The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Education health There were also several other matters discussed, such as whether Holden Caulfield and Duddy Kravitz should be allowed to mingle with the rest of the students; whether the strap should be substituted for discipline: plus the general all-round state of At the time she did make the statement. Mrs. Neville was part of a large crowd of teachers and members of the public attending a special meeting of York County board of education to see whether moral issues were really moral issues. or just all part of the school curriculum. like recess. “Yes, that’s what I said,” Janette Neville, an English teacher at G. W. Williams Secondary School, was saying .the other day. “And to some extent it’s true. But [didn't give it the full context. I didn't have the time." RICHMOND HILL â€" Did you know that the present population of York Region is 196,000? That’s a fact. And did you know that, in a group of 100 Grade 9 students in the region tested last year, 56 needed remedial reading? That‘s also a fact. However, it's a fact that now having been uttered, seems to have given its declarant pause. Most children with learning disabilities have at least average or above average intelligence. It has been “If a child is assessed, have a talk with the teacher. It has to be the home an‘d_ the schoql 7 together. ” Mrs. MacDonald thinks more children should be assessed; any child who has a school problem possibly has a learning disability. Kevin is now receiving private tutoring and understanding at school. “I‘m very proud of him because he was a frustrated little boy, but with medication, tutoring and un- derstanding he is a totally different boy." Her son Kevin was hyperactive. It was a shield he put up to hide a per- ceptual problem. He was seven years old at the time, and Mrs. MacDonald says “we had him psychologically tested because we became suspicious, although there was nothing noticeable from his report cards. We wanted to have our own Opinion and wanted to satisfy ourselves.” Within two days Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald found out by interview and written report that Kevin had a lateral reversal problem; he saw things in reverse. A cause has never been established. According to Mrs. MacDonald, there can be many different causes for a learning disability. “A lot 6f familiés have éifiéfiéhced anxiety and frustration to the point of breakdown,” she comments. a number of parents she talked to weren‘t quite as fortunate as her, in that she has a partner who is willing to share responsibility and direction. Mrs. MacDonald is chairman of the conference committee for York Region chapter of the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities. She says she was eager to become involved because Her friend had been through a similar experience and because of that Mrs. MacDonald knew she couldn’t blame herself; a learning disability is not the fault of the parents, and thinking that it is can be of no help to child or parent. L earning d/Zsabi/iz‘ies successfully treated “I had a good friena who wasdthere to share”, she says, and having that support I didn’t feel quite as badly as I might have". By Doreen Livingstone THORNHILL â€" Margaret Mac- donald was fortunate when she discovered a year ago that her son Kevin had a learning disability. In the classroom: By Jim Irving Margaret MacDonald ...helps to share experiences “If I were a parent, I wouldn’t want my kids going to that school. I'd think they were all dummies. Which is not the. case." A small number of students needed remedial aid, she said and she didn’t want it misinterpreted. “I feel I gave the impression all the kids were in that category." she said. a “student who has a pmbléxriroli'vâ€"riiiiré in a particular area, such as reading, writing, etc.” At that moment she was meeting with the board's chief research officer, Brian Birnham, whom she apparently felt it expedient to call and enlarge on her words of the night before. They were also going to come up with a definition of the word “remedial,” because, “what is the definition?" View modified It was when called by The Liberal the next day, however, that she said she felt her statement on remedial reading should be modified. When the matter was discussed again later on, Mrs. Neville saiglit applied to A ‘l_L,, ,1 “I think there‘éfégrbglems offered my services.“ It was the first time she had been to a committee meeting of the board, she said. and she wanted to know if the Grade 9’s were prepared. “r n - health of education in the area. It was with this latter concern in mind that Mrs. Neville contributed her offering to the gathering. ,These seminars take place at Thornlea Secondary School on Bayview Avenue at 8 pm. and tickets ($4) are available either at the door or from Rome Dale, 120 Babcome Drive, or Nancy Trantor, 171 Romfield Circuit. Mrs. MacDonald has initiated a seminar series which is now in progress. On Oct. 29, Dr. Nancy Warnock, professor of special education at the University of North Carolina, will speak on Learning Disabilities from the Educational Perspective,” and on Nov. 18, Al Katzman, co-chairman, of adolescent affairs of the American branch of ACLD will speak on Learning Disabilities from a Legal Perspective.” Various areas have their own branch of the ACLD. For a minimal fee, there are many benefits in joining, such as the fine and gross motor program, a swimming program on Saturdays, resource and information centres, and newsletters and current information available. For further information, call Crosby Heights Senior Public School in Richmond Hill at 884-7933. “The ministry of education is of- ficially recognizing the need. It was recently announced that there will be consideration given for the establish- ment of special classes for children with learning disabilities at the discretion of the individual school boards ” Ronne Dale, one of these parents, says “there is a tremendous change coming about now and we are begin- ning to recognize that there is such a thing as a learning disability. It in- volves a large number of the school population. Those working with the association do not necessarily have a child with a learning disability, nor do they have to be members of the association. It is a community effort toward public education and has stemmed from parents. The ACLD started 15 years ago in Ontario when some parents wanted to share their experiences. At the time perceptual problems were not diagnosed and not handled. Kevin, now eight, is an avid model builder. A year ago he could not have done it. He has also made a crystal radio with the help of his father. established that very often, after about two years of working with a known perceptual problem, the child is able to return to his own grade level. Had she and Mr. Birnham established anything in their meeting? “No, but it was informative. He gave me the whole way of looking at it . . . related it to other tests and that we’re right about where the norm is in Grade “n. uyvuvvu. 7 The evidence shew-ell the girl was a heavy user of drugs, especially speed, and had often been in trouble with the law. Rogers, who said it was the first time in 20 years he had done so, allowed the new hearing after defence counsel Ed Schofield produced evidence not previously available to the accused. Alleged rapist acquitted TORONTO â€" Thomas Thompson of Thornhill, who was convicted in March of raping a 17-year-old girl, was acquitted of the same crime last week when Judge William Rogers re-opened the case. , _ -...vv ..vvuu\.. Starting at 16:30, the sho-xiv will in- clude Free to Be You andlMe, Mad Baker, Live Ghosts and two surprise films. RICHMOND HILL â€" A Saturday morning film program for children of all ages will be presented Oct. 30 at Richvale library on Pearson Avenue. Starting at 10:30, the show will in- Speakers will be Pat Hart, who will discuss how to trace your family tree, Axel Rinek on the achievements of William Berczy, John Lunan on the Berczy settlement in Unionville and Isobel Champion, who will talk about Unionville pioneer life. UNIONVILLE â€" Unionville Cen- tennial Library will hold a series of four programs dealing with local history and geneology Wednesday evenings beginning Oct. 27. Films on Saturday History series in Unionville “Membership in the club is small, and this ambitious project of 16 playgrounds cannot be completed 'without the involvement of the com- munity in providing additional man- power,” he said. Peter ' Merrill, I tlie ; Kinsmen's chairman of the project, expressed appreciation for the efforts of the volunteers. At Jefferson, the students raised their share of the money by selling chocolate bars, and'for the past several weekends volunteer workers have been building swing sets, climbing apparatus and other playground equipment. Each school is to raise up to $750 on its own, and the Kinsmen will provide matching funds to all of them. The Kinsmen have pledged $12,000 over the next five years for the con- struction of playgrounds in 11 public and five separate schools in Richmond Hill. Kinsmen build playground RICHMOND HILL â€" Local Kinsmen Club members, parents, teachers and other volunteers were hard at work last Saturday, despite hard rainfall, con- structing an adventure playground at Jerrerson Public School. “. . .It wduld seem that settlements are much more readily reached when John Laskin, whose report is to be submitted to the chairman of the education relations committee, said it would be unrealistic to expect the teachers to accept the board’s position in negotiations without some documentary verification”. . . AURORA â€" A fact finder in the collective bargaining dispute between York County board of education and its elementary teachers said that, “if negotiations towards a fair settlement are to be fruitful there must be full and open disclosure between the two par- ties.” Janetpe Neville ...lots of problems “It’s difficult to decide where the teacher’s responsibility is and where the student’s is. “Parents’ Night really helps,” Mrs. Neville said. “I make an appointment with the parents and ask them for help. Between the two of us we try to decide some course. “We’re not always successful." Mrs. Neville said discipline was “pretty strict" at G. W. Williams. If that doesn’t work, the student is let slide to some extent, until he comes to her. Or elee be might leave altogether. “ff he still won’t respond, I tell him I will _l}elp,_ but go smgrtgn up." Wasn’t it the duty of a teacher to teach the Over-all class. Methods followed She hadn’t resigned herself to that, Mrs. Neville said. “I can deal with individuals if I set up the program properly. If a student is hurting the class and won't respond, I call him and his parent in. She was in a bit of “a bind” on that score, Mrs. Neville said. Should she teach to all, or concentrate more on the individual who needed help, until he caught up? How could the level of reading. Blus comprehension, be raised? ‘ They could be bright in other areas of English, bgt‘ §_till_be [my in reading. The problems were emotional and perceptual; there was no “concrete evidence" the students were poorly prepared. “It takes a lot of soul searching." intercourse There-is no admission charge to the fair to be held at the school at 8569 Bayview Ave. just north of Highway 7. A lOâ€"speed bicycle is being ra.ffled (if at}:45 p‘m. In her testimony at the original trial, the girl said it was only after being phieatened with a knife that she had Pony rides, games, cartoons, food and prizes have been planned for children and there will be a bake sale and white elephant table for parents. Speaking in his defence for the first time â€" he hadn’t felt it necessary the first trial ~ Thompson said that, early on the morning of March 6, 1975, he had given a ride to a hitch-hiker on Yonge Street near Richmond Hill. The girl was friendly and “I thought I could make out with her,” Thompson said. “I never raped her . . . She was willing the whole way.” THORN HILL â€" The local Montessori School’s annual fall fair is being held Sunday b_e§ween noon and 4 pm. Montessori ’3 fair on Sunday The questions raised by Luftman’s lawyer have been answered in a report from the town solicitor which includes a letter from the society’s lawyer, Donald Hindson. Markham fairground committee disbands Luftman had been criticized for questioning the legality of the sale of the fairgrounds by the Markham and East York Agricultural Society to 293484 Ontario Ltd. Markham council voted last month to designate the fairgrounds residential, despite the efforts of the Save the Fairgrounds Committee to have a special committee set up to study the possible use of the old fairgrounds site. “The citizens ha'v锓6e€6"f6?1?d again," said chairman Dr. Jack Luft- man, after the abandoning of the committee. MARKHAM ‘â€" The Save the Fairgrounds Committee has disbanded. Funds for construction of the playgrounds. and for other Kinsmen service projects, are raised at the club's annual Monster Bingo. The next bingo is scheduled for May 1977. The Kinsmen are Canada’s only native service club, and its national However, the teachers' Hfihél offer would put it $430,000 over budget for the same period. even though the teachers Laskin’s remarks resulted from the board’s statement that its own final offer would put it approximately $90,000 0vrer budget to the end of 1976. That didn't mean it might lead to the teachers “only being content with every last dollar of the board‘s budget," but the more one side refused to reveal essential information, “the more it leaves the other party to believe that there really must be something to hide." The Save the Fairgrounds Committee there is full disclosure between the parties.” Concerned teacher ponders morals, dis 01:0 //'n e, 3 Rs She doesn’t look much older than the Grade 10 and 11 pupils she teaches and it’s not difficult to picture her walking down the school halls through a chorus of whistles. And, no matter how they learned, they still wound up writing the exams. There was no escape there. Her qualifications Mrs. Neville has an honors BA from Brock University in St. Catharines and a teaching certificate from Western. “If you’re going to be slack, nothing works. But if you catch their interest, you have a better chance of teaching them in what is referred to as the traditional way." “We only lose a small percentage of pupils," Mrs. Neville said. “It’s usually not just problems in English, but other subjects as well. They read their assignments more carefully, made critical judgments and were less defiant. They also built their “skills and confidence." And while the procedure â€" working out their own comic book format â€"- may seem strange to some, Mrs. Neville saig it helped (hem. Sparks interest Part of Mrs. Neville’s soul searching has her “general,” or non-advanced students participating in projects. These projects help to sustain student interest in the subject of English lieterature, a subject they might be only too ready otherwise to abandon because of the potential work load looming ahead of them. But it is. That’s snow in the blond hair of 7-year-old Maya Samila, daughter of David and Susan Samila of Richmond Hill, and there’s no difficulty interpreting the look on her face last Saturday when a freak snowstorm hit the area. Sunny weather followed for the first of the week, and tomorrow â€" who knows? He had been planning to be one of the local celebrities dunked in a tank of water as part of a charitable fund raising stunt. But he heard that the agricultural society had a photographer set to take his picture when he went in, and he changed his mind. He also said he did hat submit to a dunking at the Markham Fair last week as previously reported. The group was disowned by the executive of the Markham Ratepayers Incorporated. Luftman says there were only five out of ten members at the meeting where that happened. once gathered 2,313 names on a petition to council, but after council made its position clear last month, Luftman said he was ready to throw in the towel. The Richmond Hill club is open to any men, under 40, who are interested in community work and club fellowship. Further information of club activities and membership may be obtained from Don Hill at 884-2861 or Gary Robertson at 884-3582. headquarters are in Thornhill had stated it would be well within the board’s budget. In fact, it would even leave the board free to hire extra teachers, they said. Despite this discrepancy and his own “considerable urgings," the board wouldn’t pr0vide teachers with a detailed financial breakdown of its budget calculations and estimates, Laskin said. “The board, as I understood it, feared that to reveal anything but hard facts would mean the end of fair negotiations and the beginning of negotiations to budget time," he said. Compromise proposed Laskin said he didn’t doubt the sin- THE LIBERAL. Wednesday. October 1 The bright and conscientious young teacher let a slight sigh escape, “I'm learning,“ she said, “I’m learning." “Well, you did give that figure. And it was a public meeting. If you don‘t mean what you say, you shouldn’t say it,” she was told. “Could Elou change that cent (56 of 100 students tested required remedial reading) to approximately 56 ___ ____4nn 7 The next day she called to see if she coulid suggest another alteration. What's “remedial” With the interview over, Mrs. Neville sat looking thoughtful for a moment and then said she felt “remedial” should now be defined as applying to a student who had “a problem in one or more areas and is weak in com- prehension. " Her husband, who is also a teacher, has less trouble in that department, because “he’s a big guy.” So it often boiled down to that, did it? “It’s an awful thing to say, but it’s true,” she replied. “If we let the kids get éWay with things we’re not helping ourselves,” she says. And so she does it with her blend of common sense teaching â€" no shoddy speech around her â€" and firmness of manner when the need arises. “You have to éam their resvpecrt,” she said. She likes her work, which she’s only been doing for a few years, and she fouhgi the first year the roughest. cent?” V-,vv‘. unlu vau,l‘W- The éfid'for elementary principals as proposed by the teachers, shows a low of $27,550, compared with the board’s offer of $27,300. The anrd's offéi' in the same caiggory $8,800 and $25,200. The teachers’ proposed salary schedule shows a low of $9,000 in its starting category to a high of $25,300, with 11 year’s experience and the proper qualifications. Because of previous lowerings, the board said it could not afford a further reduction. The teachers, meanwhile, say they compare unfavorany in the secondary panel in York and that lowering the ratio improves the ef- ficiency and performance both of stgdents and teachers. He said the teachers didn’t dispute the board's claim that in York the reduction of one-tenth of one point in the pupil-teacher ratio meant an additional cost of about $100,000. “I am reasonably satisfied from my discussions with the parties that, if the monetary issues were settled. other items in dispute would be resolved relatively quickly," he said. Pupil-teacher ratio Most contintious item between the two parties, according to Laskin, was staffing and class size. Laskin said the “grid to grid monetary difference was in the order of $150,000," and it was regrettable an agreement hadn’t been reached before the intervention of the fact finding process. “That may not help solve the dispute, but it may help the board to satisfy the teachers as to its financial situation, and thereby assist in moving toward a monentary settlement." , __ ~....°v. .n-vu. Now having seen the board‘s in- formation. Laskin said he felt it could be given to the teachers without loss of negotiating stand. In assessing the latter, he said the differences between the two sides appeared to be related to three main facts: the estimated cost of upgrading, the estimated affect of roll-over (resignations vs new hirings); whether the cost of non-teacher personnel is included in various board budget lines. tut“, L centy of both sides. However, in the end, a compromise was proposed in which both sides submitted extra material pertaining to their calculations. The board’s were given on the understanding any conclusions drawn would be included in the report. ‘I‘_ _~s, cexjity of both sides. However, in