& - North Shore Naws — Wednesday, October 4, 2000

Peteplovenh aattenenamnereupmmeanenet pettranet

HE recent ‘TransLink open:

- house on the North Shore
roHed out a familiar exhibition

‘of closed transportation minds when °

_iticomes to Burrard Inlet’s north
Side
yo The: forum: was presented as an
exploration of funding options for
the Lower, Mainland’s five-year $1. 4
. billion transportation plan.
“on Teeth gnashing from the region’s
°yesidents fas’ thus far been focused
on the proposed § $75 vehicte tax.:
But .there’s much ‘more taxpayers

“should reserve that gnashing 0 of teeth.

nk you. Trevor. is

2¢ misrepresentation of our left-wing media (Sept. 15)!:
dergraduate’ student in the 80s,:! remember w
‘Lloyd: Robertso: announced that. more than: 80% ~;
f Cariadians were:in favour of. abortion for themselves,”

ns:. Not surpris nay I discoverc that the. questions did-
ot.ask if Canadians supported abortion, but rahe

ortion for othe

id “I personally. ‘disagree:
with iscriminating oni the: basis ‘of gender, race, religious
bur’ if“someone’ clse

} ‘hati is‘up to them.”
‘This’ s lipper:
Said to me,.*

TransLink discussion

lope is-akin ‘to. what one acquaintance
believe abortion is murder; but it is'a nec

Obvious improvements to the
area’s transit system, such as a third
SeaBus, which would increase har-
bour crossing efficiency and provide

nveded ‘backup for the two aging
SeaBus vessels, iemaiz: off the transit.

discussion table. And there's little ;

else: in: the plan that will make it
worthwhile for more North Shore
‘residents to get out of their cars and
into transit.

But also missing in action in any
is considera-
tion'of where transit efficiencies can
be made within the current system.

“The plan is grounded in the tradi-

' tional tax and spend approach.

- Before any levies or other taxes are
added. to: the bills of long-suffering
area“ taxpayers “veal alternatives ‘to’
_ spending more and getting less need

“to be considered,

“EXTERNAL quality control i is not-

big’on your B.C. Teachers’
Federation (BCTE) .
agenda,

Better make that
external control of any |.
sorte:

Psior to this week's”

“ BC Labour Relations. -
Board ruling that orders
‘teachers to participate in

~ school accreditation, ~
» their paranoia over per-..
formance accountability
was best exemplified by: -
by the war-whoops com

ques:

f they. |

Wcwaia Time PATS BO RAD PRET it Wey CadSitec Rtas. tam

"ing front BCTF central over the ‘inal

school assessment process. The one that

remains virtually the only way the provin-
dal gov ernment and, ultimately, the school.
re indi

: system's customers have to.mi
». Midual school performance. ° =":

+. Its eifectiveness is open to debate. Bu
at least the process — which is a commit

the public school monopoly.

ty assessment involving parencs, students,
teachers, support staff and school: adirinis .
tration — provides some measurement of

From the BCTF’s outcry you'd think

that every teacher in the province is incon- *

enienced by accreditation duties to the:

Same, extent every y

every six years. This year 273 of the ©:

- province’s 1,800 schools will be accredited
ut, as mentioned; the BCTF is not big

ar: But individual .
- schools only go through the process once

on Measurements, comparisons Ir. any it
ther tools f education and instruction

VIEW POINT—————

RATT race

MONUMEN

But, if you check the fine print, it’s not”
so much a matter of work as a matter of -

The weachers*- vote fol-
lowed an accreditation. -

_- process review raat 2"

addressed BCTF con-

" cerns, According to the
education ministry, all
proposals from the
BCTF aimed at stream--:

». Hining accreditation, .,
~ including setting a maxi
5-;. Muny amount of time
“,. that individual teachers |
vest in the process,
. were agreed t
“Teachers have been left with ‘conipiling
basic information that thie education min-
istry. says is already gathered a as Part ofr freg.
“ular: chool activi .
~ 2 As to the maximum ace
required of individual teachers: five hours
“plus a day..And they get another.” 3;
», Professional Day asa vee in liew for their’
“ effons ;

And it sounded ye
‘president David Chudnovsky back in May.
‘He and the rest of the BCTE executive”
agreed to urge. teachers to lift their partic
pation ban. But teachers refused.
“Education minster Penny Priddy was
“understandably miffed, a

-ing under the illusion that the provincial
government, ‘not the BCTE, is harps OF:

“parent ‘and a anyone else interested in
education"quality have'a good case
wise being miffed.

narne,? full dress" and lephone ‘ number.
Sebalt via imal ta: fabecker@nenevs.com
6 §

ntavad

They’ re ‘already beholden to an educa:

* sion system in which performance, account
ability is next to. aon-existent. Where

_ teacher seniority, not al: iy. is the guiding

year to the Fraser Institute’s annual Repo:

-.Card on British Columbia’s Secondary

Schools, The free-market think ‘tank’s pub-

lication uses such data‘as the avera

: provincial exam mark and the’ percentag
ovincial exams failed is comp:

Teachers area key
which requires from, them the in
_of five additional he ch

Terry

Editorial Manager.
925-2131 (160)
fpetersensnews.com