.
Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle question-
ed McBurney as to what immigration
problems could be created by moving
from one province to another.
McBurney said Dr. Fan currently has
landed immigrant status to Canada
and is working on a year-to-year basis
in Newfoundland. When he applied,
he assured the board he would be
travelling to Ottawa to "get his
papers together". However, in his let-
ter, he stated he was unable to obtain
the immigration documents.
The other applicants for the MOH
position will not be looked at again in
order to fill the positibn, said
McBurney, following the meeting on
September 4.
McBurney said the board of health
will continue to look for a new MOH
and hope to have someone in that
position by November or December
of this year. One option the board is
currently investigating is hiring a fall
graduate of the University of Toron-
to's graduate school of medicine.
"We're going to contact the
registrar at the medical school to see
if he can recommend some of the peo-
ple graduating in September. We
don't have any names as yet," said
McBurney following the meeting.
The position of MOH has been va-
cant since former MOH Dr. Harry '
Ceislar left the position on July 22,
citing differences with the county ad-
ministration as the reason for his
resignation.
In the interim, the county has hired
I)r. J. K. McGregor of Wingham as
the acting MOH for the county. At the
meeting council passed a motion set-
ting the MOH's salary at $1,580
biweekly provided he agrees to a
minimum of 14 to 15 hours per week
to be spent on Health Unit business.
The salary was effective July 31.
So far, the arrangement with an ac-
ting MOH has met with positive
response by the officials and workers
connected with the health unit, says
McBurney.
"The acting MOH 'situation has
been working out very well. The
directors (of the health unit) are well
pleased," he said.
• • 4, ..
IRISH ON COURSE The lucon Irish juniors held tieir annual golf tournament a• t the Exeter Golf and
Country Club Sunday. Their first on -ice practices begin this week. Shown in green action are from the
left coach Ed Parkinson, Bob Thirlwall, Wayne Urbshott and Grant Larsen.
T -A photo
Finance, Jack Lane, was set at $500
above the principal's salary. The
salary for the Assistant to the
Superintendent of Business and
Finance, Randy Brown, was set at
$36,000 for a period from September
1, 1986 to August 31, 1987, and his
vacation schedule will be three weeks
for 1987 and four weeks for 1988.
The salary for the Co-ordinator of
Plant Edward Rowland, was set
$30,756 effective September 1, 1986, to
August 31, 1987, with sick leave
gratuity, effective September 1.
A late bus will be provided for St.
Michael secondary school students
who live beyond the City of Stratford
limits, namely St. Marys, Mitchell,
Dublin and Seaforth four times week-
ly with drop off points at the main
centres only, at an additional cost of
approximately $60 per day to the
board, effective September 10. This
will enable students to participate in
after-school activities.
The board accepted the resignation
of Mary Louise LaBerge, Speech
Pathologist for the board, effective
August 31, 1986.
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Board member Tony McQuail said,
"1 would like to see the separate and
public school boards working together
to represent all ratepayers. The laws
may have changed, but the need is
still there."
The board plans to pursue this issue
at its executive committee level. The
committee will be looking at the
possibility of holding a press con-
ference and issuing a press release on
the subjeet.
Board representative for Clinton-
Tuckersmith, Sally Rathwelt, sug-
gested that a press conference be
held, saying that it would help to
clarify the board's position on Bill 30.
Bea Dawson, the Usborne-Exeter
trustee agreed noting, "It would tell
the ratepayers what efforts the board
has made to work for all Huron Coun-
ty people."
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-7---Special Driver's Competition
BATTLE OF
Ross Battin
Dennis Morrissey
Steve Bossence
Donald Windsor
THE SEXES
Karen Fekete
Cindy Horner
Tommy Watt
Lori McNight
FINAL OF THE 9500 CLAIMING STAKE
Top Eight Horses Competing
THIS SUNDAY SEPT. 14 • POST TIME 1:30 P.M.
AT THE CLINTON FAIRGROUNDS