Freedom Flyer March 1996 Cover

Freedom Flyer 29

the official newsletter of the
Freedom Party of Ontario

March 1996




Education Budget Hearings...

HOSTILE REACTION TO METZ PRESENTATION
GRINDS HEARINGS TO A HALT

LONDON (March 6, 1996) - In the middle of his presentation to London Board of Education trustees on their 1996 operating budget, Fp president Robert Metz was suddenly cut off and prevented from continuing by the chair.

Heather Wice, chairperson of the Board's Budget Committee, interrupted Metz by warning him to refrain from "attacking a particular individual" on the board. Although Metz's written and oral presentation neither attacked nor mentioned any trustee by name, he was stopped when he quoted from the budgetary philosophy of the Board's chairperson as delivered in his inaugural address: "Programs should not be driven by the budget; programs should drive the budget."

It was the second time that Metz was prevented from continuing a presentation before the Board, the last being on March 28, 1992 when then-budget chair Bill Brock attempted to prevent him from discussing costs related to the "child-centered" method of teaching, known loosely as "whole language." (Written transcripts of that confrontation are available.)

Brock is currently chairperson of the Board.

Fortunately, trustee Robert Vaughan (also Fp's provincial secretary) challenged the chair's decision.

Wice argued that Metz's comments were not related to budget issues, which was a remarkable charge in light of the fact that previous submissions made to the board included children singing, interest groups pleading their cases for continued funding, and one group that even used "Lifesavers" candy projected on an overhead to make its case for continued funding!

A vote was taken to determine whether trustees supported Wice's decision to prevent Metz's referring to the chairperson's inaugural address. It was supported by all, with the exception of trustees Vaughan and Thomas McClenaghan.

Discussion ensued and eventually Wice permitted Metz to continue, provided that he "refrain from personal attack," even though no such attacks were ever implied in any way.

After his address, board trustees were visibly hostile when they challenged Metz on a number of issues. Trustee Joyce Bennett criticized him for not referring to the Board's Costing Analysis Reports. Metz responded by saying he was under no obligation to do so, and reminded the trustee that "it's not my job to do your job.

"The issue is this," he continued, "Ultimately, WHICH of these or other cost-saving measures you choose will depend on the predominant budgetary philosophy of the Board. That's what's important to taxpayers and the public. What we need to know from each individual member of this Board is this: do you share the chair's vision, or was the chair's inaugural speech only one trustee's position?"

(That question still remained unanswered when, on the open-line radio program Talk of the Town hosted by Jim Chapman (CJBK AM radio) the next morning, Metz directly asked chairperson Bill Brock whether or not he was speaking for the Board. Brock did not address the question and instead deflected the discussion to other issues.)

At one point, Metz was forced to ask permission from the chair to respond to a question posed by another trustee. The question could only be answered by reference to the chair's inaugural address. After about twenty minutes of other attacks against his position, including trustee Marilyn Joslyn's charge that he "doesn't care about kids," Metz left the public input session disgusted with both the budgetary philosophy and the behaviour of most of the trustees.

It should be noted that trustee Brock did not speak once during the entire presentation.




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