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Don’t enlarge our RC board It is a mistake to increase York Region Roman Catholic separate school board membership from 14 to 16 seats. The trustees acted hastily last week. With little study or debate, they suddenly passed a motion asking the region’s municipal clerks to determine a redistribution of seats for a larger board. Letters Need land plan now They took the easy and lazy wrong way. They should take the hard, right way. The separate school board is now as large as it can be and still work well. If more seats are added, the board will start to be the same kind of inefficient mob the 20-seat public school board is. The last public school board had to go to management consultants in an attempt to solve its problems. When a local government body exceeds 14 members it must adopt a cabinet and opposition party system if it is to work satisfactorily. So the public board’s consultants indicated. Dear editor Last year, I wrote to your paper in reply to both William Hodgson‘ our local MPP, and the president of the York Region Real Estate Board. The issue then was development and the loss of prime farmland. Nothing has been done by the present government to resolve this issue. Should app/y early for L. Wilcox loans Dear editor I would like to say how pleased I was to see the prominent coverage given by The Liberal on recent developments in the Neighborhood Improvement and Residential Rehabilitation Programs (N.I.P. and RRAP) in the Lake Wilcox area. The success of programs such as N.I.P. and RRAP is directly related to the involvement of the community in their operation. The interest shown not only by the citizens of Lake Wilcox in developing the area’s redevelopment plan. but also by the local news media, has been, to sav the least. encouraging. hecently, the Urban Development It would be a very serious and The Libeval :5 published every Wednesday by Menospan Commumlv Newspapevs lelled Nonh DIViSIon, which also pubhshes The Banner m Amara, Newmarkel The Woodbndge Vaughan News, and The BclIon Enlerpuse "GE M WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 2, 1977 PUBLISHER J.G. VAN WM Bill Coristine . interest encouraging Ian Scott . . . farms need saving E112 Zl‘ihtral 1010! Vonge SneeL Richmond Hull Lac 4V6 Omano Institute released a self-serving study ‘(Nhich concludes, not surprisingly, that people have nothing to worry about and there should be no obstacles placed in the way of development on prime food- giving acreage. doubtful move to create another level of party politics. In pest firears there has been difficulty finding enough people to fill the 14 seats on the separate board. Apathetic members last year failed to attend meetings and were expelled. Enlérging the board would only make it more difficult to find and keep good trustees. This problem of boards and councils growing to unworkable size is just starting here in our new region. Much growth in region population is certain. Every local gOVernment body is going to be under pressure to grow and grow. The number of seats on these bodies shouldn’t be determined by the number of people represented. Such councils or boards should be kept to a workable size. Keep them between five and 14 members. The separate school board should reconsider. One good idea would be to establish region wards. This idea was pioneered by the public board in the last election. Buried in this report, though, is the finding from a more or less scientific calculation that from 1951 to 1971 the amount of land being actively farmed declined at the rate of 28 acres per hour. When the NDP maintained during the agricultural debates over the past two years that people should be concerned over farmland loss of 26 acres per hour, the full weight of the government’s derision was brought to bear on this figure. Now the developers tell us that it is actually 28 acres per heur. _ The NDP maintains farmland must be protected. This would not be done by freezing every acre of agricultural land forever. However, farmland should be protected unless development can justify itself, instead of the other way around. ‘ It is time this province had a sound sensible land-use policy in conjunction with a farm income insurance plan. This is an issue that affects, every resident of this province. When is the government going to act? While the actual implementation of the projects will probably not start before this spring, I have to feel we are off to a good start. For the past few weeks the site of- fice in the Lake Wilcox Community Centre has been open Mondays and Wednesdays to give the local residents an opportunity to talk to myself about N.I.P. and ERA? and to fill out preliminary applications for the home rehabilitation loans. Interest has been high. In light of that fact. I would like to stress to the citizens of Lake Wilcox, who are considering applying for these loans, to do so as soon as possible. While the indication is that there should be enough money to meet the needs of the program this year, one can never be too sure. It is difficult to make estimations of the demand for this sort of program and it is of course possible for funds to run out, especially considering the preliminary interest that has been shown. A second point is that if a large number of applications are received at an early date the budget for the program could possibly be extended. In any case, applications will be considered on the basis of first~come~ firstâ€"serve if there is a problem with funding shortages. Hopéfully tliough, that is not a problem we will have to face. IAN SCOTT, NDP Candidate York North 190 Prospect St. Newmarket, Ont BILL CORISTINE, Program administrator, N.I.P.-RRAP, 10,266 Yonge St., Richmond Hill, Ont. EDITOR HAROLD BLAINE School board visit unpleasant Crib death story hurt Dear editor We are writing this letter in response to an article printed in your newspaper Dec. 15. The article reported that York Regional Police were awaiting the results of an autopsy into the death of a Markham infant who “had stopped breathing". Is yofir paper so destitute for something to print, that this is your choice? I have waited these past weeks and scanned your paper for some follow-up or explanation. Instead of blaming hunters or anybody else, you should be charged l with cruelty to animals. I do sympathize with the dog, but I condemn the owners. They are very irresponsible. Dear editor On Jan. 24 I attended the York County board of education meeting as part of a delegation which presented a brief requesting junior kindergarten in York County. In éome cases where infants simply “stop breathing”, the ease is referred to as “crib death” or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Rude trustees shock delegate Dear editor: Regarding family pet shot in Schomberg. You broke the law. Do not go to the Toronto Humane Society for help, because this society has not many reasons to exist in the first place. When I complained that in some riding stables the horses were eating their own manure and they were without hay shelter, the society not only did not answer me, but this situation was never corrected. Dear editor I was shocked and abhorred at the way our spokesman was treated by some of the board members. The snickering, facial expressions and general rudeness were totally uncalled for. I have recently returned from at- tending my first meeting of the York County board of education. It was a most unpleasant experience. Diana Lofsky presented a brief on junior kindergarten. She spoke in a pleasant and intelligent manner. I Throughout her brief, many faces of the trustees showed contempt and disregard for her. The members of the delegation presenting the brief spent many long hours in research and preparation and did not deserve to be treated in such a disgraceful manner. Do g owners are irresponsible How ironic it seemed. If those same members had had the benefits of junior kindergarten, perhaps they would have known how to conduct themselves in a respectable fashion. Thanks, as you say to the odd runs Very 'little is known about REISA GULA. 82 Dawn Hill Trail, Thornhill this The chaplain of the old Cook County jail approached a young man soon to die on the gallows for murder: “Is thereâ€"anything I can do for you, son?" he asked. The youth. in an anguished voice, exclaimed, “Why do they wait until there is a rope around my neck before they try to do something for me?" syndrome, as you can see from the article lam enclosing, which I hope you will reprint. Jr. kindergartens pay? Father Shiel, later to become the Bishop of Chicago, never forgot that moment as he went on to found the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) to prevent the youth of his time from becoming juvenile delinquents, and to promote goodness among the young. In’particular’ Mrs. (Dorothy) Zajac and Messrs. (Robert) Houghton and (Norm) Weller were disgustingly rude. The CYO became noted for its fine athletic programs, notably boxing and the Golden Gloves tournaments in the United States, and hockey leagues in Canada. Few however realized the social impact of such a preventive program. She was treated in an insulting manner and was verbally assaulted as being of no importance. I personally felt insulted just being a member of the audience who had at- tended the meeting to sympathize with the intent of the brief. It seems hard to believe these are the If indeed this case is a SIDS. think of the doubts or guilt feelings you have raised for the parents, relatives, friends and neighbors by merely mentioning the police are involved. Little prevention Just think of the billions spent in North America for curative and punish- ment measures, from hospitals to prisons, from social problems to losing weight. Preventive medicine for example is hardly recognized in a hospital in- surance system dedicated to make sick people well, rather than trying to keep them well in the first place. Yét so little is done by way of prevention. Yet the amount of anti-smoking or anti-drinking advertising is nowhere near the amount of advertising promoting smoking or drinking. My wife and I recently lost a 10-week old daughter to SIDS. and if we had seen an article such as this about it. the results would have been catastrophic. Smoking and alcoth abuses con- tribute greatly to soaring health costs. After eight long months and even professional counselling, we found ourselves enraged by your article: If your paper ever requires something to fill space, I plead with you to exercise‘some c'b'infno'h decency" and“ human emotion before selecting the article. my daughter lost a beautiful pet rabbit on Jan. 24, at 11:30 pm. Two' dogs took him from wire cage and hurt him so badly he died at 2 am. in my arms. Tfiese dogs were lucky and got away, but I hope to find the owners and take them to court. By John Stephens Opinion What could be better than to do an information article about SIDS and perhaps help make someone’s loss more understandable. A. J and MRS. UNDERHILL, 19 Lillooet Cres., Richmond Hill, Ont. (The autopsy was held. It could take months before the official report is received, according to police. No doubt reports of death can be sad and painful to read. 0n the other hand, public suspicion and rumors about unexplained deaths can be even more harmful if such deaths are kept secret or covered up by the press. Hopefully public-knowledge'of such events as crib. deaths can also help in the effort toward solving this mystery. â€" Editor). same trustees who worked so hard to get elected, promising us the earth if only we would vote for them. I shudder to think of my children’s education being in the hands of these men and women. I am also owner of a dog and I love animals and these are the reasons why my dog is not going for these stupid “odd runs.” or it should be steady runs. M.Si HILLAR, 225 Essex Ave., Richmond Hill All of this is rather a long-winded way of raising the impertinent question: why do we need so many remedial courses in reading and arithmetic. instead of spending more time and money on the early stages of our children’s education? And another: why the ministry of education’s stress now on core curriculum subjects and “the basics" at the secondary school level instead of refining the elementary school system in the initial years of schooling? Junior kindergartens All of this is brought to mind by the stiff resistance with which a group of parents was met when they raised the subject of junior kindergartens at a recent meeting of the York County board of education. Some trustees said simply (a) there was no room in present schools; (b) there wasn‘t enough money, and (c) there's some doubt about its worth â€" no babysitting for the board! It‘s been'commonly accepted that the formal education of a child should begin ESTELLE BIGUE, 29 Laureleaf Rd., Thornhill. A lop-cal tolumn or upmmn by our rude" Submnslons should be no more man I00 words, Iyned prrlerablv Just from my own experience. I’d have to say I believe in pre- Kindergarten schooling My fwo older children went to a nursery school in the city because they needed it. When we moved up here nearly nine years ago I couldn't find one for my youngest son. At the ripe old age of three and three- quarters he was too old for Montessori school. Others were too far away or too expensive for a budget that included a new mortgage. We coula Slways see he'd missed an advantage the older two benefitted from. Mind you. there were problems even for the older kids. Getting into a kindergarten class with children to whom the learning ex- perience was brand new made it pretty boring for them. My older son in particular, whose birthday falls early in the year; was ready for more stimulation than kin« dergarten offeredi He'd done it all before. The public school kindergarten program didn‘t, and couldn't gibe with a private nur- sery school program. Those are just a couple of the reasons why I, along with Diana Lofsky and her group of concerned parents. feel a junior kindergarten should be an in- tegral part of the educational system. Mrs. Lofsky got involved in trying to get the York County board of education to see this. She is working out of her personal experience. But she found the first nursery school she enrolled her daughter in was nothing more than a glorified baby~ sitting service. She believes children at four years of age need learning and socializing ex- periences which staying at home with Mommy can't provide. The next one was better. But she wondered about children whose parents couldn‘t afford to provide this kind of opportunity. I have to agree with her assessment. Cadillacs, trips to Mexico and fur coats may rightfully be the prerequisites of wealth. Should educational needs be in that category? It o'ffered little of the stimulation she expected her child to get, or she was paying a high price for In any event, Mrs. Lofsky got in- volved with a group of like-minded parents. _ 1“an “Lawsjflegk, they met with the York County board of education and presented the brief they‘d prepa_red_. They did considerable research; talked to the director of early childhood education for North York, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the director of public education for Region, among others. I The response from 'mdst _of the trustees was non-committal. Three trustees, Dorothy Zajac of King City, Bob Houghton of Richmond Hill, and Norman Weller of Aurora accorded Mrs. Lofsky, who acted as chief spokesman for the group, treatment that ranged from the highly patronizing to the downright rude. at age six All of this made Mrsl Lofsky angry enough to demand, and get. an apology, though not until the meeting had broken up and moved away from the room where it was held. Yet more studies today show the best time for many kinds of learning and for the stimulation of basic learning abilities in a child is already largely past before the child reaches age six. Earlier learning Specialists in the field of early learning are concluding that what children under the age of six can and should be learning has been greatly under-estimated. The real issue here doesn‘t altogether lie in whether or not York Region public schools get junior kindergartens. The heart of the matter is the lack of responsiveness on the part of the trustees toward the very people who elected them and whose interests they‘re supposed to serve. Parents have a great responsibility during a child's early years to stimulate them through learning ex- periences â€" but parents can stand some assistance during that age four to six period. Mrs. Lofsky doesn’t after all, claim to be a professional ed‘ucator. She and her group have put in enough thought and work to expect to have their views considered with, if not support, at least a little grace. B)? extending the school system to include junior kindergartens, there is opportunity for hotter guidanco. There is more time to spot learning difficulties before they become en- trenched and lead to possible behavioral problems. If money and space problems are too great to overcome, then surely the board should release its information so the public can fully appreciate the problems facing the board. Time to look Faced with the growing numbers of personnel engaged in remedial work now, perhaps it is time the York County board of education undertook a good look at the educational programs of- fered children. A cost-analysis, as has been suggested by one trustee, will only show junior kindergartens have a cost to them. A cost-benefit analysis would make more sense if it means possible savings in subsequent remedial activity. Boredom prob/em Her experience Got apology Worked hard By Lynda Nykor Iynda's lashes