The Kingston Whig-Standard from Kingston, Ontario, Canada • 7

WEDNESDAY JULY 23 1997 7 Copyright In letters and other materials submitted to the publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author but the publisher and its licencees may freely reproduce them in print electronic or other forms Editorial Page Editor STEVE LUHTS Phone (613) 54-5000 ext 270 THE KINGSTON WHIOSTWiDARD 'H LETTE RS FTH DAY Ministry should have paidforbofs coffin good services at less Re: the article get assistance to buy son coffin they (July 16) The article says: home president Ralph Lindsey confirmed that social services will not subsidize personalized funeral arrangements I can understand that the provincial Ministry of Social Services has to draw a line regarding how much it will pay towards a funeral but we are talking about a 15-year-old child Andy Eves who did not deserve to be killed by an allegedly drunk driver For the ministry to tell a grieving family that has just lost a child that it will not pay for the coffin preferred by the family only for a coffin specified by the ministry is cruel and heartless Rules and regulations are sometimes bent a little in certain situations and I feel that this is certainly one of those situations Doesn't this family have enough grief losing a child and having to ask social services for help in paying for his funeral? 1 The least social services could do is pay the $2115 it provides for funeral arrangements and let the family make its own arrangements I would rather my tax dollars go toward giving this child a decent funeral and headstone rather than defending and housing another drunk driver For social services to ask Andy mother to sign a letter during her time of grief confirming she had refused die funeral benefits is absolutely appalling The article also stated that we could help this family cover the funeral expenses by making a donation at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce branches at the Napanee Mall and Gardiners Road or Thylor-Kidd Boulevard in Kingston Tbwnship Tb die Eves family I say: I am truly sorry about the loss of your son but sure hell be a handsome angel Dorothy Schiegel Kingston The Transition Board for the City of Kingston has asked me to write and comment on an article that appeared on July 11 under the headline ties hands Church The article was correct in stating that the legislation that created the new City of Kingston establishes 1998 total municipal expenditures It perhaps should have noted that the legislation was implementing a proposal by local municipal leaders The three municipalities that created the new dty have guaranteed that the new dty will spend less in 1998 than was spent in 1996 According to the agreement the total expenditures of the new dty will be about $214 million down from about $230 million in 1996 The dty will haw to deliver all its services for this amount The munidpal restructuring agreement provides that the $164 million saved can be added to the dty budget for only two purposes: putting money aside for improved connections across the Cataraqui River and paying for transition costs The rest must be used to allow taxes to go down At the same time the designers of the new dty agreed that service levels should not suffer The challenge for the transition board therefore is to deliver equally good services at less cost The board is confident that this can be achieved by creating a new municipal organization that is streamlined and focused firmly on results Unfortunately this is not the only financial challenge fadng the new dty It is difficult in a short letter to convey something as complex as the condi- CHURCH tions affecting the new 1998 budget One key component that was absent from the story might help Whig readers to understand the issues The province has announced Community rights or profits? jKkChlumw Whlg-Scandird CHURCH: As many savings as possible without damaging service levels -must be found when setting up the new city I want to thank The Whig-Standard for its interest in our longstanding campaign in Camden East Township to stop a 20-hectare quarry proposed for our area The story of July 12 challenge Lafarge to halt building of is one of several The Whig has published over the years I do though want to correct a few tilings in the story The article has the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) aligned with the township against the developer In fact the OMB is refereeing the 19-day hearing in Centreville that commenced July 14 Lafarge the multinational cement company wants tiie quarry the township mid many of its citizens decidedly do not The story makes reference to 100 trucks in feet not clear how many 40-ton trucks a day would roar through the village of Camden East but there are fears that it could be sev Board should define discretionary Come out to Kingston Exhibition In the story ties hand Church July 11) Gardner Church the interim chief administrative officer of the amalgamation transition board is quoted as saying that the implementation of amalgamation a reduction of no more or less than $1638 million or 15 per cent of discretionary expenditures next This is not quite what the order states It states that the new reduction of its 1998 budget shall be the greater of: 1) 15 per cent of the discretionary expenditures in 1996 for each of the former municipalities constituting the new dty or 2) a minimum of $7 million Presumably the figure of $1638 million referred to by Mr Church represents 15 per cent of discretionary expenditures If that is the case then eral hundred a day As for the 440-hectare established all around the 20-hectare site this is the work of the Ministry of Natural Resources not Lafarge Finally the story quotes me as saying that the cement company enjoys the foil backing of the federal government What I said is that with cutbacks and downloading from the provincial government our tiny township is hard-pressed to fight a costly legal battle with a powerful cement company Quarries are a provincial matter the federal government has no say in this issue and therefore no reason to back Lafarge The story is complex as no doubt the hearings will be But at heart if quite simple: What matters more community rights or corporate profits? Larry Scanlan Camden East This week the Kingston Exhibition gives urban residents the opportunity to rediscover their rural roots and show their children that agriculture is alive and well north of Highway 401 During each trip I take to Tbronto I look forward to seeing the roadside sign that says: Farmers No Food No That says it all fin-me I am a farmer and I am proud to say so rm looking forward to exhibiting at the Kingston Exhibition and like most of the participants I would enjoy the opportunity to chat with urban residents convinced that the food produced in Canada is of the highest quality Area residents can do their prut by buying locally when possible so we all have a future Hope to see you at the Kingston Exhibition Jeff Peters Inverary the past derstood by the authors themselves For example kids in grades 3 and 4 will have to know about the correct use of the apostrophe Yet the person who wrote the mathematics program does not Dozens of times numbers are written as etc That is a plural form correctly written as 10s 20s etc PARDON ME FOR REMINDING YOU that children learn under a filament of love and mutual respect that they do their best in an atmosphere of positive reinforcement and assurance of success that they need a lot of time for plwskal activity complemented by good food and frequent drinks of water that they learn what they believe they need to know and reject most of the rest that they flourish while engaged in artistic self-expression that personal development precedes academic prowess Teachers turned into stern functionaries and some of them alas will love the role will consciously or unconsciously abandon the essential qualities of excellence in teaching In the process the elementary schools will soon be littered with little children who are labelled failures I hope that many teachers and parents will get their priorities straight before this happens Peter Hennessy is a retired professor education He lives near Sydenham changes in the responsibilities of municipalities These changes which were part of what has become known as the Megaweek announcements mean that the new dty will be required to take over some services not previously delivered by munid-palities These services will have to be paid for in 1998 without going over the $214-million limit Some services such as municipal transit are already paid for within that limit and the change involves a loss of revenue from the province Other services such as family benefits or ambulances are not now paid for by municipalities and funds will have to be found within the total of what constitutes amounts to about $109 million This amount represents almost half of the total budgets of $230 million of the three municipalities for 1996 Just what constitutes municipal is never made clear The same wording and the reference to also appears on Page 28 of the report of the Governance Review Committee of July 10 1996 And this report made no reference as to what is meant by discretionary expenditures Presumably these expenditures are those that can be decided by a city council in the knowledge that their PLUNKETT PETER HENNESSY sional and volunteer staff have been resisted in order to protect the jobs and incomes of the so-called professionals In the process there have been more than 200 teacher strikes since 1975 Ontario students do not fare well in national and international comparisons of academic achievement Employers and college instructors complain of semi-illiteracy It is no surprise therefore that a provincial government whose core constituency is suspicious of modernism hedonism relativism and bureaucratism to say nothing of socialism is now bringing the hammer down on the schools It is entirely consistent that such a government is using a simplistic and coercive remedy within the framework of the basic subjects English and mathematics The long and elaborate curriculum document is Stalinist die budget limit to pay for them The impact of all this on taxes will not be dear for some time First more information is needed on the services that will now be munidpal responsibilities Second as many savings as possible without damaging service levels must be found when setting up the new dty Third the most efficient ways to deliver die new services must be developed Fourth the size of the provincial grant to pay for the transition costs must be determined Finally policy decisions need to be made by the transition board on how to put it all together This is the budget process on which die transition board is woridng Gardner Church Interim Chief Administrative Officer The Transition Board for the City of Kingston elimination will not have any impact on the current level and quality of munidpal services and activities Neither the transition board nor Mr Church have defined what is meant by expenditures" Nor have they published a complete list of such expenditures on which the 15 per cent reduction has been based To prevent any further confusion and controversy the board has an obligation to provide a definition of what constitutes as well as a list of the expenditures upon which the 15 per cent reduction has been based TJ Plunkett Kingston EDUCATION COLUMN both in its tone and utopian vision It even has a built-in Siberia a wasteland of failed kids Here are a few details selected randomly: At the mid-point of the elementary grades (the end of Grade 4) students wUl (not should) use verb tenses correctly write simple and compound sentences use phonics and knowledge of word structure and meaning to spell words correctly choose words that are most effective for their purpose identify and describe elements of stories (plot central idea characters setting) present information (orally) to their peers in a focused and organized form represent and explain number concepts and procedures explore the relationships between fractions and decimals explain their thinking when solving problems involving whole numbers explain the meaning of linear dimension perimeter and area use mathematical language to describe geometric ideas construct labelled graphs suited to the range and distribution of the data gathered At the end of Grade 8 students (those who have survived) will use case for pronouns correctly (no more you and but strictly you and use generalizations about spelling and their knowledge of how words are formed identify some stylistic devices used in literary works and explain their use curriculum plan I would like to compliment Chris Hammer for his letter about the hazards of driving farm equipment on our roads the road with July 16) He also gave an accurate and thoughtful description of the value of agriculture and its importance to our society Many are removed from agricultural roots with only two per cent of our population working the land and producing our food Fm saddened to see the younger generation growing up with little understanding of our food system Carnation Milk is not made from carnations and brown cows give chocolate milk Canadians spend the least amount of their disposable income on their food budgets except for our American neighbors whose climate is more favorable for farming Our long winters require the extra cost of storing food for farm animals a blast from Teachers turned into stem functionaries will consciously or unconsciously abandon the essential qualities of excellence in teaching 9 use knowledge of word origins and their derivations identify subtle effects in the dialogue of films or drama add and subtract integers with and without the use of manipulatives estimate the square root of whole numbers without a calculator develop the formula for finding the circumference and the area of a circle explain the Pythagorean relationship create problems giving rise to first-degree equations with one variable and solve them by inspection or by systematic trial This is a recipe for enthroning the pedantic pedagogue of the past the sort of pedagogue who made school so hatefol for so many The document reads as if it were written by a frustrated academic who has been kept in a closet in the Ministry of Education for the past 25 years and is now on the loose and spoiling for revenge It is a package of technicalities not fully un of There has been a weakening of standards in the schools of Ontario over the past generation In turn this reflects a deterioration of standards right across the board -standards of moral and ethical behavior of correct speech of responsibility and accountability in our public and private institutions of dress and deportment The schools are a mirror image of the community around them The standards problem in the schools can be described in this way: Parents have too little power in education decisions They have been turned into naive dummies by education experts with jargon that comes across as psycho-social babble Boards of education are in the pockets of these experts School boards with unlimited taxing power have built up elaborate structures of non-teaching personnel for coping with the needs of particular groups of children immigrant children semi-parentless children malnourished children disabled children gifted children Children of ordinary talents and of sound make-up physically and emotionally often get die short end of the stick Teachers have sheltered themselves behind increasingly powerful unions whose mandate has been more pay smaller classes better benefits more free time in the school day more professional activity days Opportunities to increase paraprofes- i.