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I W TFFiEE TO THE CHRONICL] City of Waterloo in an 'ugly' mood ith all m the lawsuits tlyirig l/V?) at an hull recently you wonder how advisable it is to call Waterloo "ugly" these days' Sure we ovcrpuid Inf HIM Park. but to suggest that we're unappeal- ing to look at (mum people to put up their dukes Inner than Muhammed Ali. But perhaps the city has finally had enough of being dumped on. Did writer even read funding formula? n response in John Shewchuk's Ileltvr oi (lct. " with regard to stu- dent trarviportitriom I have to ask if the soniur manager for public affairs fur the Waterloo Catholic District school board bothered to actually read the proposed funding formula before claiming that the funding model "has nothing to do with how many students each hoard actually needs to transport." Mr, Shewchuk sum-s that "the problem with the proposed trans- portation model is that it blindly treats Waterloo Region's two boards as if crucial factors such as number of schools, geographic dispersion of schools and number of students were equal." This statement could not more incorrect. In his May 26. 2004 memo to all directors of education [public and Catholic) in Ontario, Assistant Deputy Minister Kevin Kobus states, "The new model incorpo- rates the ll ramponvms - shared with boards last June and takes into account a number of factors beyond the controf ol school boards that affect their ability to provide transportation senirrs. " hese far- tors relied differences III the Inm- tion of a board's students and schal, differences in road net- works and climatic ditirrcruvs." Mr. Showrhuk would have the public helivve that tiw m-w model Is unfair In Catholic hoards hemuw they gt-ru'rallv haw smaller enrol- moms. and lr-wvr st'lmnls located further apan thcrvbv requiring them In transport mun- of their stu- dents, This is the sanm- flawed argu- Im'nl that (Tran-d unr- of rho major mumbling blurb in [hr drhwrv of a new {Hurling lunnnlu [t is, flaw-ml Iu'rnust- " Ignnn'x thv \llllllll' Lutt that, ii " hrmrrl'x 'sl hmuls un' luthl-r apart. " gnum'r pr-n q-mngl‘ of ilx, studeuts will n-qum- huxing and Will he a-Ilglhll- In] Ilmr Inning "vert II thedisiamvpurruturivrsrurtstlt" sulnl’ as that of another board with mun- sludvnu and "low st hnulx. Again. quoting trun- the (-dm " non ministry's own nn-nmmndum of lum- 2h. 2003 twhlt h Mute-s thaw l l components mentioned abovei, the new formula looks like this "Funding 7 Need x Cost t Adjust ments." What that means is that the allocation for each hoard is to be based on the number of students requiring transportation multiplied the AERIAL cost of providing the SHIEONICLE EDITORIAJ and serving as the butt oftoo many. political jokes. transportation. with adjustments for various factors. Those factors include the following: safety pro- grams; administration: local priori- ties (described as "an allowance to enable boards to provide non-stan- dard transportation in accordance with a board's priorities such as noon hour transportation"); local hazards fan allowance for students who need to be hosed due to safety hazards on their walking route); unique transportation needs: board and lodging (for Northern schools) and transportation to provincial schools. Sure. homelessness is on the rise in the core. but at least it's a well- maintained uptown, free of the blight faced by other nearby cities. And the urban sprawl. that will we Waterloo hit its borders in the next decade, is proof that people want to live here. i should also like to point out that "need" in terms of the formula was determined by having every school board in Ontario provide the home-to-school distance for every pupil it serves so that an annual allowance per kilometre can be allotted. This, by the way. is one of the primary reasons that the new model has taken so long to com- plete. I would remind Mr, Shew- chuk that students in his board who live more than 1.6 km away from their assigned school under the old formula will still live more than " km away from their assigned school under the new formula. If you've missed the point. the City of Waterloo has more serious While Mr. Shewchuk spent a great deal of time pointing out what he felt were omissions in my previ- ()ll's letter, [will simply point out his most glaring one - that currently. Grade 7 and H students attending public schools in Waterloo Region are expected to walk more than DOUBLE the distance trekked by their peers who attend Catholic schools Mr. Shcwchuk is correct that this issue should not he about religion which is met ist-lv whv the new formula Is needed to ensure that the distant c a child walks to " liool in Waterloo Region _ or anvwhvre. t'lsl' in Ontario tor that matter Is no longer "vpcrultmt upon whether that tlultl attends a (:itllolit or puhln M hool. I should also like toutld here that lot‘allv at least it was ofr" Ials ol the C.atholir hoard. not I. who those to "Inject religion into the debate" by pointing out to the Record on Sept. 13 that 17 of (lntaritfs 30 Catholic boards stand to lose dollars under the new model, while "only seven of the province's 29 public boards lose." . Mr, Shewhhuk states that "the reality is that funding student trans- COMMENT That money can help beautify this city faster than a few "ugly" words can tear it down. porration based on overall enrol- ment automatically places a dispro- portionate number of Catholic hoards -- with traditionally smaller enrolments and fewer. more wide- ly-dispersed schools - at a very distinct disadvantage." What Mr. Shewchuk fails to mention here is that Catholic hoards - including his - are currently using the exist- ing formula as an excuse to retain more profligate distance policies as an enticement to parents to keep their kids in Catholic schools. Locally, the board has also used its generous distance policy as a means of propping up their lagging enrolments by allowing children who would otherwise attend a pub- lic school to attend a Catholic one so that they can become eligible for the bus. There are several families. for example, who attend St. Luke school rather than Lester B. Pearson school, purely because they would not be bused at LBP. but get a ride to St. Luke. issues to deal with than a little name-culling from a Toronto rag situated in a sea ofcuncrete. And while we don't mind the mayor defending the city's honour. the more important news is that Waterloo is seeking more financial damages from the parties involved in the RIM Park fiasco. I would very much like lo thank Mr. Shewchuk for reminding the public that in Waterloo Region. the Catholic and public hoards jointly operate a co-operative transporta- tion service In achieve greater effi- tu'ertcy. According In Mr. Shewchuk. "the problem isn't religion or the failure of ihe local boards to coop- erate" What he doesn't mention is that. that cooperation could he heir ter still if the hoards shared similar distance policies - a needed change that is far mow likely to be achieved under the new formula than the old, Mr, Shi'thllk Males that "it doesn't Ink? a mcket st‘iomist In so:- the pmpnsml lrnnspnrmlinn fund» ing model mus! ohange" Nvitlwr should u take um‘ In umlerslund that. In my \mu-mvnl that the new hlrlnula is a "slop In the right (lirm Iinn." I did no! at any time imply that Ihr. proposed formula is 11min] on would not rvqulrv udjusum-m Ptwhaps if all srhorsl Imanlx approached thr m-w mndrl with a willingnvvi to truly work with 1hr munislry and cm h other, equitalUc Iranspnrtalion funding for all Ontario's students will not end up on the back burner for another six wars. “any Morency Waterloo n the early Ms when the telephone industry was deregulated I':':,;),' numerous lung (nuance (amt-rs came to market, I stuck with Bell. This was no easy task as I often endured lung- winded calls from telemarketers. and personal nails front salespeople. convincing me to switch. For some reason. a sense of loyalty, mammalian I'm not quite sure why I managed to stave off the deluge of solicitations and remained a loyal Bell customer. " started innoéemly enough. About five year" ago the bill for my home fax machine was sent directly to my employer, "When I left the employer I phoned Bell {ind aiskdu them to change the billing information and send the bill to me directly No problem. so they said: -. _ . Six months later the change still hadnt been made. the fur mer employer was not paying the bill, and numeruus phone calls to the Bell office couldnt get them to properly change the billing information, Feeling like I had won a small victory for consumers every- where. I felt satisfied with how the issue was resolved and remained a disgruntled. but still may lied customer. My experience with the cell phone is another matter. K Next. they threatened to cut off my residential line. even though they were in my bank account every month to receive direct payment. Finally. I managed to talk tn someone with real authority and straightened the whole mess out. Bell graciously sent me a S20 gift certificate for my trouble, After having the same cell phone number for 10 years I decided to make a change. I phoned Bell. the mobility division, to get them to cancel the phone, a seemingly everyday modest request. "‘No problem Mr. Strickland." they said. but guess what? The bills kept coming. - I phoned again and was advised that because there was an outstanding amount on the account. I needed to pay it before they could cancel the phone. “Look." I said. "I tried to cancel this L,u,LCac,Ls=,=s4 phone months ago and the only rea- son there is a bill now is because of your incompetency I have not used the phone" After spending over an hour with various people from cus- lomer service. billing, and finance, and after being put an hold for the fourth time. I decided lo hang up, and send them the money. Good. I thought. I paid them, it is over. Bell Moblility is out of my life forever. Wrong. Bell sent me a cheque in the mail for the exact amount that I had paid them two weeks earlier m cancel my phone. Can you imagine? I received a cheque from the phone company. . I phones" agéin and was politely advised hy a recorded mes, sage that Bell is experiencing billing problems because of a new computer software program. "Sorry." the meisaii, said. "no one can talk to you, phone back in November." Phone hack in November! What the heck kind of (Hemmer service is that? Feeling incensed I marched down In the place where l bought the phone and they too said. "Sorry, nothing we can dof' Hs there anyone I can talk to?" I asked. "Afraid not," said the nice lady behind the counter. I still have their cheque. and when November 1'01le hope fully I will he ahle to return it in mmenm- with authority who can cancel my phone. ( ianu'l my phone. cancel my phone. can cel my phone _ please hang up. this is a n‘rnrding. Lawsuits We (Ianadmm mm! In he so amug, A wnw oi Mir play und respect for others wvm (Inn-‘n‘u-rlslirs wr- when hmggml nlmul that defined us a little hit Mfervrulv from our American "high hnun In Canada. werouhi work our pmhlmns mu. In llw ILV, pruplv uted (aarh other and sued vat h nllu'r it " " " Inn-1hr H S is the most liligmus rnlmlrv in tho world. but " u an of My! own". in our ('nmmumly indicate,' anudjarv, “1'!“ to h:- trotting off lo the mums mnn- fn-qnonllv ilttut Iu-Inw [hr City nl Waterloo n wing hImm'r manure-r [nhn Ford. thc city is being sued by former Cuhtt Huh Ruin-rim". and mm the former rnndurtnr of tho K W Symphony is suing the chairman of the hoard. Hopefully this run of lawsuits Is a mere' romcidertre and not a sign that Canadians are hernming mom willing to have our murts settle our problems rather than working them out amongst ourselves. E - mail your seaneseanstrekundxom, The cell phone blues questions/comments to