TRUSTEE IN DRUG BUST PLANS TO ATTEND BOARD MEETING

A Turtle River School Division trustee facing drug charges said he
will attend Tuesday evening's board meeting, to prevent fellow
trustees from kicking him off the school board.

"I intend on going," said Gilbert Soucy of Laurier.

Soucy has missed the last two regular school board meetings. Unless he
attends the regular board meeting Tuesday, the board can declare his
seat vacant.

Soucy said that he and his wife, Colleen Soucy, do not yet have a
trial date, but declined to discuss their legal situation.

Colleen Soucy is a school bus driver with Turtle River.

Trustees slapped a suspension without pay on Colleen Soucy Sept. 30,
two days after RCMP conducted a raid on an alleged grow op in Laurier.

Gilbert and Colleen Soucy were charged with possession for the
purposes of trafficking, and with production of cannabis.

RCMP raided a property in Laurier, 70 kilometres east of Dauphin, on
Sept. 28.

Meantime, the Manitoba Teachers' Society is upset at a policy that
requires any teacher who misses a deadline for filing notice of
retirement or resignation, to give Turtle River a $1,000 certified
cheque to cover paperwork.

Any costs above the $1,000 are deducted from the teacher's final pay
cheque.

"As far as we know, it doesn't exist anywhere else in Manitoba," MTS
president Pat Isaak said. "The teachers' society is absolutely opposed
to that policy, and we will fight very vigorously any efforts to
impose the board policy."

Turtle River officials did not respond to interview
requests.

The division is Manitoba's smallest, with about 850 students.