THE North Shore News micro-cam caught Santa filling up his sleigh at a gas station pump du

the North Shore.

By Deana Lancaster
Contributing Writer
JAMES Knowles is not just a

concerned parent.
He’s a concerned parent with solutions.
The issue at hand is unionized crossing
at North Van City schools — or the
pending shortage of funding for them.

City council has been funding, the adult
crossing guard program in short spurts
since the school board dropped it in
February 1995.

Last Monday night they voted (unani
mously) once again to fund the program
und the end of February while staff con-
tinue to seck other options.

The decision caine after a staff report
that a volunteer-based adult crossing guard
program isn’t feasible in the community:
most potential volunteers are parents, and
most of them work. And CUPE, the union
that represents the crossing "guards, i
opposed to the use of volunteer crossing
guards in North Vancouver School District
44. A provision in CUPE’s District 44 con-
tract prohibits the use of volunteers to
replace laid off CUPE workers.

Now the goal is to find a replacement
crossing guard program that costs the city

Festive iuel

Ssing guards Supp

‘ . ‘
NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge

g his visit to

ried

Cash OK’d; resident seeks sponsorship

half of the $70,000 it currently pays.

That’s where Knowles comes in.

“The tendency is to look at this fe. i's
a negative thing, that it’s a problem that
isn’t being handled. But it’s an opportuni-
ty to bring industry and the community
together. It’s a chance for people to get
involved,” said Knowles, who has a son in
Grade 6 at Queen Mary elementary school.

His solution for the program is corpo-
rate sponsorship.

“This would provide companies with
some profile — they'd be seen to be
putting something back into the commu-
nity.” Knowles, who is the chairman of the
parent advisory committee at Queen Mary,
is also the force behind World Tribe, a
Lower Lonsdale company that focuses on
marketing, communications, and design.
He knows his stuff.

His plan is to put together a proposal
cudining the needs of the community and
then to shop it around to various compa-
nies who might benefit from the public
relations,

“There are some companies who it
makes sense to marry them to this project,
companies involved in taftic or safety.”

Although he didn’t say it, ICBC was
named as a potential sponsor for the pro-
ject in the staff report.

Knowles said, however, that he can’t do
it alone. He’s currently on the look-out for
an assistant, someone with some time and,
he hopes, some experience at writing busi-
ness proposals.

“We could starr something here in
North Van that could go right across the
country and set a benchmark for this ype
of corporate sponsorship in Canada,” he
said.

North Vancouver District is also look-
ing for alternatives to the paid crossing-
guard program.

The difference is that the district did
not pick up the funding after the school
board dropped the program; although
Lynn Valley elementary school has a suc-
cessful volunteer program, most schools in

strict go without crossing guards.
ity Coun. Barbara Sharp said that was-
n't an option for city counal: “It's a situa-
tion with busy streets and voung school
children and we didn’t see there was a
choice. You either find an alternative or
you pay for it, You can’t go without.”

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