Saturday, October 19, 1991 @ The Castlegar and District Teach- ers Association — the teachers’ union — has a very important decision to make when its members meet at Kin- naird junior secondary school Tuesday night. Hanging in the balance of that de- cision is the core of the entire ex- tracurricular program at our local high school and, toa lesser extent , the rest of the schools in the Castlegar school district. The way I see it, there’s no way sports progr icul activities at Castlegar schools should be allowed to die b h aren't allowed to drive buses on the weekends. The CDTA has to vote to rescind a motion it never should have passed in the first place. It has failed its stu- dents if it doesn't. CDTA president Bill Gorkoff says driving buses isn't in a teachers job de- scription and it’s the school board's re- sponsibility to pay for bus drivers. Comprom The school board — which gets high marks from a lot of teachers for its support of extracurricular activities in this district — superintendent of schools Terry Wayling says the board is tapped to the limit and has no change to spare. The bus drivers themselves, who are members of the Canadian Union 6f Public Employees, say they, as qual- ified, full-time drivers, should be the only ones allowed to drive the buses. There’s no blame to be attached here. Each component of this situation has valid points to make. But someone has to give a little on this issue. Some- one has to compromise for the sake of the kids. And it shouldn’t be the students who are forced to give up ing. It shouldn't be young people, who put in the extra effort to broaden their edu- cational experience by getting in- } A Free Agent at issue here, whether their safety is put in jeopardy if teachers drive the buses instead of drivers. Let’s put it-in perspective for a minute here. Teachers, by definition are intelli- gent and honest people. I believe that volved in ricular who are-made to suffer. It’s the safety of the students that is kids in jeopardy by driving the buses they would never do it. And these aren't those ungainly big ise, for sake of kids yellow buses were talking about here not let them? CUPE drivers could be hired on contract to train teacher-drivers while still handling all the local travel dur- ing the week as they do now. This is no time for confrontation, finger pointing or passing the buck. In a perfect world the best bus drivers that can be found should be found to drive precious cargo. In an imperfect. world, driven by dollars in short supply, what needs to be found are ical solutions. Without trying to sound too trite, extracurricular activities are what's best for the kids. Access to them may even be their right. School continued from page B1 in the school board’s court, said Gorkoff. Ifthe school board still can’t come up with the money, then “teachers will be expected not to drive buses on the week- end.” “I don’t think it’s fair to ex- pect teachers to drive buses. There are some teachers that would, but the vast majority, I think, feel that it’s not part of our job and we're not really qualified to do it,” said Gorkoff, who teaches at Kinnaird Ju- nior secondary school. Superintendent of schools Terry Wayling said the simple fact is the board can’t afford what amounts to an extra $50,000 for the bus drivers. “We had tocut back services in a whole host of areas last year in our budget,” said Wayling. “The school heartily endorses the involve- ment of our students and our staff in co-curricular and ex- tra-curricular activities. We simply don’t have enough money to provide for the addi- tional cost.” Chernoff said it’s cheaper to charter a private bus than get CUPE drivers for a weekend Green continued from page B1 sent down. Of course I'd rather be there,” he said. “But I don’t want to sound like I’m putting them down or anything. I think they were just giving me a taste of it right now.” Green, who has another year and an option left on his contract with the Islanders, said the coaches haven't said much to him about his status with the club but he’s confi- dent he can make an impres- sion on them in Troy. “They wanted me to come down here and work hard, play consistent over a period of time,” he said. “['m sure ifI play well down here and play consistently, I think I should get a crack at it, anyway. “Obviously the Islanders are a team, you know, that I would think a young guy could make, or they would be look- ing for a young guy to give a chance to.” Capital District, which fin- ished second last in the AHL’s Northern Division last season, is off to a 5-0-1 start this sea- son. Green, who's getting all the icetime he wants playing on a regular line and the special teams, has a goal and three assists in six games. “[ haven't started as fast as I wanted to. I missed a few ch that I shouldn't have,” and that’s exactly what she'll be doing. But she says it’s a waste. “This weekend three (school board-owned) minibuses will sit in that compound, while our field hockey team rents private transportation and pays out of their own pockets to make the trip to Agassi (for a tournament),” said Chernoff. Chernoff, who says she is as qualified as anybody to drive the minivans, has tentatively cancelled the team’s trip to Chilliwack for the provincial championships in November. Dining Lounge Located 1 mite South of Weigh DISCOVERY TOYS HOUSE Sunday Oct. 20 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. 112 Ferry Ave, Castlegar Laura — 365-2476 Welcome to a Discovery Toys experience. You are invited to share some fun and have a look at our wonderful, unique toys games. FREE COFFEE + DOOR PRIZE ¢ Open 4 p.m. Daily « wes SCA New Spirit of he said. Early logjam for first in CRHL News Staff First period fireworks fizzled into third pe- goals in the first, then adding two more in the riod defence as Castlegar Sports Centre beat third. os! peace . Banjo’s Pub 8-7 in a Castlegar Recreational Hyson and Arisman were silent in the third, second to even the score at six heading into the but Mitch Quaedvlieg took over for Sports Cen- participants 13/6:30-9:30 p.m. 5 sessions $90. 11/700-9:00 p.m. 6 session $30. Prenatal Classes: For the woman in her third trimester. Nov. 6-Dec. & hiring the right people., Nov. Hockey League game Tuesday at the Commu- nity Complex. The Centre win makes it a logjam af- ter two games in the CRHL with all five teams sitting with 1-1 records. Both teams got a goal in the first minute of But Bob Arisman provided the offensive power for Banjo’s scoring the team’s first two tre setting up a goals two minutes into the pe- riod and scoring the winner less than a minute later. ‘Tony Rego, who scored for Sports Centre in the first, assisted on both third period “CRHL action today has Shell playing Kootenay Computers at the Com- plex at 9 p.m. inding, 7 and 17/8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Thursdays. $60. ‘WHMIS; Hazardous Materials Information Systems. Oct. 23/6:30-9:30 p.m. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER CALL: CASTLEGAR CAMPUS - 365-1261 Selkirk College KALAWSIY PONTIAC BUICK GMC (1989) LTD. ———THE KING OF CARS Costleger 1700 Columbia Ave. —365-2155 Collect TRAIL, FRUITVALE, ROSSLAND CUSTOMERS CALL 364-0213