Cypress
Bow!

reopens
to public

. News Reporter

“ CYPRESS Bowl reopened
today to the public just in

’ time for the last long

weekend of the summer.

The popular hiking destination
within West Vancouver's Cypress

Provincial Park was closed in June

because of bears.

“The trails are gorgeous
because they haven’t been used,”
' said B.C. Environment
spokesman Betsy Terpsmia.
| In the.early summer, B.C.
Parks staff were concerned that
- park visitors were getting too close
to the half-dozen bears which feed
in the park cach year. The closure
Was orginally slated to last about
“two weeks, but went on for. two
months. Feeder trails near the
bowl area are also reopened.

Terpsma said there will be
small fenced off areas where the

public will not’ be permitted to
enter,
“Basically, ‘the bears that were
feeding inthe area are gone,
although there are: sightings of
bears. everywhere on the. North
: hore,” said Terpsma. ..
BC. Parks’ spokesman Larry
‘ Syroishko ‘said two : le. were
peti ach fined $100 for being in the
closed area | of the park.

igs.
«fy ‘oishko said parks staff have
ucted “aversion condition-

ing” ‘on the park bears so that they

move away when they see people.

“The conditioning of the ‘bears
involved the use.of firecracker-like
noises being associated with pco-

sle, Bears do not like loud rioises. -

Meanwhile bears sightings in
ther areas of West Vancouver
ontinued this week. :

A bear was spotted in the over-
‘flow. parking* lot of Glencagles
Golf. cours: ‘on. Tuesday: after-

oon. Another bear. sighting. was
eported ‘on the Horseshoe Bay
“golf course in the evening, accord-
ing.to a West. Vancouver | Police
‘spokesman. ~

Last Saturday, a bear was tran-
quilized arid removed from the
000- block of Meadfeild near the

new middle school in Caulfeild.

Bear sightings were reported in
‘the area on. 1 Sunday and Monday.

: By Brent Mudry
"Contributing Writer

Friday, August 30, 1996 — North Shore News - 3

Th

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

ROCKRIDGE Middle School vice principal Dave McMaster (left), school district superintendent
Doug Player, Rockridge principal Maureen Smiley and vice principal Bill Bird await the opening .
of the $14.5-million school, which was paid for by selling Hillside schooi.

Ri

ckridge wired to the max

with computer technology

From page 1

digital technology is slated to take on a greater education-
alrole.
. VCRs no longer need to be portable. Instead, 11 kilo-
metres worth of wiring in Rockridge will send video pro-
g throughout the school.
School district superintendent Doug Player and

* Rockridge principal Maureen Smiley are obviously proud

of the school’s technology, put together in parmership
with IBM, B.C. Tel, the Ministry of Education and EMG,

‘a Scottsdale, Arizona-based provider of educational mater-

ial via satellite.
During a Tuesday afternoon tour of the school, Player

© said the the heart of the school’s technological wizardry sits

in a room off the library, It contains nine VCRs, two laser

disc players, four satellite receiving stations, and a compact

disc player.
¢ satellites receive programming through Education
Management Group (EMG), which is owned by commu-

“nications giant Viacom, Viacom also owns Paramount

Video.” publisher Simon and Schuster and Blockbuster
Video,
‘ EMG’s programming is only a phone call away fora

Rockridge teacher,

~Player ‘provided an example. Say, he. said, a teacher
wants to teach her students the life cycle of the butterfly.

The teacher uses the telephone on her desk to call
EMG. On the 27-inch monitor in, all classrooms, the
teacher scans a catalogue of EMG’s selections'and previews
them. The teacher decides what will help students learn the
butterfly’s life cycle, orders what she wants ‘and tells che
company when to show it Or, the teacher can tape it and

‘show it anytime, said Player.

In addition, said Player, the company provides live,
interactive discussion. So, for example, students can inter-

_act over the wires with a paleontologist who discovered

dinosaur eggs in Alberta.

Mine owner seeks to

“It’s the most amazing thing you've ever seen in your
whole life,” enthused Player. “Students have access to.
much better resources. Teachers have curriculum support
like never before.”

A “smart closet” ties each classroom into the commu-
nications rooms and runs every- :
thing in the classroom. Ir also -
allows the system to be expand-
ed “infinitum,” said Player. :

Two classes share a fax
machine and a laser printer.

The electronic equipment
cost the district $1.1 million
and the EMG system $300,000.

More than 200. computers
dot Rockridge, providing plenty
of access to the 775 Grade 7, 8,
and 9 students expected to
attend Rockridge. The ;school «
has a capacity of 790 students.

_ However, because the cable
in West Vancouver isn’t up to -
speed, not all computers are hooked ‘up to the Internet.
Player wants that rectified within a year.

Students in other North Shore schools, espécially those
in cash-strapped North Vancouver, will be jealous of more
than just the school’s technology. i

Other touches include a cafeteria operated by’.
Scaldaferri’s, a delicatessen, in| West Vancouver, a
microwave-stocked home economics class, a mud room
with kiln, computers with dual compact dises in the art
room, wood beams throughout, two full-sized gyins with °

. stands, and music instead of bells to signal class changes.

The 250-seat stage area has a soundproof miisic room on
one side and a ‘drama room:connected (to the other.

Player says the district skimped on some things to save
cash, pointing to uncovertd and unpainted pipes and
ducts, The school’s official opening is Mondyy at 7 p.m.

dal, may also be trying to track Korbelova’s assets in
Costa Rica, according to a June 26 private investi-
gator’s report. At present, the North Vancouver

A $249,000 North Vancouver home
“recently owned by a dentist who
defrauded an employee dental plan of at
least $367,000 is the prime property
sought.in a quest to seize her assets,
Xenia Korbelova recently pleaded guilty to two
counts of fraudulent overbilling relating to. the
© Quintette coal mine at Tumbier Ridge in northern
B.C. The dentist billed almost $2 million over five
years ending last year. An extensive fraud investiga-
'; tion revealed a well-orchestrated pattern of over-
: billing and billing for work never done.
‘eo Ina suit filed Monday i in B.C, Supreme court,
Quintette Operating Corp., the owner of the mine,
seeks to seize a house at 4324 Hoskins Rd. that
Korbelova owned. Land titles records show that
Korbelova bought the house for $262,000 in a cash
purchase in May 1995. However, two months ago,
as thé company’s lawyers were moving in, the den-
nsferred title .on the house to a company

seize a North Van
home in overbilling

called Xencor Family Holdings. The company has 2
registered office.in Park Royal.

The actual price paid, if any, is not yet known,
but a private investigator’s report indicates
Korbelova had accepted a $249,000 conditional
offer, “This transfer was done with the intention to
delay, hinder or detraud the creditors of Korbelova
and was made without valuable consideration,”
alleges lawyer Robert Anderson of Farris Vaughan
Wills & Murphy in a statement of claim.

Quintette filed a suit against Korbelova on fune
28 and received a court order on July 2, but the
North Vancouver property was already transferred
on June 26.

Forensic accountant Ronald Parks of Lindquist
Avey Macdonald Baskerville, who pizyed a key role
in unveiling the NDP Commonwealth Society scan-

home is the only significant asset believed to be:
associated with Korbelova.

Court documents indicate that a full-scale probe
into Korbslova's billing ‘practices’ began in
December 1994, when a Quintette official contact-
ed insurer Sunlife of Canada with concerns that the
dentist was charging for work not perfornied or
unnecessary. An investigation by the commercial
crime section at the RCMP’s Prince George detach-
ment revealed that 85% of the patients contacted
reported billing discrepancies,

A court-filed affidavit indicates Korbelova con-
fessed ina February 1996 call ro the insurance com-
pany. “The defendant said to me that she felt guilty,
that she wanted to cooperate and apologized for
what she had done, that she knew i it was wrong and
that she is now not doing it,” states Jeanne Girard,
a Sunlife medical and dental claims manager.

Korbelova pleaded guilty to the charges, and was
sentenced to serve nine months on electronic mon-
itoring.

By lan Noble
News Reporter

WITH the opening of
plugged-in Rockridge Middle
School in West Vancouver
this year, the debate over
technology’s rele in educa-
tion hits closer to home on
the North Shore.

Critics of technology-drivens edu-
cation say it stunts students’ critical
abilitics and creativity.

However, Crawford Kilian,
communications instructor ~ at
Capilano College and author of 202°
Visions: The Futures of Canadian
Education, lines up on the side of
technology.

He said that, years ago, he fanta- /
sized about having a Library of
Congress in a box. “Lo and behold,
you've got it,” he said, referring to
the Internet. :

Kilian said students can retrieve an

“amazing” amount’ ‘of. material
through the Internet.

He’s excited by the. educational
opportunities’ provided to students
able to get in touch with scientists or
major political players.’ .

The Internet, he said, “offers. the

potential’ for. education "we're just nue
beginning to understand.” - bons
- However, Kilian said that like any: .

thing else, technology can be abused...
* "Kids could “use the -
. computers “simply.:to
~ play games or visit triv- "~
ial web sites, > -
-” Teachers; ‘he said
must help students nav- -
igate.the web‘ and min=’.-
imize wasted time: ~-

“There “are prob-"

‘lems “we — are: ” still’
wrestling with -but oil.

alance . tie’: computer:

linked =" the.
Internet will be . the, -
‘valuable: learning ©
tool since the ‘printing’
press,” he said. ,

Kilian ‘expects that, as “computers,
become more * ubiquitous, . teache! /
will move from their roles as mentors

to become guides in education. -,

‘Administrators have delved deeply,
into . private-sector. partnerships ‘in
building Rockridge’s technology. '

: Kilian has ino objection, ist princi-
ple, to private partnerships; especially
if corporations ‘support: providing:
children with! a: flexi ble. cand -diverse! --
education. mo foo

“However, ‘he’s not. sot excited
about. corporations simply trying 10°
condition students and ‘parents to

; buy a certain product. oi

@ Back to ar I
B Bright Lights. - seems .
a Crossword .

Inquiring Reportar.

WH MAB OR sesstesstsee 8
BI Neighberhoods.............. em 4
North Share Alert