Page 6 April 1981 Cassiar Courier eos School Hours Back To Normal For the past month secondary school students have been operating on a different schedule than in the past. This trial experiment was done in order to discover the problems that the sthool will have to deal with in instituting the appropri- ate amount of instructional time for secondary school students in September. There is a difference in the amount of time that secondary and elementary students are to spend in the school. Secondary students should spend 30 minutes per day more than elementary stu- dents. One of the problems that the school has to deal with is the interweaving of both element- ary and secondary students’ needs into the schools’ daily timetable. School times resumed their normal schedule on Monday, March 30, 1981 to run from 8:55 to 12:00 and 12:55 to 3:00 for all students. A re- vised timetable for secondary students will be de- vised for September. Concern Over Late Students One of the school’s concerns at the present time is the number of students who are late for dass. Since the start of the year we are averaging ap- proximately 260 students late for school each month. The school views ‘lateness as being dis- ruptive, rude and poor training. It is hard to un- derstand how in a town our size why lateness should be a problem, Please help the school and your child by encouraging them to be on time.. PROFESSIONAL DEVE LOPME NT DAY AROUND THE.SCHOOL IN AND PROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND IN AND AROUND 5 On Monday, March 30 there was no school for el- = ementary students as their teachers participated = in a workshop concerning the elementary read- © ing program. To improve teachers familiarity © and expertise with the relatively new Ginn 720 & reading program a consultant was brought in from Prince George. Brian Archer.and Karen Taylor Successful. Brian Archer and Karen Taylor have received word that thay were successful in the writing of their English Composition exam which qualifies them to write for Provincial Government Schol- arships at the end of next year. The English Com- position éxam is a Pass/Fail situation and both students received-a “‘pass”. Congratulations. THANK YOU Thank you to Tom May who lent the school his Apple 11 computer for three weeks while we were sharing our computer with Atlin. Thank you to Paul Clark who has done so much of the track setting for our cross-country skiers. Thank you to Connie Cousins for the caring, ‘creative approach that she used as our child care worker. Good luck in Houston! AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE = = NI 100H9S aH GNNOUV GNV NI 100H9S 3HL GNNOUV GNV NI 1O0H9S 3HL GNNOYV GNV NI 100HIS 3HL GNNOYY GNV NI 100HIS JHL GNNOUY GNV NI iv wit WHOS ARE ZERO WH URCHAE ARE BERGUs «enw IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL Spring Break a EASTER HOLIDAYS, REPORT CARD AND PARENT INTERVIEWS The Easter holidays occur from Saturday April 11 to Monday, April 20 inclusive. The report cards for the third term will be issued Friday, April 24th and Parent interviews occur on Wednesday April 29th from 2:30 - 4:30 and 7:00 - 9:00. Elementary School Self Assessment Progressing Elementary teachers have been very busy these past few months in striving to make Cassiar Elementary School a better learning environ- ment. The Ministry of Education has requested that each elementary school over the next sever- al years undertake a self assessment of their. pro- grams. Cassiar is now doing this, with all element- ary teachers being a member of one or more of five committees that are analysing the services that the school provides. Two afternoons have been allocated for these committees to meet aside from the many hours that they are already putting into this project outside of school time. The first afternoon was March 17, while the sec- ond afternoon will be Tuesday, April 28th. Cross Country Skiing News Cassiar School hosted 12 cross country skiers from Whitehorse the week of March 23 - 27. The skiers in Grade 7 - 10 came to Cassiar to take advantage of our excellent snow conditions for this time of year. They have noticed the improvement in the cross-country trails since last year. IN AND ARWUND THE SCHOOL The Damming Of The Stikine by Gary Dennis, Grade 12 Student Many people are opposed to the damming of the Stikine and its tributary, the Iskut. | am one of those people. | believe that if B.C. Hydro goes ahead with its proposed dams on the Stikine and Iskut rivers, serious ecological problems will occur. The annual salmon run will be dis- rupted and birds and animals that depend on these fish will have their own problems of surviving. The Tahitan natives of this area have a low income and:some depend on salmon to help ease the money problems during the summer and part of the winter. The prices in the store at Telegraph Creek are very high due.to shipping costs and its out of the way placement. If B.C. Hydro does build these dams most of the power will be sold to the Americans in Alaska. One of the dam sites is in the Grand Canyon of the Stikine and | know one person who has a ranch about 10 miles above the dam site and plans to retire there. If the dam goes through, his ranch and livelihood will be under 1500 feet of water. Also a one and a half million dollar bridge and | a three million dollar railway bridge will also be under 1500 feet of water. Such a waste of tax payers’ money. This area is very beautiful and: a habitat teeming with wildlife. Why flood and*destroy it? It also will destroy the Tahltan culture and livelihood. Keep the Stikine and Iskut rivers free flowing! Stop the dams!. Badminton. Members of both the elementary and secondary. bad- minton team competed in the Yukon Games. Results were: : Junior Ladies Singles —Connie Quash 2nd ge Junior Ladies Doubles — Connie Quash & Gayleen Day 2nd Junior Men’s Singles - Lee Callow2nd. ~ Junior Men’s Doubles — Lee Callow & Szilard Fricska 2nd Junior Mixed Doubles — Connie Quash & Szilard’ ' Fricska 2nd Senior Ladies Singles — Gwen Hudson 3rd___ Senior Mixed Doubles — Gwen Hudson & David Quash 2nd satel Thanks to Mrs. E. Buckler, Miss C. Christie and Mr. D. Kaul for the time and effort they have put into coach- in ; IN AND AROUND SCHOOL DISTRICT 87 On The. Future of Education consider this recent editorial which appeared in Alvin Toffler, the author of Future Shock and The Third Wave, addressed the Annual Con: ference of Secondary School Principals recently. In his opinion, for schools to serve youngsters well they must simulate the future. He stated that our North American Society is headed toward an emphasis. on individuality, smallness, diversific- ation and regionalization. ‘We are at the vortex of revolutionary change in society. Pressures will intensify until we reach the breaking point and then society will have to restructure itself. Public schools must restructure as must the other sys- tems in our society, such as the family, the polit- ical order and the economy.” He went on to say that educators cannot ac-- complish the restructuring changes alone. Parents, students and the community at large will have to be. involved. In addition, large doses of imagin- ation, adaptability and human relations skills will be required. Finally, Toffler suggested that we need to re- assess the question of what is basic in education — the basics appropriate to the future. ““There may be new basics,” he proposed, “‘and a new slogan — Forward to the Basics!” Do you agree with Toffler? Perhaps as another point of view you might hw Vel Pavan Ate Ghai? by Vb Fe i kta Ria bach aid the Prince George Citizen on the Good Life? The Good Life? January, 1979 — The Year Of The Child is ushered in amid glowing pledges by government leaders, educators and churchmen to push for better child care; protection of children’s rights and a better deal for the. generation that is our future. January 1981 — troubled children are beset by problems of alcoholism, brutality, crime, in- cest, apathetic parents and single parents who just have no time for their youngsters. Teachers are grappling with the problem, and 1Ostne What’s gone wrong? : Perhaps our dreams and ambitions to carve a slice of the good life for ourselves and our fam- ilies have backfired. In the scramble to buy the car, the boat and the new carpeting, some of the needs of families have been ignored. It used to be fun to be a kid, remember? Well, not any more. Many of today’s children — in Prince George and across Canada — come home to an empty house. In some cases, there is only Mom, and she - has to work. In other cases, both parents work, but the end result is the same. Continued on Pageu? pau Wereseadebs Stk. vara rss OOHIS FHL GNNOYV GNV NI 100HO9S 3HL CNMOYV ONY NI 100H9S 3H1 GNNOUY GNV NI 10H9S 3HL GNNOUY ONV NI col wine . SARA BANDE by Bill Morrison It was a kind of miracle. Flowers in March, with three feet of snow still on the ground, It was ‘The Flower Show- A Musical, Botanical Delight’ performed by ‘Sarabande’-- Jerri Catron, pianist, Kathleen-Payne, soprano, and Pat- ricia Schreiber, mezzo-soprano, directed by. Catherine Leighton. It was a program of songs, poems, and piano’ pieces about flowers; and, as befitted the theme, it was done with grace and vitality. It was, to change the metaphor, a gem “of a perfor: mance, brilliant, glittering. It was witty, elegant and gay, and paced beautifully, each step and gesture from begin- ning to end carefully executed like the steps of a dance. There was none of the meandering comments interposed ‘off the cuff’ between numbers such as have marred many of the performances we have seen. Introductory remarks were kept to a bare minimum ; and those that were made were succinct, to the point, and as much a part of the art- istic whole as the music and poetry. This was a polished presentation, done by people who were not only good art- ists, but also good performers, careful of every detail, who. made us see that they enjoyed working together, etic their art, and-enjoyed entertaining. i The. program began with Percy: Grainger’s arrange- ment for piano of ‘Country Gardens’, which set the theme for what followed. ‘How. many: kinds of sweet flowers grow in an English country garden?’ Well, there were wild thyme, crocuses, violets, snowdrops, tulips, lilies, lilacs, daffodils and, of course, a profusion of roses. Like an Eng- | lish garden, the musical numbers were mixed together, and not arranged in rigid rows according to type. Much of the pleasure of the concert came from the humorous jux- taposition of different styles, the ‘serious’ being set off by the light, and the downright funny. Contributing to the mixture were eighteenth-century songs by Scarlatti, Arne. and Horn; lieder; French art songs; folk songs; the rich ‘melodies of English compa sels, like Moss and Thiman; 3 S.-C. IN AND-AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND ea THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AN Continued from Page 6 Nobody’s home to say “Hi, how was school?” So they hang out at the corner, or at the shopping centre, or over at Jack’s place, with their friends. They’re exposed to violence and sex at the movies, on television and at the corner newsstand. They learn about drugs, fighting and - shoplifting. They’re drifting because they’re gettin no direction from concerned parents, and it’s totally unfair to expect teachers to take on that addition- al role. The “typical family” of the 70’s, with the husband working, the wife at home keeping house and two school-age children is no more. Now the average is a family of three — one child whose father and mother both work. Inflation hurts us all. Many families find it — difficult indeed to maintain their standard of liv- ing on one pay cheque instead of two. But in many other families, the extra job brings home a new stereo-a color television set for the family room or a car so Mom can drive to ‘work. ° And when schoo! lets out? There’s nobody home. On The School Board The Minister of Education has approved the establishment of a Board of School Trustees for S.D. No. &7 (Stikine) to take office effective Dec- ~ ember 1, 1981. The electicn of this new Board will take place between October Ist and Novem- ber 14 of this year at meetings of persons resident in the six school attendance areas of the Stikine. Representation will be as follows: Cassiar — 2 Trustees, Lower Post — 1 Trustee, Good Hope. Lake — 1 Trustee, Atlin — 1 Trustee, Telegraph Creek — 1 Trustee and Dease Lake — 1 Trustee. CONCERTS adian composer Healey Willan. “Heavy’ aabes like Rachmaninoff and Hahn were followed by the gleeful . mockery of Flanders and Swan; Schumann and Moss were put in an entirely new perspective by being put cheek-by- jowl with Gracie Field’s theme song, ‘The Biggest Aspidis- “tra in the World’. I’m not sure that they would be entirely “happy with the company they were forced to: keep; but the effect was charming, The performers moved easily rauee a great Variety ~ of music and moods, giving each the proper touch. There was a touch of the comic in all three, even the pianist (the accompanist is often cast into the shadows by the voc- alists; but Ms. Catron had her innings once or twice). Ms. Schriber did a passable imitation of Gracie Fields, and ap- proached the quality of Florence Foster Jenkins in her malicious send-up of Sullivan’s ‘Where the bee sucks, there suck I’, ‘Ms Payne dead-panned ‘There are fairies at the bottom of our garden’, which was just right. She showed a nice appreciation for the simplicity of the folk song in her unaccompanied singing of ‘The Wild Mountain Thyme’. - This was a Selle tip-toe through the tulips; a real delight. > The SAN FRANCISCO GUITAR QUARTET Saturday brought us another delightful evening, this one scored for four guitars and a chorus of ice cubes. In spite of the latter, the San Francisco Guitar Quartet gave an excellent performance of a program that ranged through the guitar repertoire from the eighteenth - century Fern- ando Sor to three contempory composers, and beyond it to adaptations of John Dowland’s lute music and the piano rags of Scott mani The four players, mits now all live in the Bay area, A James Colgan, ataahy Fox, Geoffrey Stewart and Lynn Zemlin. i ° On Education Rights of All Children The B.C.S.T.A. (B.C. School Trustees Assoc- iation) will address the following issues at the 1981 Annual General Meeting. ~ 1. Equity of funding 2. Equalization of educational opportunity ~ * for all children, with special funding to "equalize the opportunities of children with special needs. Your Official Trustee, Mrs. S. ether will repre- sent you at the Annual General Meeting. She will be delighted to put forth your point of view on the above issues. Essentially, the policy position calls for all children to have equal rights to education, regard- less of their location, socio-economic class, or learning ability. On Philosophy The Stikine Joint Advisory Board (S.J.A.B.) met at Dease Lake on Saturday, March 14, 1981. Representatives from the six school attendance areas worked energetically and, productively at fashioning the base for a Philosophy of Education for the school district. Elements which the phit osophy will address include: — equality of educational opportunity for all - students - — consideration of the uniqueness of each school — the relative roles of the school and the home in developing today’s students — the aspects of multiculturalism and cultural relevance — the formalization of a code of conduct for students of S.D..No. 87. Cassiar Courier April 1981 Page 7. This was not a concert for the person who, like Polonius, is ‘for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps’. Even at its most robust, the classical guitar is a quiet instrument, in- timate rather than powerful, beautiful rather than flashy, not given to frivolity. The artists concentrated on their performance, as those must who choose one of the most _ difficult of instruments: to play.” ‘The dynamics of the “group, as they reflected sensitive. interpretations to one another, were fine and a joy to see:. Concert goers who enjoy ‘getting to know’ the performers on stage will have been disappointed here because apart from a straightforward introduction of the performers by name, the only comments made-by leader James Colgan were brief notes to the music to be played: The presenta- ion was ‘as conservative as the suits and ties worn by the men. Sitting in the audience, it felt as though we were simply overhearing a performance’ done by the players for . their own enjoyment. This was as it should be with this introvertive instrument that shies away from public dis- plays. Musically and technically, this was classical guitar at its best. We have been fortunate in the caliber of musical perform- ~ ances brought to us this week. But O, those ice cubes! NATIVE CRAFTS FROM LOWER POST SCHOOL by. Jay Dahlgren. : | Jean Brown and Elsie Tibbett of Lower Post have been working with the students at school. Native craft work is both decorative and functional. Decorative work is usuak ly done with colorful seed beads, ‘buttons and embroid- ery thread, Everything made is functional for hunting, trapping, clothing and ceremonies. The traditional but- ton blanket is sewn with black and red wool, often with | a raven or wolf figure. : Popular projects were slippers, moccasins or ‘mukluks. The word moccasin is used to identify leather footwear of most Indian people in North America. | was curious about the distribution of a particular type, why a certain type is found in a ‘certain location and just how long did it take to perfect the footwear we wear today. a On Policy Making At the March 14 meeting,the S.J AB. also considered the following policy items: — Housing for district teachers — Racism — Community use of school facilities — Selection of Learning Resources — Controversial Learning Resources The exercise was valuable as it introduced poten- tial trustees to policy sources, policy concerns te NI 100H9S aHL GungUY S v any and to one of their major roles on the New Board. 2. On the other ede. : Small chiid is busy drawing a picture. Teacher: That’s an interesting pane: Tell mex about it. Child: It’s a picture of God. Teacher: Well, nobody knows what God looks like! They will wien I get done! “A Grown-up’s Resolution Let me have an open door, In every hour of every day; Let no child feel pushed aside, Ignored, or hurried on his way. “y TOGHS 3H1 GNNOWY ONY NI100H9S aHL GNNOUY GNV NI 1001 Child: Let me have an open heart That work-blindness cannot close For the child who lost a tooth, a dog, Sheds tears or has new clothes. Let me learn again each day What every gardener knows — That in planting seed and tending growth The patient parenes also grows. ~ 81-03-24 by Owen Coron GNY NI TOOHO9S 3HL GNNOYV GNV NI 1O0H9S FHL GNNOYY GNV NI 1OGHIS 3HL GNNOGYY GNV NI TOOHIS JHL GNNOUV GN NI 1O0H9S SHL GNNOYY GNV NI 19S 3HL ONNO oy os