eynolds tops election

THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

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September 18, 1983

Motions indicate NVTA
would support strike

OPERATION SOLIDARITY — the labor-based
group fighting the provincial government — is
coming to the North Shore if the North Vancouver
Teachers Association has its way.

The NVTA made that deci-
ston a weck ago at a special
general mecting.

Among recommendations
of the executive of the group

By MARK HAMILTC

that were endorsed by the 450
teachers at the rally is one
calling for the NVTA_ to

Newsroom 985-2131

‘participate in (or partiapate
in the formation off the local
Solidarity Coalition
other groups in
community °*’

The recommendation tur
ther calls on teachers ino the
North Vancouver District to
sign and gather stgnatures for
the Solidarity petition and to
help Solidarity inform the
pubhe of the impact of pro
pesed provincial government
legislation,

A further recommendation
calls for planning a Solidarity
‘tweck of focus’? for the

with

ous

SUNDAY MONDAY
:Mainly cloudy Mainly cloudy

North Sore from October 9
to ls

NVIA peesident Bill
briesen was not available for
comment on the recommen
dations adopted by his
group, spelled out in a press
release recetved Thursday

Fhe NVTA also raised the
possibility in the release that
they would take part in a
general strike if one ts called

that’s spelled) out ina
statement “that the associa-
tion commit itself to par-
ticipating in co-ordinated
provincial action to oppose

- Next full moon
September 22

oe

the Jegislation,
direct yob
necessary -"
“*Phese motions. |
release claims,
following a

mnctuding
action of

the
““were passed
report which
pointed out that governments

rely upon two rationales
for governing: they c¢ither
govern with the consent ol!
the governed or they govern
through force. The intent of
these motions ts to inform the
government that they do not
have our consent to destroy
the right of all children to a
quality education.”’

SCHOOL BOARD
trustees in North Van-
couver said- Tuesday
that the proposed pro-«.
vincial financial system
for school districts has.
the potential to ‘‘devas-
tate’’ one of the ‘‘finest

school’’ systems in
British Columbia.

By 1986, the Ministry of
Education will demand a
reduction: of $8,339,976 in
the board’s present. budget of
$54,947,397. The 15.43 per
cent decrease does not in-
clude inflation and teacher
salary increases.

Trustee Roy Dungey was
Outraged at ‘‘the unfairness’’
of the provincial government
proposal, pointing out that if
teachers received salary in-
creases within the guidelines
and if there is a modest five
per cent inflation rate, ‘‘we
would be working with 40 per
cent less.”

By the end of November of
this year, school trustees will
be looking at options of cut-
ting oul entire programs in
the school system, and
chminating as many as 100
teachers more than those
already slated for lay-off
because of declining
enrollment

Trustee Verna Smelovsky
pomted out that North Van-
couver taxpayers were being
punished by the finance for-
mula as they will continue to
pay the highest property
school taxes in the provinee,

“We're subsidizing other
school districts... | want the
provincial government to
turn back the tax dollars to
our taxpayers which are not
being used in our district, in-
stead of distributing it to
other districts,”’ Smelovsky
said

The 15 43 per cont deercase
proposed by the Ministry of
Education is one of the three
highest decreases.