WV shortchanged in school funding, trustees tell minister BVEST VANCOUVER District S school trustees met recently ith B.C. Education Minister rt Charbonneau to air sume itical funding concerns fac- g the Noarth Shore school dis- ct. ' lan Noble ews Reporter But Charbonneau gave no guar- tees of any funding changes at the eeting. District 45 board chairman Ken aycock said the |4-hour meeting March 23 was the culmination of years of effort by the board to eet with a provincial education inister. At the meeting, Charbonneau nounced $21 1.699 of government Minding to relocate 1 daycare at in Park elementary school to its n portable on the school grounds, ® After thanking Charhonneau tor inding i number of West aNcoUVer projects. trustees raised mcem about District 45° receiv. me $16 iess per studen: from: the vernment than the .chool board d five years ago -- even though fest Vancouver’. centribution t ictoria’s primary and secondary ucation budget tripled in th. came riod, said Haycock, District 45, he added. receives considerably fess” than the provin- al average in terms of per-capita nding. In fact, West Vancouver ands 69th of the 75 school districts the province. Haycock said. The minister replied that West ncouver does not qualify for extra nding items that other districts alify for. Haycock said the district will amine whether it qualifies for ich extras. Cost per pupil in the two North ore school district. is about 600. Some private schools ceive partial fuediny from the vernment, and private school ition can be as bik : O00 for District 45 aheo raiced concern out the ministey’s desire to bet tudents on a les et techralouscal Baying field. locks nai EDIATELY @8IOR to the start ofa preme Court judge agreed to grant what a: ae cent DISTRICT 45 chairman Ken Haycock ... district receives “considerably jess” than provincial average. Haycock said West Vancouver has mide technology a priority and put alot of money into it. While the ministry spends cash trying to bring other districts up te the standards of advanced districts like West Vancouver. “we -houlda’t suffer because we have made uech- nology) a) priority in the past.” Haycock said. West Vancouver trustees wanted the minister's assurance that. pro- jects such as the Uiree-phase renova- tion at West Vancouver secandary school and additions to the Bawen {sland community school would be completed. But no such assurances were given. According to the school board, the minister said funds for cupital expenditures would be tight this year, Haycock said projects receiving money from the capital expenditure budget wil) be announced in May. The board urged Charbonneau to consider funding formulas that reward excellence and provide incentives to boards that demon- strate academic achievement and fiscal responsibility. Hayeock said Charbonneau expressed interest, in’ a West Vancouver plan to make community resources, such as electronic library materials and city hall information electronically accessible. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield Many helping hands JUSTIN SLINGERLAND, Warren Gregory (handling the shovel), Alex McMurray, and Danny Wilson, all students at Dorothy Lynas Elementary School, helped North Vancouver District crews plant trees in ihe Indian River neighborhood Wednesday. ~——! Councillor pushes to rub out graftiti in TH WRITING is literally on the wall in North Vancouver City. and Coun. Stella Je Dean's antegraffiti, motion before North Vancouver Cry Council Monday night aims to do away with it " NORTH VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL By Robert Galster Dean's proposed motion defines graffiti us “one or more letters, symbols or marks” unauthorized by the city, province or property owner. ft also puts the onus for removing graffiti on the property owners affected. Coun. Barbara Perrault supported the motion and said graffiti “must be removed as soon as it appears,” and wamed that the consequences of not removing it could be dire. “Like a festering sore, i starts to grow.” said Perrault, She added that graffiti aften sends a negative mes- sage to both visitors and tourists. “People may feel threatened by the visual chaos that it (graffiti) ... projects.” Dean's anti-graffi motion also calls for. strict Th Judge shields witnesses names in trial i. Van City enforcement and carries a penalty for non-compliance by property owners. Owners who fail to remove offending graffiti will be given a warning anc if further non-compliance is observed, city staff will remove it at the owner's expense. However. Caun John Braithwaite was not convinced graffiti was necessarily a huge problem in the city. He moves! that the motion be referred to staff for a report. “Fd like to get more information before we get into hylaws and enforcement,” said Braithwaite. Even though Coun. Darrell Mussatto supported the gist of the bylaw, he protested against its enforcement provision. “I don’t think these places actually want to have graffiti placed on their buildings.” said Mussatto. who likened the affected property owners to victims. “So what happens if they cannot afford to keep removing this graffiti off the wall? Now we're going to fine then?" But Dean warmed that not dealing with the problem before it gets out of control would be a mistake. “We need a bylaw that would have some kind of teeth init!” she satd. Councillors voted 4-2 in favor of referring the pro- posed motion to staff for additional information on graf- riti in the city. ay a Spring ahead! | Remember to turn your clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 2. ay be a precedent-setting publication Brent Mudry ontributing write: Mr. Justice Richard Low banned the media m identifying three homosexual Crown wit- sses. The trio wer: :issociates of lifeguard Dale terson and bank enysloyee. Scott Kraft, the for- ler lover he is acciv;:.: of murdering. The three men —— a banker, an -inger and a medical doc- tor — fear damage to their professional and per- sonal lives if their sexuality is revealed. “There is no question that there is a high degree of homophobia in our society and that the concems of the witnesses are realistic,” Low stat- ed. The protective ban is believed to be the first of its type in B.C. Open courts that permit public scrutiny of the legal system were deemed an important part of the Canadian criminal trial process in a Dec. 8, 1994, Supreme Court of Canada judgment. ‘Che Criminal Code of Canada outlines specif- ic cases where the identity of witnesses may be protected by a judge. The cases usually involve sexual offences. Bul prominent inedia lawyer Roger McConchie said the ban was another step in the “creeping closure of the courts. This ban flies in the face of every Supreme Coun of Canada decision.” In a two-day hearing last week, defence lawyer Sheldon Goldberg argued against prose- cutor Joe Bellows’ request for the ban. The three men and a psychologist told Low how much they would suffer if they were exposed. “They have the misfortune to live in a society which treats homosexuality as a choice rather than a fact,” the judge stated.