Scho Dear Editor: In a recent edition, a disgruntled reader called for the removal of elected school trustees as governors of our public education system, While the difficulties and frustrations Ms. (Tun the school system are real, she ascribes many of the problems to the wrong source and, through a process of extremely muddled thinking, suggests a faulty alternative. Her anti-democratic view displays a complete lack of understanding of the fundamental nature of the public school system in our Canadian demwcracy. Canadians believe in a public school system in which al! children must have an opportuni- ty to achieve an education that will inerease their Prospects to be successful contributing members of society. This public school man- date is so fundamental to Canadian democracy ‘Well-read News works Audain has experienced dealing with . ———=MAIL trustees work f that it has its own unique form of gov involving democratically-elected citiz represent. the public’s interest. The focally elected school trustee represents “the publ in public education. Like municipal council- lors, members of the legislature and members of parliament, a! trustees represent the whole community. They ensure that the chil- dren of that community receive the education that will best serve them as members of that community. If the electorate is not pleased with the performance of its schools, it has directly accountable and accessible trustees liv- ing and working in the community to hold responsible and ultimately, if need be, to remove from oftice and replace. While this sys- tem may be imperfect, it has given us one of the highest standards of living and one of the best education systems in the world. Ms. Audain cites a 1976 OECD report to criticize school boards. Yet things truly have Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - North Shore News - 9 Box changed over the last 24 vears. Granted, the ability of boards to manage school district: effect has been constrained in the last 10 or so years by increasing provincial govern- ment rules and regulations, and by the ncces- sity of working within an industrial labour relations model of managing human resources. Boards do concern themselves first and fore- most with the quality of education that stu- dents receive. If Ms. Audain looked at more recent OECD reports and other international measures, she would see this. In my experience as a trustee in North Vancouver and as a board member of the B.C. School Trustees Association, | have observed that boards generally make great efforts to communicate to parents and the public, take pains to respond quickly and effectively to inquiries and problems, encourage parent vol- unteers, and facilitate meaningful relationships between parents and teachers. jueridge area losing facil ir publ Finally, Ms. Audain seems to think that if parents could govern and control individual schools, all would be well. She thinks democ- ratically elected trustees are “babes in the woods” dealing with union groups and that somehow parent committees at cach school would do better. I don’t think so. Any parent that wants to get involved in the governance of schools is free to do so — all you have to do is get elected. While there is always room for improve- ment in our education system, the reality is that elected school boards are key to the suc- cess that our students have achieved in the past and will continue to achieve into the future, and key to the local community — the public — in having a say in how their schools per- form. Barbara MacLellan Trustee, North Vancouver School District 44 for hatchery society Dear Editor: While one national newspaper boasts it is “well read,” | submit evidence that the North Shore News is extremely “well read” in its publishing territory. When Seymour Salmonid Society told the News that it needed a volunteer treasurer for its board of directors, you ran a short story headed “Society needs number cruncher” cn May 31. Swiftly, we received responses from several - North Shore residents and, after interviews, we now have a new treasurer in place. Many thanks for your help. The non-profit society operates the Seymour River hatchery which releases about one million salmon and trout into the river each year. Bill Ray Dear Editor: Tam very concerned by the continuing loss of facili- ties available to Blueridge- area residents. Our bus service has been reduced to a midday hourly service from a half hourly service. The postal station at Cadet Stationery on Main Street has been forced to close by the actions of Canada Post and recently the Bank of Montreal has closed their Parkgate Branch. What is next? I am retired, and two Exchange, go to the postal station at Cadet Stationery on Mountain Highway then walk to the Bank of Montreal on Main Street and then catch the bus and be home all within one hour. Recently, with Cadet being closed, I had to go to the postal station at Parkgate to collect some mail so I planned to do some banking at the Parkgate Bank of Montreal only to find that it had also been closed and was directed to the Main Street Branch. and the Main Street Bank of Montreal I would have to travel via Phibbs Exchange, in both directions. The round trip would take some- thing over two hours depending on the connec- tions. As this is so inconvenient I made the round trip to Parkgate and Main Street by car in one hour, which is the same time as it used to take, by bus to go to the bank and postal station, before the cuts. We are told to drive less and use public transit but the reality is, that Blueridge residents are being encour- aged to drive more. Also for those older persons who are unable drive it is getting more and more difficult to continue to live — in Blueridge. Where does the Seymour Community Plan address this reality? 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