THE IDEA to use tuition
paid by international stu-
dents to fund the. Sentinel
“Development Office at Sen-
tinal secondary school origi-
nated with parents: and a
former principal, according
‘to. West Vancouver School
Board (WVSB)_ superin-
‘tendent. Doug Player.

t

By A.P. McCredie
News Reporter

} Speaking at the board’s first
’ public meeting of the school year,
.Rlayer added that the decision
‘(panelled over $88,000 into the

tind. seditig to documents
-rbleased by the accounting firm
Deloitte & Touche, the balance in
the fund’s coffers as of Aug. 13,
1993, was $41,549..

[A member of the audience at
Monday ~ night’s meeting noted
‘during. the opening question
“period -that ‘without the interna-
tional student fees,
would be $46,669 in the hole.

The Sentinel Development Ini-
tative was launched ‘in the sum-
mer of 1991 as a one-year ‘pilot

the fund -

WEST VANCOUVER School
Board superintendent Doug
Player

project to determine if fundraising
techinques used by other public
institutions, such as hospitals and

‘universities, could be used at the

public secondary school level.

The initiative was approved by
the WVSB in July 1991, but in the
minutes from the Feb. 24, 1992,
board meeting, it was stated that
while “the board approved of cre-

Wednesday, September 22, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 3

Sentinel parents

Background of funding controversy outlined at wv school board public meeting —

44 { think the initial problems of the initiative
. can be overcome. Nothing ventured,
nothing gained. 99
WVSB superintendent Deug Player

ative fundraising ... the hiring of
the development officer was ap-
proved by the superintendent.”’

Player said that former Sentinel
principal Peter Lefaivre called him
in 1991 and said that the he and
the Sentinel parents’ committee
had formulated the development
office plan and the concept of
seeding the fund with international
student monies.

“T granted him permission on
the condition that it (the develop-
ment office) did not involve any
taxpayer dolars, and that it was
arm’s length from the operation
of the school,’’ Player said Mon-
day. :

According to District 45
policies, a school principal has
discretion over the spending of
certain funds collected by a
school, including district budget

A
NEWS photo ?aul McGrath

WEST VANCOUVER firetighters Tom Attieh (foreground) and Gordie McLennan inspect an oi!
piank that was accidentally punctured by a construction worker while demolishing a house in

‘the British Properties. The abandoned underground tank stil! contained oil,

an unknown

tamount of which feached into the ground. For information on tank removal cull these numbers:
jWest' Vancouver 922-9311; North Vancouver City 980-5021; North Vancouver District 980-7575.

oe
i

Give us your call on federal election

THE COMING election

needs your input.

? Canada’s good health as a na-
. tion is fast deteriorating.

Its energy is being sapped by a
staggering $460 billion national
debt, much of which is in foreign
hands. :

fWe are overgoverned and
over-regulated; we are fed up with
static party lines and ineffective
politicians,

‘We are due for some very rough
international justice if the situa-
tion is not remedied quickly.

The coming federal election will
provide Canadians with an op-
portunity. to send a clear message

era ee

to Ottawa that things must change
now.

Federal politicians are currently
shouting from their soap boxes to
tell us the things that they think
we want to hear.

But at the North Shore News,
we want to hear what you have to
say first.

Therefore, as part of its overall
federal election °'93 coverage, the
News will be providing a special
Your Call talkback phone number
(983-2208) to gather local
response to a series of election-

related questions leading up to the
Oct. 25 federal election.

The News intends to focus on
the issues raised by its readership
and its editorial board and ask
local candidates to respond to
those issues, rather than simply
record the plans and promises of
those candidates.

We will also be putting together
a citizens’ panel to gather input
from a cross-section of local resi-
dents. .

This election is about issues,
and our aim is to provide insight
into those issues and how they will
affect you,

So get involved. The good
health of your community and
your country is at stake.

funds for school supplies, school
trust funds, money raised by stu-
dents and money raised by
parents’ advisory councils,

The Sentinel Development Of-
fice falls into the third category.

At Monday night’s meeting,
board trustees were asked by
concerned parents why no checks
or balances were established to
control the spending and planning
of a fund that was meant to raise
$6,735,000.

“I, and I believe the other
trustees, acted only on the facts
that were presented to us,’’ said
trustee Margot Furk, adding that
a recent article on the Sentinel
Development Office in Saturday
Night magazine was ‘‘partly out-
rageous, partly substantial.”

Furk also stated that the hiring
of a development officer, at a sal-

ary in excess of $60,000, was ap-
proved and implemented by
Lefaivre, and not, as she said she
was led to believe, by the separate
entity that was the development
office.

To date, the Sentinel Develop-
ment Office has still not incor-
porated as a society.

“Through this whole exercise,
we as a board have received
misinformation from all sides,’
Furk said. ‘‘! have some concerns
as to my personal role in this, in
the sense that did I ask the right
questions at the right time in order
to prevent what has now become a
community scandal.’”

Meanwhile, the board is
reviewing policies regarding inter-
national student fees and the
concept of a school-based fund-
raising program.

An audit of the Sentinel Devel-
opment Fund is being conducted
and may be available to the public
in early November.

Piayer still believes that the
fundraising plan can be successful.

“*} think the initial problems of
the initiative --- the implementa-
tion schedule, some teacher Op-
position, and the failed reunion
committee — can be overcome,”’
Player said. ‘‘Nothing ventured,
nothing gained.”’

Youths fight it out in parking lot
NORTH VANCOUVER RCMP are being tight-lipped
about the circumstances surrounding a confrontation in
which two teenagers were injured by attackers wielding
baseball bats, knives and at least one machete: last Friday
near the Mac’s convenience store at 47 10 Capilano Rd.

Cpl. Pat Dickscn said the
teenagers received several non-
life-threatening injuries, mainiy to
the teens’ arms and wrists.

He said there was a large group
of people involved in the incident,
but refused to comment on
allegations that an Asian youth
gang was involved.

However, an eyewitness to the
attack said he saw a ‘‘mass’’ of
youths that were of Asian extrac-
tion walking towards the store on
Capilano Road at around 11 p.m.

“They were walking and then
they charged. | mean all of them
deliberately broke into a run, and
went into the parking lot,’’ said
Bill Boyd.

An estimated 12 attackers
charged into the convenience
store's parking lot wielding
baseball bats, knives and a
machete. Approximately 20
teenagers were hanging out in the
area,

“I didn’t see any weapons, but
I could sure hear them hitting on
cars. 1 can tell the sound of wood
on metal,’? said Boyd, who
manages a nearby video store.

Meanwhile, a resident who lives
across from the store on Capilano
Road said she wants the store to
stop its 24-hour operation.

The woman, who has lived in
the area for four years, said she
plans to petition district council to
have the store closed at night.

The woman, who deéclined to
give her name for fear of retalia-
tion from the teens, said groups of
teenagers hang out in front of the
store late at night.

The teenagers, she said, make
noise, scream, laugh loudly and
pass around marijuana cigarettes:
“IF you say anything to them,

By Anna Marie D’Angelo
News Reporter

they’ll spit and swear at you.”

She said the. store’s video
machines attract the teenagers.

The woman has. reported the
information to the police. _

After Friday’s machete incident,
she was surprised at the police’s
tolerance to the teenagers’
behavior,

“They are getting to be a real
nasty bunch. They were swearing
in front of the police and saying
they were going to get even
themselves,’’ she said.

The woman and Boyd both say
there have been at least three
armed robberies at the store in the
past year.

Dickson declined
that information.

Said Dickson, ‘“‘Robberies are
not associated with assaults.’’

The woman estimates the store
has become a noticeable teen
hangout for two years. But she
said the problem of unruly teens
has gotten bad over the past two
months.

“The fact that their friends got
hurt with a machete didn’t break
their little hearts for very long.
could hear them laughing out
there later in the night,”’ she said.

The police’s serious crime ‘unit
is investigating the incident.

Mac’s Convenience Store
district manager Duncan Ritchie
said the store’s lighting was_.in-
creased in an attempt to prevent
problems.

He said Friday’s incident was

to .confirm

See Store page 3