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PAGE 8 TERRACE BAY NEWS APRIL 18, 1973 OFFICIAL STATEMENT FOR THE PRESS " I, Donald Campbell, have just resigned as President of the Marathon High School Student Council for permitting a brief entitled "Manitouwadge, Marathon Student Councils and interested students of Terrace Bay/Schreiber" to be circulated to the public, The majority of Marathon and Manitouwadge High School Student Councils members did not approve the brief. I take full responsibility for using the good name of the Marathon High School Student Council name without the whole approval of the membership. The members of the Student Council and interested members who approved and/or had knowledge of the brief will not be named to protect them from possible recrim- inations that might arise from this brief. The people involved with the brief are the interested and hard-working members who make our student council, not the apathetic members who, to a large degree, care less what happens to the student council and who like to find scapegoats. I would like to clarify a point mentioned under Marathon problems which states that Arts and Science Courses are of poor quality: Several teachers jumped to conclusions and assumed that the comment was with respect to their teaching abilities. I would like to emphasize that I am not condemning the teachers, nor commenting on their teaching ability. . I meant the state ment to be understood to read the fault of the Ministry of Educetion. I would like you to read the accompanying brief, that I believe to be true, and let you the public judge for yourself. (signed) Donald Cempbell Ex-President Marathon High School Student Council" 'BRIEF Teaching Problems in Marathon, Manitouwadge and Terrace Bay = Schreiber High Schools: Due to economic reasons the Ontario Government has reduced educational costs, Who suffers as a result is the supposed surplus teachers who are from the ranks of the teaching staff, and in the long run the students who are being taught in more crowded classrooms are the biggest sufferers, The reesons of the Ontario Government in cutting education- al costs in the Lake Superior School Board was to meet the one~teacher-to-fifteen~-students ratio, What one should remember is that the principal and vice=- principal and guidance officer who do not teach a full slate of subjects due to their administrative duties are included in the ratio. No concessions are msde for small schools in our School Board District who have a small school population, Therefore it cannot be easily absorbed like other larger schools of the province. The Manitouwadge students feel that the cutbacks in staff are more unfair than Marathon's because Manitouwadge High School is growing and it will eventually need more teachers in the future. Therefore they feel the cutbacks are ridicu- lous, It may be considered that Marathon cutbacks are more reas- onable because of the declining school population, But they are not, The affect of the reduction of teachers will lead to the more combined levels of general and advanced subjects. The trouble with combined classes is that the intelligent student is slowed down by the less intelligent who are in need of more time to understend their work, The difference in many combined classes is that the advanced level has an extra five hundred word essay. The feeling of the students is that the reduction of teaching staff should not teke place because of the injurious effect of turning the schools into a low rate educational center, The public has not been informed or con- sulted in the surplus cutbacks. Cutbacks in the tesching staff will mean the teachers that are left will have to teach more subjects in one day, inoreas- ing the already large work load. Teachers will have to teach courses they are not qualified to teach, and in a field where they possibly have little knowledge nor advanced training. Undoubtedly students will have difficulty in grasping the subject because the teacher who these students depend on is no more experienced than the students themselves. Problems of the Manitouwadge High School: I) Menitouwadge has a few teachers who are of poor quality. 2) Not enough money granted in the school for adequate oper=- ation. For example, the teacher in charge of the Manitou- wadge shops had to use his own funds to purchase material and equipment for teaching. 3) A teacher in charge of the library will be needed for next year. The present teacher in charge will not be in the library next year and the students that would be interested in working in the library do not have the time to spare. 4) lack of a smoking room in the school. Problems of Marathon High School: 3 Poor quality French course. Poor quality English Course 3) Leck of communication between principal and students. 4) Lack of guidance 5) Overall poor Arts and Science courses, Problems of Schreiber/Terrace Bay High School: I) No lunch room in Schreiber campus 2) No Grade I3 in Terrace Bay. 3) Students are treated like children 4) Classes are overloaded with some having 30 or more students, 5) Very poor guidance 6) Restrictions on library being closed down and students cleared when teacher leaves the library for several minutes, 7) Very poor Geography course. 8) Lack of communication between principal and students. 9) Facilities for Grade I3 are poor in Schreiber. Terrace Bay has better facilities to handle Grade I3 . 10) School board won't make enough grants available to carry on adequate programs. II) No smoking in the high school. INFORMATION ONTARIO Readers will probably be interested in the following which is rather unique but proves the resourcefulness of northern affairs. Recently an elderly gentleman attended at one of our offices in northwestern Ontario re- questing the assistance of the Northern Affairs Officer. It seems, that this gentle- man had purchased a quantity of mining stock from a rather high pressure salesman and now he was wondering what type of investment he had made. The Northern Affairs Officer on gathering the required information started the wheels in motion by contacting both the Ministry of Con- sumer and Commercial Relations and the Ontario Provincial Police. He was then directed to the Ontario Brokers Association. From this source he learned that the stock in question was worthless. Within three days from the time the gentle- man attended at the Northern Affairs Office he received a cheque refunding the full amount he had paid for the alleged stock. This story couldn't have been a success without the co-operation our officer received continued page 9 ...... 4