Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, I'd like to make note for the record that although I'm not going to repeat all the zeros, but school community counsellors are one-fourth of the value of the custodian. I'm not the designer of this formula, but then as you look at it, it's kind of a shame that, well maybe more along the lines of one-third but even still, the principle should still stand which is we value custodians three times as much as we value student counsellors. I don't find the formula, in my opinion and from those who I've talked to, is I think the formula holds back certain scenarios and if we want to talk about a true formula, I mean, we should base custodian staff and maintenance staff on square footage of buildings as opposed to how many bodies you can squeeze in that school for the end of September/early October head count. The fact is a school needs maintenance whether it's half-full or it's completely full and I'm telling you, from my experience, kids will wander through, staff will use the whole school and it still needs to be mopped and cleaned and stuff. So in those formulas, I think there's a real gap between what's considered real accountability in the sense that you need people under the right type of context. That's why I say that I see you looking at the formula, to me we undervalue what community counsellors offer and we certainly put a high emphasis on custodians. To me, that almost seems backwards. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Robert Hawkins on Item 16: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 20th, 2007. See this statement in context.
Item 16: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 16: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 19th, 2007
Page 1041
See context to find out what was said next.