Wednesday, February 19. 1997 — North Shore News - 3 andsworth overcrowded High scholastic reputation draws high enrolment By lan Noble Wews Reporter HANDSWORTH’S fame as a good school is starting to have a price. Scores of students sitting on benches in the hall cating their lunch because the 350-seat cafeteria is packed are indicative of the crowding at the North Vancouver school. The school meant for 1,000 now houses 1,322 students. Seated in principal Terry Shaw’s office, where the constant noise. from students in the hall permeates two doors, Grade 12. student : Christian Richardson said the. school has become more crowded ‘and the halls more hostile. ““There’s no breathing room. A lot of people hang out in the halls. If we're trying to work in the library it gets noisy because of the hall noise and the classrooms get’ noisy and the teachers get frustrated. It’s just a cycle,” he said. However, Christian said the school’s high education standards have been maintained due to the efforts of teachers. “If it has suffered it would only be because of a lack of space and a lack of resources,” he said. Parents aren’t impressed with what the overcrowding means to their children. *. Teachers used 10 have their own classrooms. Now they share them with up to three other teachers — some who teach different subjects. . Because teachers must move equipment from zoom to - room they have less time to help students. The situation for Handsworth science students has become critical, say parents..Lab desks that formerly served two stu- dents at a time now serve four to five. Labs meant for 24 stu- dents now have 33. - Preparation rooms for science and math are overcrowded or don’t exist. There used to be a study hall for Grade 8 students. It’s one. 8 As for many teeming schools across the Lower Mainland, a Handsworth expansion had been approved by the provincial government, But all the projects were caught in a government capital spending freeze in June 1996. - Handsworth funds of $230,521 for 1996-97 and building moncy of $3.5 million for 1997-98 were iced. Liberal cuts defended S$ When the government announced that it would free some of the school building funds recently, Handsworth, like West Vancouver secondary, wasn’t included. Now the school is trying to drum up support for its expan- sion. But it’s a hard sell. As Shaw acknowledges, the competi- tion for school funds in the fast-growing Lower Mainland is suff. A cash-strapped provincial government that continues to run deficits has imposed criteria schocls have to meet if they are to get funding. The province calls for program delivery options that are less capital intensive, the maximum use of existing assets and the pursuit of alternative financing options. The eduction ministry says schools could cut their capital requirements by extending the day from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p-m. “For example, a 1,000 capacity school senior secondary school (which describes Handsworth to a T) can accommodate 1,400 students using extended days — a savings of approxi- mately $8.7 million,” said the province. Education ministry acting communications director Tim Pearson said ministry staff will meet with the North Vancouver school district to discuss to what extent those cost-contain- ment strategics can be applied to Handsworth. Rockcliffe developer to NEWS photo Utke Wakefield PARENT Barb Scobie, school board trustee Pat Heal and principal Terry Shaw want to get Handsworth’s expansion back on track, before an exploding school population forces the school to consider capping enrolment. When asked if he believes the expansion will be ouilt with- in the five years, Shaw said: “I’m hopeful, yes. Some people think I’m being rather fonlish trying to carry on like this. Bur we aced to do something.” He added that the upper limit of the schooi is fast approaching. Without the expansion, enrolment may have to be restricted. At the same time enrolment is increasing, the percentage of English as a second language students is growing faster in North Vancouver than in any other school district in the Lower Mainland. ’ _ Under the teachers’ contract, 18 ESL students are the max- imum ir: z. class. So more ESL students means more classrooms and teachers are needed. : Parent Barb Scobie, who is apart of the school’s building committee that will make a presentation to the school board on Feb. 23, said Handsworth has already expanded the school day, which now starts at 8:30 a.m. Noting that ail the schools that have had construction funding restored are in NDP rid-. ings, Scobie said: “Funding is political and we are disadvan- taged for being a Liberai area.” She added that parents are sick of fundraising for equip- ment that is used to teach the mandated curriculum but does not get funded by the ministry. ; From page 1 Boname added that at the same time, something has to be donc to bring down today’s high unemployment rates. Having 10% of people out of the work force is unm: le and imperils efforts to balance the budget, he said. Grubel agreed the Liberal gov- ernment has hit its deficit targets, but those targets are too relaxed. The $17-billion deficit projected for 1997-98 will add more than $1 billion to the nearly $600-bil- lion debt each month and burden future generations, Grubel said. He said Finance Minister Paul Martin's budget-balancing efforts since the Liberals were elected more than three years ago have depended on $25 billion in tax revenue and $7 billion down- loaded to the provinces. Grubel criticized the Liberals for making a relatively small dent in the deficit from cuts in govern- ment expenditures. Boname replied there have been considerable expenditure reductions. He argued cuts have to be made at a rate that won't upset the economic balance, In che last three years, the aver- age Canadian family’s after-tax income has dropped $3,000, said Grubel. pay for chopping trees By Robert Galster News Reporter TREES are sacred in West Vancouver. Last week the Cascadia Group, the company behind Caulfeild’s Ruckcliffe development, found out the hard way. Following the “accidental” removal of three trees within the area’s greenbelt, West Vancouver council imposed a stiff penalty for the company’s transgressions. In addition to replacement planting in the greenbelt at a maximum cost of $15,000, council imposed a dona- tion to the West Vancouver Foundation in the sum of $3,000. “We hope we never again have to deal with a similar issue and confirm that our already strenuous safeguerds have been strengthened to ensure that there will not be another incident of this type,” stated the development’s director Moh Faris in a letter to council dated Feb. 12. When word of the tree removal was passed on to council by area residents several weeks ago, some coun- cillors seemed furious with the company’s actions even before a staff report was prepared. “If [ were you ... I wouldn’t cut down one more tree,” said Coun. Victor Durman. “This developer has continued to cut trees. He is taking down every tree pos- sible.” Durman also issued a stern warning to Cascadia. “People who cut trees down in West Vancouver. are not looked on very well,” he said. Later, one of the area’s residents, John Mancini, crit- icized a subsequent staff report which, he said, failed to serve council. “This last report is atrocious, I believe it’s inade- quate,” said Mancini. “The conclusions are outrageous.” The line drawing most of the criticism irom both councillors and public speakers stated “staff will be rec- ommending to all developers working within greenbelts to notify the neighbors and staff and seek approval, as required, prior to tree removal.” Calling the report an “apology for the developer,” Coun. Durman said, “I read this on Friday and have been fuming about it for four days.” The development has been under fire from surround- ing residents for about as long as the current council has been sitting. Concerned residents have cited problems including complaints of increased water runoff draining on to nearby properties and the effects blasting in the devel- opment may have on surrounding homes. But Mayor Pat Boname didn’t share Durman’s anger with staff members and the wording of their reports. She said staff face a very difficult task in being impartial to both the councillors and the business interests petition- ing them. She said staff is not to blame for the Rockcliffe development problems. “The last thing 1 want to do is put our staff on the spot, especially if they can’t defend themselves,” said Boname. As for the report, Boname defended staff again, stat- ing only three working days were spent in its prepara- tion. “The problem with that memo we saw on Friday is that it was done in a hurry,” said Boname. we Bright Lights... 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