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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1984, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town The only Whitby newspaper independently owi j Published every Wednesday Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher- Managing Editor ned and operated by whithv resirlenis for whithv r.... ,s..r -e and-- oDrate-d-JbV WiAv e luf~i'nr Wifu -mun by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, ont. Second Clasa Mail PO. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Registration No. 5351 Board members either overpaid or grossly underpaid In last week's edition of the Free Press, we reported that the Durham Board of Education had voted to appoint an Independant citizens' commit- tee to review the salary paid to trustees. Let us start off by saying that this is an ex- cellent idea. It has merit for a great many reasons, some of which strike at the very heart of the education system In Ontario. Depending on the way you look at it, trustees are either disgustingly overpaid or grossly under- My wife and I moved to Ottawa recently, after more than 15 years in Toronto, to do Global's new 6:30 newscast, "'The World Report," from the country's capital. One of the reasons for the move is that as political commentator, i will be closer to my subject. And although ive only been here a short time, the advan- tages are already becoming apparent. One night, late last summer, for example, I sat on a patio in Ottawa, staring into space. Then i noticed a tiny white blob of something, suspended in mid-air, about ten feet away. Motionless, beside the white blob, was a small insect of some kind, also apparently defy- ing gravity. Curiosity finally shifted me out of my chair. By peer- ing intently, and viewing it from ail angles, I finally discovered that the little blob, and what turned out to be a very smail spider beside it, were suspended on a tiny filament that stretched about seven feet from one shrub to another. There was absolutely nothing beneath it but three feet of air. i looked at it more closely and changed angles again so the light finally caught some other tiny strands run- ning like spokes from the blob to the ground. And as I watched, the spider went to the outside of his pro- jected web and began the long trip around its perimeter. The insect paid no attention to the huge human face with its nose two inches from his business. He went on with his work, describing an ever-decreasing series of concentric circles as he spun his web from the out- side in. While i marvelled, i was joined by other members of my family, who were soon as intent on the spider as I was. Anyone watching us would have concluded that we were demented. There we were, silent, wondering eyes fixed on a vacant space between two shrubs. To the casual observer, we'd have been looking at nothing. But the drama continued. The spider had completed a half dozen strands around the outside edge when he trapped his first tiny victim. I'm not sure what it was, because it was devoured almost instantly. About the time we were ready to go in for supper, the web was completed, and the spider sat near the centre, waiting. One of us took pity on the spider and flipped a struggling ant into the web. I think the spider stung him, to quieten him down, but in any event, the ant's struggles soon ceased and he was bound up securely in a trice. I came out half an hour later to see what had hap- pened, and the whole thing had vanished without a trace - spider, ant, web, and the seven foot suspen- sion filament. Did a gust of wind demolish it? Did the spider, mission accomplished, take the ant to his larder and ingest the web? At the very least, I had to conclude that there is more going on in Ottawa than has hitherto met my eye. paid. If the education system continues on its current course one can easily say they are over- paid. We say this because we do not believe that the elected representatives of the Durham taxpayer are in controi of the system. It seems to us that the day-to-day operation of the board is beyond their control and that far too many policy decisions are made by staff. Like other levels of municipal government, the board of education is a creature of the provincial government. Because of this, the board of education has to implement the goals and objectives and policy initatives of the Ontario Ministry of Education. The board doesn't have much controi over its own destiny. If we assume the board to be nothing more than a rubber stamp body for the decisions of the bureaucrats and the province, then they are disgustingly averpaid. But if the committee examines the issue of salary and benefits in the light of what trustees could be and should be doing, we have a different situation, for there are many inadequacies in the system. For example, the board is a $150 million-a-year operation. It employs over 4,000 people and provides services to over 47,000 students. Yet the chairman and chief executive officer is only pald $10,000 a year. The individual upon whom rests the ultimate responsibill.y for the education of our children is paid less than $200 a week. By comparison, the board's chief bureaucrat, the director of education, is paid in the neighbourhood of $70,000 a year. In private industry, the chairman of the board receives substantially more than $10,000 a year. Sure, its politically cute to pay our chairman sucht a ridiculous sum, but if we want a full-time, highlyt skilled and dedicated politician to assume responsibility for $150 million of our morey then we had better start paying him or her a full-time salary. We would like to point out that the chairman of Durham Regional Council is paid a healthy salary of just over $45,000 a year and is given a vehicle for official use. He is responsible for the ad- ministration of a similiar budget and a com- plement of about 1,000 employes who provide a wide range of services to the taxpayer. The regional chairman is the full-time political head of the region - he not only ensures that staff carres out council policy, but speaks- for the region before the senior levels of government. We believe that the chairman of the board of education should be doing the same kinds of things for the same kind of money. This is just one issue that the citizens commit- tee should consider before making any recom- mendation to the board. It has to study and recommend measures that will make trustees more effective by defining what their role should be. There is nothing wrong with paying a good dollar for a good man (or woman). But we have the feeling that many trustees do not live up to their fullest potential because of the restraints placed upon them by the bureaucrats and the province. What we need to do is show them that they should be taking on the policy decision powers of regional councillors. The committee is in the fortunate position of being able to force the trustees to face the realities of their situation. After ail, the committee can't determine what they are worth until they know what trustees are responsible for. It is time the elected representatives of the tax- payer took controI of the system - even if we have to pay them more to do so. Fully responsible trustees are Worth whatever we have to pay themn. trustees are worth whatever we have ta pay them. AtNW FOR YOU/ JOEY, ffMY, A 59AW2 WEW NOISEMAKUR , PLUS A RIc04T REP eNOW 91foVM, F:,g ALA-. Ti4Og9E 91PEWA4LK< YOU'L 13E 9I4OVELLIN(a1- -WO-Ho,' -N r) 13- 1 1 Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 MICHAEL KNELL Community Editor VALERIE COWEN Advertising Manager