The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

bio weekender saturday bgtober251 997 attention york region board of education parents guardians and students oftp a provincewide strike by ontarios teachers has been announced for monday october 27 1997 unless this is resolved through provincial negotiations with teachers over the next few days the ontario teachers federation has indicated they will not be in the classroom on monday although this action would be directed against the government of ontario to protest proposed legislation york region public schools will be affected our utmost concern is for the safety of students staff and visitors if a strike occurs the york region board of education will keep schools operational as long as sufficient staff are available and the safety of students and staff can be assured suspend the offering of programs including special education until an assessment can be made of staff availability encourage alternate arrangements be made for the care of your children cancel transportation please listen to your local radio station for last- minute details regarding busing cancel field trips if and when necessary child care operations in some schools may also be affected and some beforeand afterschool programs will be cancelled please check directly with the operators of these programs please note that the board is obligated under the education act to maintain school operations and that we will make every effort within our means to keep schools and facilities open if we are unable to do so information updates will be provided through the media and via a special board information hotline 18005460709 we appreciate that any disruption to school operations places a greater burden for care on parents and guardians we thank you in advance for your patience and understanding bif crothers bill hogarth chair of the board director of education massive bill 160 increases ministry regulation power mike adler staff reporter its not quick reading but its the rea son teachers are preparing for an illegal strike monday morning bill 160 the education quality improvement act would greatly dimin ish the power of school boards in favour of provincewide rules and standards it will allow ontarios ministry of education to write regulations about almost everything in the system york board of education chair bill crothers observed recently its massive he said whatever bill 104 the fewer school boards act didnt do this does teachers unions call it an attack on democracy why should unions keep negotiating with local boards for their jobs they ask when those boards wont have flexibility to make deals i think the governments afraid of provincewide bargaining by teach ers added lynn johnston york region federation president for public high school teachers johnstons union fought its recent strike over class size and preparation time because these have been local issues in teachers contracts but bill 160 as it is today would let the ministry set the minimum amount of time teachers must be in class dur ing a school day the government says high school teachers in other provinces spend more time with students teachers say thou sands of teachers will lose jobs if prep time is cut fewer will be needed and those remaining will get more students and less time to help them or handle extracurricular events the bill would let the government set the size of class and the method of determining class size former education minister john sno- belen promised this means boards would no longer be able to increase class size local boards have kept some classes smaller for certain lan guages arts or technical courses for example by allowing other classes to grow larger another aspect of bill 160 which angers teachers is that it would allow instructors to teach some subjects with out requiring them to be certified teachers this means professional musicians for example wont need to earn a teaching certificate before they can lead a music class the government says this could also give students greater access to specialists in art guidance and computers the bill still being examined at pub lic hearings would also let the ministry through the provincial cabinet take control of taxation powers so that school boards cannot set a mill rate on their own and stop the building of schools and the selling of school sites without permission require fair funding for school boards although the province hasnt revealed a plan getting a smaller share of education funds has been a sore point for catholic boards including york regions replace bill 100 a special negotia tion process used for teachers con tracts with the labour relations act require teachers to work during some or all of the five working days before the school year and set the school year and all holidays exam days and professional activity days allow school boards to hold their meetings through electronic means including committee meetings that could mean a conference call on the phone crothers said a transponder will drive your com muting costs down every time you drive the 407 etr without a transponder you pay an extra 100 charge pick one up at most driver vehicle issuing offices within the greater toronto area for 1150 call 1 888407 0407 for more information z i d actoss to wh 407 this fee is a one time only payment not an annual fee express toll route