meng, Bright Lights 10 | Business 16 ' Classifieds eee 28 Crossword 35 Fashion 14 Talking Personals 23 oe A tacrtun Commas Publier Peter Spece 1136 Lonsdaie Avan Nord Vaxconen BC VIMY Canuasi Sthcators Mat Sales Prewy act Agreement 2 OB 238 The Voice of North and West Vancouver since 1969 Union contract takes priority over kids, NV parents charge Jan-Christian Sorensen Contributing Writer NORTH Vancouver School District 44 is putting the quality of edu- cation for its special needs students at risk. That’s the opinion of | North Vancouver parent Heather McCracken, who is upset over the d layoff ofits special education staff. Two weeks ago District 44 laid off all 438 ofits special education aides (SEAs), special education assistants and supervi- sion aides. The jobs were cut in accor: dance with the CUPE provincial coll agreement, which reorganizes the minimum daily number of hours gach employee works. Laid off employees will be recalled into rejigged job classifications this September. Approximately 75 employ- ces, however, will be out ofa job due to an expected decrease in the numbers of special needs students that will be attend- ing North Vancouver this fall. That worries McCracken, whose s year-old autistic son Tain atends Canyon Heights elementary. She believes the school is sacrificing the needs of special education students. “Those labour codes and collective agrecmens are far more important to this administration than Iain is and it’s just not acceptable to us as parents that labour codes and collective agreements are put ahead of a child's needs.” McCracken said Jain — who requires one- on-one instruction — has already had SEA trou- bles in the past year. His original aide was ill throughout the year, which meant that Jain was often lelt without adequate supervision or con- stantly working with new faces. McCracken said Jain had as many as 10 dif- ferent SEAs working with him during the year. “Children with autism need consistency and the school just wasn’t able to provide that con- sistency throughout the year, which caused a lot of problems for us and for Tain,” said McCracken. “We've actually been asked by the school to keep him home several times this year because they couldn’t find an S wot “rStanion Park ¢ oadte cals on asked the district to transfer Tain hool, but was told that there was no room for him elsewhere. The laid-off SEAs won't be recalled into their new jobs until Sept. 22, which means special needs students may start the school year with one SEA and three weeks later be assigned to another. As a result, McCracken isn’t even sure if she ould send Iain for the first month. isruptive and hard oa him for the hool anyway, and that would just add so much complication to his life and our [ite that it’s not even worth it.” See Lawsuit page § ‘as j Beli AME Sports p26 Mother of three wins first pro fitness tourney Wwww.nsnews.com Surfer girl Deana Lancaster almost hangs 10 Outdoors p13 FREE " NEWS photo Cindy Goodman WINDSOR House students Ashley Dornan, Jen Lovick, Karen Sjodin and Chris Brown were among a group that packed the North Vancouver Schoo! District board meeting Tuesday to express concern over the recent layoff of the district’s 438 special educa- tion staft members. Board chairman Pat Heal said the issue was not on the agenda and therefore would not be discussed. $10M cleanup deal signed Deana Lancaster News Reporter dlancaster@nsnews.com THE federal government is cleaning up an empty, polluted lot it has leased under the Lions Gate Bridge for 26 years. On Thursday, Conor Pacifie Environmental Technologies announced it has been awarded a $9.9 million contract. by Public Works and Government Services Canada to treat contam- inated groundwater at the Pacitic Envi Centre site in West Vancouver. Department of Environment inves lion in 1974 to acquire a 71 interest in the 22-hectare property located on Capilano Indian Reserve No. 5. It was the gov- ernment’s intention to build a 400,000 square See Land page 5 INTRODUCTORY 6 WEEK PROGRAM MEMBERSHIP