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duly 4, 1990) News 985-2131) Classified 986-6222 Distribution 486-1337 40 pages 25¢

NEWS photo Terry Peters

SANE MACCALLUM shows off her T-shirts with art created by her 34-year-old son
Murray. The vividly-colored tops witi be on sale at Lonsdale Quay Market July 6.7,
and 8, with proceeds going to Murray and the North Shore branch of the B.C.

Friends of Schizophrenics Society. See story, page 19.

NORTH SHORE
NOW: Page 15.

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WEST VAN PARENTS’
COMMITTEE REQUESTS
REJECTED BY BRUMMET

THE NORTH Shore battle over the controversial dual-
entry school program has heated up following the rejection
by provincial Education Minister Tony Erummet of a West
Vancouver parent’s group request to make changes to ihe

program.

Following Brummet’s decision
Friday night to make no changes
to the dual-entry program, the
West Vancouver Parents’ Action
Committee on Dual-Entry
(PACODE) joined forces with the
newly-created Lower Mainland
Parents’ Coalition on Dual-Entry
(LMPACDE), which was formed
on Sunday.

The West Vancouver group has
also renewed its vow to continue
lobbying Brummet for changes to
dual-entry.

PACODE coordinator Heather
Stephens said her group will also
continue to lobby the West Van-
couver District 45 School Board
(WVSB) to allow kindergarten-
aged children an option on when
to start kindergarten.

Under the dual-entry program,
established in the new B.C. School
Act, a child turning five between
Nov. 1 and April 30 must wait
unitl either the following January
or September before entering
kindergarten.

And if a chiid’s fifth birthday
falls between May i and Oct. 31,
he or she cau be enrolled in
kindergarten in either the follow-
ing September or January.

But PACODE, a group of
about 23 parents with 16 children
whose fifth birthdays fall in either
Wovember or December, have
been lobbying the WVSB to allow
their children to enrol in
kindergarten in the September
immediately prior to their fifth
birthdays.

If their children are not allowed
to enter kindergarten in
September, the parents argue that
they will not progress through the
education system with their
friends.

Stephens was part of a
PACODE coalition that met June
14 with Brummet over the dual-
entry issue.

At the time she said Brummet
appeared to be sympathetic to
PACODE's concerns. Brummet’'s
announcement Friday, she said,
therefore came as a surprise.

“f spoke to Mr. Brummit on
the phone after our (June 14)
meeting and he said he had real-
ized that the school boards in the
province didn't do their jobs in
terms of informing people about

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DOUG COLLINS: 9

By SURJ RATTAN
News Reporter

dual-entry,’’ Stephens said.

She added that, unlike the Sur-
rey-based Citizens Opposed to
Dual-Entry, PACODE and
LMPCDE are not opposed to the
dual-entry program in general. on-
ly that aspect of it which took
away a previous option that gave
parents a choice on when to enrol
their children in kindergarten.

“We're not asking for any
special treatment. We just want

“We're not asking for
any special treatment.
We just want back
what’s been taken away
from us.’”’
— Heather Stephens
PACODE Coordinator

back what's been taken away
from us,"’ said Stephens. ‘‘We
want that option back."’

West Vancouver is one of the
few remaining Lower Mainland
school boards that have not
agreed to allow ‘*November-
December”? children an option on
when to enrol in kindergarten.

‘West Vancouver has now
become this isolated pocket on the
Lower Mainland that is not allow-
ing an option on kindergarten
enrolment,’’ said Stephens. ‘‘It's
this kind of inconsistency that
we're up against and it’s very
frustrating.”*

School boards in North Van-
couver, Whistler-Howe Sound,
Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond,
Mission and Salmon Arm have a!]
agreed to defy dual-entry regula-
tions and allow parents an option
on when to enrol their children in
kindergarten.

And while WVSB chairman
Jean Ferguson has said the board
favors allowing an option on
kindergarten enrolment, the board
will not follow the lead of the
other Lower Mainland school
boards and altow children to start
kindergarten at an earlier date

See WV
Page 3

SPORTS: 13