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stouffville suntribune thursday feb 10 2005 5 issues with province not us board says after teacher strike vote by chris traber staff writer yorks elementary school teachers expressed their anger with the york region district school board tuesday giving their union a near unanimous strike mandate that may result in worktorule action within weeks the teachers are frustrated and theyve sent the board the message that had to be sent said elementary teachers federation of ontario first vicepresident david clegg after 95 per cent of voters cast ballots in favour of job action mr glegg said the turnout at the premier ballroom in richmond hill was good he would not estimate how many of the 3755 public elementary teachers eligible to vote attended the results are consistent because the issues are consistent he said the teachers are tired of being treated like second class citizens when they look at their secondary school colleagues who have the same qualifications our members want to be treated in the same manner we hope this is the message that will bring the board back to the bar gaining table they the school board have the resources and the chance to make this a winwin situation with tuesdays tally in york 27 of 31 bill crothers relations with teachers federation good public board chairperson says provincial districts have given their federation a strike mandate ballots ranging from 88 to 100 per cent in favour were cast mr clegg said with a provincewide mandate school boards are caught in the middle of the teachers union and the education ministry public board chairperson bill crothers said relations with the federation and the school board are good right now weve had regular meetings the tone has been very good to the best of my knowledge there are no local issues causing difficulty said mr crothers adding the impasse will not be resolved on a board-by- board basis the federation representing 65000 public elementary school teachers and education workers in ontario is con testing paid preparation time and unpaid supervision time teachers want to increase their preparation time from an average of 150 minutes per week to 200 they also want to cap teachers supervision time at one hour each week the union advised weekly super vision time can range from 45 to 300 minutes it will be up to the ministry to decide if elementary teachers demands are realistic mr crothers said salaries are also being disputed were looking for real increases over and above two per cent inflation mr clegg said we know the province has given the board the funding but we just havent seen it we will show as much constraint as possible to have the least disruption to student programs but if the board continues to be stubborn and keeps dragging its heels well have to look at job action man still in hospital after collision a whitby man remained in critical con dition in a toronto hospi tal wednesday after a weekend motorcycle col lision in whitchurch- stouffville in which two others were killed three high perform ance motorcycles were on bloomington road east of kennedy road sunday around 4 pm when one a red honda rc51 crossed the centre line and hit a westbound 2002 pontiac sunfire head on speed appears to be a factor in the double fatal crash police said the driver of the motorcycle a 29yearold toronto man was pro nounced dead at the scene the front seat pas senger in the pontiac 63- yearold arnold hall of richmond hill was also killed the driver of the pontiac a 30yearold whitby man suffered serious head injuries and was taken to sunnybrook and womens college health sciences center in toronto two passengers in the rear of the pontiac suf fered nonlifethreaten ing injuries they were transported to southlake regional health centre in newmarket both had been released but one returned to hospital this week police said the two other motorcy clists returned to the scene for a moment but took off as others stopped to help two men returned to the scene hours later in a car and were arrested a 30 yearold man from toronto and 37- yearold stouffville man have been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle speed appears to be a factor in the crash police said anyone with informa tion is asked to call police at 18668765423 ext 7703 crime stoppers at 1- 800222tips or leave an anonymous tip online at wwwcrimestoppersyrca 2nd annual town of whitchurch stouffville saturday february 12 musselmans lake 1 00 400 outdoor activities shoot for the cure and win playoff tickets stouffville spirit snowmobileatv rides hayrides 230 pm stouffville figure skating club performing dog sled teams snow shoe fun fabulous chili compliments of honeys beestro hot dogs hot chocolate m mc mike feld 1 30 pm bach to blues live concert whitchurch highlands primary choir 230 pm york durham academy of performance arts concert band childrens choir celebrate valentines with heart shaped belgian chocolates compliments of charlindas chocolates face painting childrens ident kits charlindas chocolates jlafarge w can ada inc clarkson auctions source for sports sponsors ff town of whitchurch stouffville