AFTER MONTHS of planning, 3 - Wednesday, December 9, 1987 - North Shore News WEST VAN SCHOOLS REGROUP STUDENTS, STAFF public meetings and debate, West Vancouver District 45 Schoo! Board voted to change Hillside Secondary School into a junior high school effective September 1988 with litte debate. The decision at the board’s Monday meeting means Grade 1] students now at Hillside will grad- uate at another high school, prob- ably West Vancouver Secondary School. The superintendent's orig- inal proposal would have allowed these students to graduate from Hillside tn June 1989. Board member Michael Smith, who proposed the motion to speed up the switchover, said, ‘‘There is more workable groups.” He said concentrating students at certain schools to maximize scholastic op- tions was a priority. The motion passed unanimously. No student representatives spoke at the public meeting. Hillside will have only grades 7, September and West) Vancouver and Sentinel Secondary School will have only grades 10. 11, 12) by September 1989. Superintendent Bill May, who preposed a gradual transition, said in Sooke school district on Van- couver Island in a similar situa- tion, whether the Grade 1] stu- dents would be allowed to com- plete their graduation at their high school became the dominant issue. “| dike the slower approach.” May told the board. Board member Jean Ferguson, referring to the slow and fast change options, said, “} think it’s probably best just to bite the bullet a fa MOON setting up a comminee to oversee the transition process, re- quiring the committee pay special attention to the Grade 11 Hillside students who will now graduate at another school, The board set up two transition commitrees. One committee will include students, parents, teachers and school administrators who will examine the transition process. The second committee will include teachers and administrators who will examine the transfer and hir- ing of staff for the new junior high school. The board also passed related motions requiring the superintend- Vancouver District's regional planning process and to approach the Municipality of West) Van- couver regarding developing the bourd’s Cauifeild Plateau site into a playing field. Newly elected chairman Barbara Howard said it would be bad news for the school district if the com- munity plan was not altered, Howard suid changing demographic patterns in West Vancouver might result in’ fewer families and children in the school district and an increasing retire- ment population. The board had tabled the super- intendent’s original motion after a a real need to group students in SWORN IN during their inaugural Monday night council meeting were new and incumbent North Vancouver City aldermen. Aldermen Stella Jo Dean, Red Clark and Barb Sharp (seated, left to right) wait as Ald. Bill Bell (back feft) is sworn in. More on the es page 2; North Vancouver alderman confirmed in ballot recount, see story page 9; North Vancouver City and West Vancouver reveal provisional 8 and 9 effective this coming and do it.’’ But she amended a budgets, see stories page 11; North Vancouver District anticipates budget increase, see story page 12. Mill poliution under attack From page 1 commissioned in 1990. He said the move to upgrade the mill from ‘B’ to ‘A’ level pollution standards ‘‘is very signifi- cant.” Ina Dec. 6 News story chronicling Jacks’ Dec. 3 meeting with Ministry of Environment of- ficials, the West Vancouver resident said the new plan for the mill was just another extension that will allow Port Mellon to avoid compliance with provincial air pollution standards for another three years. Jacks, who has collected a 5,000-name petition from Howe Sound residents demanding the mill conform to provincial pollution standards, has claimed such mill emissions as particulate flyash, sulphur dioxide, mercaptans and chlorine threaten the health of West Vancouverites. The 79-year-old mill has exceeded provincial air pollution standards for the past 10 years. Mill officials have said Port Mellon will be in compliance with Totally Reduced Sulphur (TRS) levels by the time its special waste permit variance order expires in June 1988. The mill was granted a variance order in August 1983, giving it special permission to ex- ceed air pollution standards. That order was ex- tended again in 1986. Canfor has invested $20 million on Port Mellon pollution controls over the past nine years and will spend an additional $2.3 million in 1987-88 to reduce odors caused by TRS emis- sions. SHAW CABLE MULLS CRIC DECISION Ons cons ore stat NORTH VANCOUVER’S Shaw Cable will likely include in its basic cable service at least four of the 10 new television stations approved for broad- casting in Canada in a Nov. 30 CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commis- sion) decision. Vice-president of operations Richard Morris said Shaw would probably know by next spring which of the stations it will carry on its basic cable service. He said the company must still digest the details of the 274-page CRTC document, negotiate broadcast arrangements with some of the stations and decide which stations to put on the channels available before making any final decisions. Shaw, he said, would likely carry CBC's 24-hour Informa- tion and News Service; MeteoMedia, a 24-hour weather station available in French and English; Vision TV, an interfaith religious channel; and YTV Canada Inc., which would provide programming for preschoolers, youth and their families. Morris said Shaw would prefer to carry TSN (The Sports Network) and MuchMusic, a rock music station, as discre- tionary stations that would not be part of the basic cable ser- vice, The CRTC decision has allowed cable companies to move TSN and MuchMusic from pay-TV to basic cable service, but the move must be negotiated between the cable companies and the two channels. The two stations are currently available on the North Shore through pay-TV. Though the new stations can be placed on any channel from 210 31, Morris said Shaw will not put any on the basic 2 to 13 ent tO prepare a report for West yearing-in ceremony, see story lengthy Nov. 23 public meeting. Slide biocks highway A ROCK SLIDE near Porteau. Cove blocked both lanes of traffic along the Squamish Highway Tuesday morning. A highways spokesman said approximately 400 yards of material came tumbling down on to the road just after 9 a.m. Highway crews had much of the debris cleared away by 9:50 a.m. A 120-cubic-yard rock as big as a small house had to be drilled and blasted to allow for the opening of single-lane alternating traffic in time for the regular 2 p.m. highway opening. The last scheduled closure of the year to ac- commodate construction on the highway will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 18. Work will resume again in January with what a highways spokesman promised to be less impact on drivers using the route. NEWS photo Tom Burley dered channel band. The new channels, he said, would go in ihe 14 to 22 mid-range or the 23 to 31 super-range. Morris said that prior to the CRTC hearings in July and August, Shaw conducted a survey of subscriber preferences for new channels and wil) incorporate the survey's results in the final decision on which new channels to provide its local mar- ket. The changes to cable television that will be wrought by the CRTC’s decision are scheduled to come into effect Sep. 1, 1988 and will provide subscribers in most parts of B.C. with a choice of 22 television channels for a basic cable service fee. Cable companies are required by the CRTC to carry more Canadian than American channels. Shaw currently provides programming on every channel from 2 through 29. ! Pay-TV channels approved by the CRTC are four American channe!s (WTBS for Atlanta, WGN from Chicago and WOR and WPIX from New York City) and The Family Channel, which features family programming and a host of Wah Disney-produced material. Morris estimated inclusion of the 24-hour news, 24-hour weather, religious and youth channels in Shaw's basic service would add approximately 92 cents per month to the current $10.36 basic cable-TV monthly fee paid by North Shore subscribers, Costs elsewhere for inclusion of all the channels, including TSN and MuchMusic, have ranged from $1.40 to $2 per month. ‘‘We are pleased with the (CRTC) decision,’’ Morris said. ‘It will provide more viewer choice and that's the business we are in, The more choice the better the service.’’