floral designer Favourite actress... . Sharon Stone Favourite food . .faliun ond Jopenese Travelled Germany, ltoly, Poland, Austria Likes . .creafive cooking, skating, jokes Emergency fund Share short in WV Anna-Louise Pentland Contributing Writer WEST Vancouver is not paying its fair share of the North and West Emergency Program budget, North Vancouver City councillors discovered on Monday night. Ross Peterson, coordina- tor of the North and West Vancouver Emergency Program, appeared before council to ask it to carry 26%, or $3,011, of the increased funding required . for 2000. North Vancouver District is being asked to contribute $5,674 and West Vancouver is being asked for LOCATIONS ONLY 1282 MARINE DRIVE NORTH VANCOUVER PARK & TILFORD 333 BROOKSBANK NC NORTH VANCOUVER 1763} MARINE D DRIVE {ACROSS aaa Tee OMe HARDWARE] $2,895, or about 25% of the increase. Peterson said West Vancouver has instituted a cap on how much it will pay to support the agency. “It doesn’t make much sense. If an earthquake hits, it hits all three of us — we're all going to have to pitch in,” Coun. Bill Bell said. “I believe it hurts the program for the whole of the North Shore when a munici- pality doesn't pay its fair share.” The increased budget will ge to support two new vehi- cles and more training for North Shore Rescue Team volunteers. The emergency program also offers public education on_ earthquake preparedness. To find out about courses call 982-7440. Cut class size, sa West Van teachers Marcie Good Contributing Writer MORE teachers and more books — the wish list of West Vancouver teachers is pretty simple. Ina budget presentation to West Vancouver District 45 School Board fast: week, teachers’ representative Bill Ferguson outlined the top priorities. “We're not blind to the fact that the board doesn’r have very much money,” he said, “but given that fact, we're saving if you have any additional funds, direct them to reducing class size.” Ferguson, president of the West Van Teachers* Association, said that class size has been the most com- mon theme of budget briefs for the past decade. Based on the results of a survey in which teachers were asked co rank their priorities, ¢'sss size was followed by learning resources and more money for curriculum co-ordinators and department heads. Last year’s provincial con- tract with the B.C. Teachers Federation reduced the size of Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes to 23 students this year and 22 next year. But classes in the intermediate grades, said Ferguson, are simply too big. According to the board’s statistics, almost half of Grade 5 classes have 28 or more students, and two thirds of the Grade 6 classes have 28 or more children. “Pye asked them (board members) to go out to schools and iake a look at intermediate grades — is it manageable or jis it crowd control? If your child were in that class, would you be happy?” Teachers with large class- es, he said, spend more time on administrative duties and have more management problems and safety con- cerns. Crowding also reduces a teacher's ability to use cooperative learning strate- gies. Teachers also want more money spent on learning resources, particularly texts and library books. “Everybody is in love with technology,” said Ferguson. “but textbooks don’t become obsolete as quickly as soft- ware.” In some cases, he pointed out, students must share texts because there aren’t enough to go around. Third on teachers’ wish lists is a greater budget for staff co-ordination — pro- gram) co-ordinators at the elementary level and depart: ment heads at secondary. Additional staff hours would be spent) on organizing teacher training, administra- tion of book orders, design- ing exants, and ensuring cur- riculum consistency. Ferguson said several teacher’s associations have stopped making budget pre- sentations because they're worried that money won't be spent on programs they don’t outine. “Of course teachers sup- port all programs,” he said, “but if we had to pick one area to spend money, class size is it.” it's news, it's in the News. 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