THIS JET ski expert always gets the girl ...especially in this splashy perfor-
mance at the Pacific National Exhibition. These performers give shows daily at

the fair whict continues in Vancouver until Labor Day. See more PNE photos
on page 37.

jars &

A WEST Vancouver parents’ group has charged West
Vancouver °:¢::001 District 45 (WVSB) superintendent of
schools Doug Player with ‘‘unprofessional conduct’’ in his

handling of the controversial dual-entry program.

As a result, the Parents Action
Committee on Dual Entry
(PACODE) has called on the
WVSB to hold an emergency
meeting this week to ‘tremedy an
unfair situation’? by allowing their
children to enrol in kindergarten
in September, and to deal with the
charges the group has made
against Player.

PACODE, made up of 14
parents with 14 children whose
fifth birthdays fall in either
November or December, has been
lobbying both the education
ministry and the WVSB to allow
them the option of when to enrol
their children into kindergarten.

Under the education ministry’s
dual-entry program, which is con-
tained in the new B.C. School
Act, a child whose fifth birthday
falls between Nov. 1 and April 30
must wait until either the follow-
ing January or September before
entering kindergarten.

And if a child's fifth birthday
falls between May 1 and Oct. 31,
he or she may be enrolled in
kindergarten in either the foliow-
ing September or January.

The education ministry has said
it is up to each individual school
board to decide when to enrol

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

children into kindergarten, but
added that it will withhold fund-
ing for any ‘‘November-
December’’ children who are
enrolled before the stipulated
dual-entry date.

PACODE has also abandoned
plans to take the education
ministry to court over dual-entry
because the attorney-general’s
ministry has given the group a
legal opinion stating that the
WVSB does have the power to
decide on when to enrol children
into kindergarten.

PACODE spokesman Kim
Stephens, who met with Player on
Aug. 16, said Monday that Player
admitted to him at the meeting
that the issue of dual-entry was
linked to a program Player has
regarding new school buildings
and the purchase of computers.

“*We have long suspected that
the West Vancouver School Board
has had a hidden agenda. We
have now confirmed it,’’ said
Stephens. ‘‘The West Vancouver
School Boasd’s priorities are
school buildings and computers. Is
Doug Player in such a hurry to

we E ne
NEWS photo Nell Lucente

Parents’ group
charges W. Van
school board
chief with
‘unprofessional
conduct’

build a high-tech mega high
school that he somehow believes
that looking after the interests of
our children could possibly jeop-
ardize provincial funding for his
pet project?”’

But Player denied having said
the dual-entry issue was linked to
the issue of new school buildings
and computers.

“No, I did not say that. We did
have a meeting and whut I said to
him (Stephens) was that it is not
legal (to enrol November-
December children this September)
and that unless we get the fund-
ing, we won't take those kids,”’
said Player.

Stephens also claimed that, at
that same meeting, Player told
him if PACODE obtained a Icgal
opinion stating that the WVSB
had an option on when to enrol
children into kindergarten, he
would recommend to the board
that it exercise its option in
PACODE's favor, and that he

Wednesday. August 29. 1990 - North Shore News - 3

‘Recession’
halts plans
for $56m

development

CONCERNS by financial

institutions over a looming

recession have forced cancellation of a $56-million com-
prehensive highrise development at 17th Street and Lons-
dale Avenue and replacement of that development with a

project to build a bank.

Earlier this month, M&M In-
vestments Ltd. cancelled an ap-
plication it had before North
Vancouver City Council for com-
prehensive rezoning changes to
several properties at the southeast
corner of 17th Street and Lons-
dale, including an adjacent park-
ing lot on Eastern Avenue.

But M&M _ president Paul Mur-
phy said his company will now
apply for a building permit to
build a two or three-storey bank
at the site and will also design a
‘“‘modern renovation program"
for the existing building at 1632-
1650 Lonsdale.

Murphy said the decision to
replace the comprehensive devel-
opment proposal with the plan to
build a bank was based in part on
concerns by financial institutions
about lending cut large sums of
money at this time.

“We have, because of this
recession, had to make conces-
sions. The size of that develop-
ment was $56 million — too big,”’
said Murphy. ‘‘Banks are just
afraid of anything right now. It's
too bad because I thought it was a
good plan.”’

Murphy added that the problem
with his comprehensive develop-
ment proposal was that the pro-
ject had to be buih all at once
rather than in stages.

‘“*The new plan, in my mind,
will incorporate a highrise on
Eastern Avenue,’’ he said, ‘‘and
itll look very good.”’

The residential highrise building
is also expected to include a
daycare centre, Murphy said.

“*The overall program of com-

f Parents slam superintendent

would further recommend to the
board that it could financially
handle the addition of the 14
children.

“This was such a major shift in
position that I asked him to repeat
his commitments not once, but
twice, in order to ensure that there
was absolutely no misunderstand-
ing as to what he had said,”
Stephens said.

But Player said he told Stephens
that he took PACODE’s legal
opinion to an Aug. 23 board
meeting and presented it to the
trustees who, after examining their
own legal opinion, decided it
would not allow the
‘“‘November-December’’ children
into kindergarten before their fifth
birthdays.

**He (Stephens) can be entitled
to his own opinion, but we've just
tried to stick to the facts. I don’t
know what more I can say to
them,” said Player.

Stephens said that because 15
B.C. school boards, which repre-
sent about half of the province’s
“‘November-December’’ children,
are allowing those children into
kindergarten before they turn five,
the WVSB has ‘‘de facto permis-
sion” from the education ministry
to do the same.

“We are shocked and we are
angry that Doug Player is playing
games with the education of our
chiidren,”’ said Stephens.

By Surj Rattan
& Pamela Lang

NORTH VANCOUVER
CITY COUNCIL

bining these properties into a
comprehensive development
should work smoothly to satisfy
the concept of creating a first-
class component to the city’s town
centre, provided that the City of
North Vancouver still desires a
combination of these properties,’
said Murphy.

But M&M investments is now
facing problems from the archi-
tectural firm of Lutz Associates,
which M&M _ had hired to design
the previous comprehensive devel-
opment proposal.

Murphy said his company
“terminated the services of Lutz
Associates,’ and has now hired
the architectural firm of Graham
F. Crockart Architects Inc.

But in a letter to Crockart,
George Lutz stated it would be
“improper for you to proceed’’
on the project because, Lutz
claims, his company is still owed
more than $150,000 from M&M.

But Murphy said Crockart is
working on the project and added
that Lutz was ‘‘grossly in error’’
in his letter.

Murphy declined to comment
fu.ther on the issue.

M&M had first approached city
council last September about a
proposal to build two, 28-storey
residential towers and about
30,000 square feet of retail space
east and west of the central Lons-
dale area.

But the city sent the developer
back to the drawing board, and
last October city council rejected a
scaled-dow: application for a
single 25-storey residential tower
backed by a retail component.

Last December, M&M _in-
troduced a proposal to build an
18-storey residential tower and
approximately 88,000 square feet
of retail and office space to be
built in a stepped-back, four-
storey structure fronting on Lons-
dale.

index
® Budget Beaters ...... 32
W Business............ 35
@ Classified Ads ....... 43
@ Lifestyles ........... 37
® North Shore Now....49
@ Dr. Ruth........... 38
@ Sports.............. 13
MTV Listings......... 30

@ What's Going On ....10

Weather

Wednesday and Thursday,
cloudy with a chance of
showers. Highs near 21°C.

Second Class Registration Number 3885