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Where‘s the information? In an ideal world. each school in the region would have a full house of parents at the first school council meeting of the year. At this meeting there would be so many eager parents and guardians who wanted to be memâ€" bers of the council that there would need to be an election. These people would state their platforms, be elected, represent a population of parents who share their viewpoints, choose a member from their council to sit on the Regional Assembly of School Counâ€" O\'er the past few months I‘ve folâ€" lowed the Waterloo Regional District school board and what I‘m seeing is telling me that most trustees are stuck in the world of policy idealism instead of public realism. For example take the opinion from some trustees who believe there is good communication with parents and guardians. It‘s also printed in English and French, I BOURKE I were 20 degrees outside today, you‘d which gives all the opportunity to fail to be wearing a Tâ€"shirt and shorts." undefstand the gravity of the situation in "But‘s different in the house," both official languages. they whine. Jim‘s done a dandy job putting this one together. Bullpuckey, I say. It‘s the same number... it‘s all in There are pictures, graphs and all kinds of numâ€" _ your head. bersâ€"all the things you need to ensure you comâ€" And yet the battle rages on year after year. pletely understand the depths of the crisis which They think they‘re sneaky, slinking around by the faces us. thermostat, and quickly punching the up button to This is good because maybe if you understand it, you can counterbalance the people in my house who don‘t. A tipoff as wellâ€"it‘s now "Our" energy. If it‘s just "their" energy, everything is OK. However, once it becomes "ours", we know a couple of things. One, it‘s a crisis; and two, it‘s probably going to cost us money. By people, of course, I mean women, because I live in a house with four women. And I think they believe energy, be that natural gas or electricity, just magically appears in our home and doesn‘t require any kind of funding. Despite what they say (and I will deny this forevâ€" er). it‘s not my desire to leave them shivering in the dark for their entire existence (Although 1 certainly And so, the Emergency Brochure Preâ€" paredness department moves steadfastly forward, and produces a fullâ€"colour publiâ€" cation, complete with pictures and pithy quotes. "Our Energy, Our Future" it is called. You can always tell it is a VERY SERIOUS crisis when the government gives the brochure a name without any verbs in it. adies and gentlemen, we have a crisis. 1 know | this because the provincial government has nt me a brochure. + Somewhere. deep within the bowels of the govâ€" ernment, there is a department, I‘m sure, led by a man named Jim, whose phone rings only at the worst times. "Jim, get up here right away," says the voice on the phone. "We have a crisis." And Jim will provide the solution, because this is what he does. "We will send all the people of Ontario a brochure. That way they can read about the crisis, and be moved to action." Preparing for crisis mode LE TTEFERS Board information is also often difficult and time consuming to dig up. _ Information such as the Family Studies Review committee survey Most people get acclaimed thereby sometimes only representâ€" ing their own interests. Some schools do not even have a school council or have a regular attenâ€" dance to even meet quorum. While it is in the best interest of the children for parents to keep informed and participate, there are often time constraints and conflicts with other obligations. This chain of people would be an effective means of a twoâ€"way comâ€" munication. Reality however is quite different. Those that do, may not even have a parent representative who will go to the regional school counâ€" cil meetings. cils, which would then draw from this pool of representatives to parâ€" ticipate in school board commitâ€" tees. _ _Few schools ever have enough parents show up to council meetâ€" ings to even need elections. ) THE C COMMENT It‘s no wonder we face a crisis, and people like lim at the Emergency Brochure Preparedness department are forced to work 18 hour days. _ It‘s the women, I tell you. Why are they laughing at me? And yet the battle rages on year after year. They think they‘re sneaky, slinking around by the thermostat, and quickly punching the up button to override the settings. Just as quickly, I slink back and regain command. * Hear more of Brian‘s thoughts on life with the KOOL Morning Crew every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on Waterloo radio station 105.3 KOOL FM. believe this can toughen them up.) However, I don‘t think it‘s necessary for them to leave the lights on in a room, just in case they might return there in the next couple of hours. Is it really such a tremendous burden on their physical strength to turn the light off? "But dad," they say, "I‘m going back into that room." When? Tuesday? Do they really need to run the dryer for 20 minâ€" utes just for that one top? "But dad," they say, "I want to wear that today." Are things so bad that they are reduced to just one piece of clothing? Of course, l remind the that freezâ€" ing is actually zero degrees, and the heat is set nowhere near that. "Plus," I sagely advise them, "If it were 20 degrees outside today, you‘d be wearing a Tâ€"shirt and shorts." And the heat! They walk around the house, wrapped in blankets, moaning and shivering because I have the audacity to set the thermoâ€" stat at 20. s What a horrible father and provider 1 am, to leave them with just that one item to wear! Is there nothing else in your closâ€" et that will look "just perfect" today? ter. "It‘s freezing in here," they chat I wonder how many parents know there is a new Anaphylactic Policy that became effective Jan. 1, 2006, stating among many safety measures, that there is to be "Conâ€" stant adult supervision during nutrition breaks", or that the review committee on the BSD has already had three meetings and not one of those meeting times were made public, or that there is a committee on changing the kindergarten day? How are these important issues communicated with those parents who don‘t speak or read English well or for those who don‘t have easy access to the Internet? I don‘t believe that this past year has shown that parents get plenty of useful quality information from the trustees and school board and, in particular, in a timely fashion. may never even make it all the way down the line to all the parents. Just posting the odd tidâ€"bit on a Board web site does not constitute good communication. 0 Cariâ€"Lin Thurlow Waterloo The electorate would not be impressed, and there would be clamoring to either extend the term of the council or do away with fixed election dates for the province. Someone someâ€" where in Queens Park had a look at a calendar and recognized that 2015 would see two elections one month apart from each other, and figured out that we better fix the dates to avoid the potential conflict. My view is that this is already a done deal. And you can count on the fact that when we head to the municipal election polls this November, we will be electing councillors and trustees to serve for four years. Despite all the rhetoric of improved democracy, better govâ€" erning etc. etc., the real reason is arithmetic. Yes, arithmetic. The next provincial election is set for Oct. 4, 2007, so further provincial elections will be in 2011 and 2015. At threeâ€"year terms, municipal elections will be 2006, 2009, 2012 and bingo... 2015. The argument against the fourâ€"year term is they may be too long for a council that isn‘t doing a good job; plus, four years will not do anything to encourage new people to run because an extra year will further support the incumbents and make it even harder to unseat someone who is already elected. The arguments in favour are: four years will improve the stability of local government, assist councils and school boards in their planning ‘and govern with a diminished threat of another election just around the corner. In fact, there is no compelling reason for or against fourâ€" year terms, and last time I checked I can‘t remember a conâ€" stituent knocking on Queen‘s Park‘s door asking for increased terms. The thought of a provincial election in October 2015 and a municipal election in November of the same year would be too much for one province to bear. Fourâ€"year terms for councillors and trustees 1 am neither for nor against the provincial government‘s trial balloon on fourâ€"year terms for municipal councils and school trustees. Fixed terms are already a reality of the Ontario political landscape. * The Olympic team with 24 medals, a Canadian record. * The Canadian women athletes who won 18 of the 24 medals. * Bobsledders Pierre Lueders and Lascelles Brown. Brown received his Canadian citizenship just weeks before the games. * Wayne Gretzky. While under C | intense pressure, he displayed nothâ€" * ing but class all the way. A true leader. * Canada‘s message to the world SEAN that we are a tolerant, inclusive and STRICKLAND strong nation. * Governor General Michaille Jean. * Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan accepting the Olympic flag and waving it from his wheelchair. That‘s Canada, baby. Gotta love it. * Canadian speed skater Cindy Klassen, the woman of the games. One gold, two silver and two bronze for a total of five medals. Ifi * Athletes who underperform and fail to achieve a medal and don‘t offer up lame excuses for their performance. * American speed skater Joey Cheek, who donated his Olympic bonus money to righttoplay, a non profit organization that encourages sporting activities for youth in warâ€"torn counâ€" tries. His generous gift was trumped by Canadian speed skater and gold medalist Clara Hughes, who didn‘t receive any bonus money but instead donated her life savings of $10,000. team Here is a short synopsis. of what 1 consider will be my best Olympic memories of 2006. * The Norwegian coach handing Becky Scott the ski pole when her pole broke. Scott and her teammate Sara Renner went on to win silver. * The Croatian Alpine skier Ivica Kosteleic whose career has been overshadowed by his sister, Janica, who dominates her sport. When he won silver he was so overjoyed he hugged and kissed and cried with everyone. At the medal presentation he walked on his handsâ€"yes, walked on his handsâ€" to the podiâ€" um providing an example of pure joy and innocence and exuâ€" berance that is the heart of sport, any sport. Eâ€"mail your questions/comments to sean@seanstrickâ€" The Canadian women‘s hockey Fourâ€"year terms are on the way