THE FRIDAY
2010 WINNER
MARCH 2, 2012 www.tricitynews.com
TRI-CITY NEWS Those doggone dogs
Fun en français
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INSIDE Letters/A12 Books Plus/A22 Brian Minter/A33 Sports/A25
School’s out on Monday Schools open but with very limited supervision: SD43 By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
DIANE STRANDBERG/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Nancy Gatty, owner of Creekside Fashions in Port Coquitlam, shows off the dress that Julie Lemon (right) will wear during the Glamma Gramma fashion show March 8 at Heritage Woods secondary. Members of the Coquitlam Gogos will be modeling the latest spring fashions and proceeds will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign to help grandmothers looking after their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren in Africa. Tickets cost $25 and must be purchased in advance by calling Linda at 604-931-2843 or Verna 604-460-4644. Tickets can also be picked up at Creekside Fashions in Port Coquitlam or Vive in Port Moody. For more information, visit www.greatervangogos.org and www.stephenlewisfoundation.org.
ON THE RUN A Gleneagle secondary school student will be sprinting south after being given a scholarship for prestigious Rice University. See page A52
School District 43 will be keeping schools open during the three-day job action by teachers beginning Monday but parents should keep their kids at home because there won’t be adequate supervision. Administrators will be on site, along with other excluded staff but parents are encouraged to keep their children at home, said district spokesperson Cheryl Quinton, noting Strong Start and before- and after-school programs will still be operating. The news has parents scrambling for alternatives for their children, according to Heidi Hass Gable, chair of the District Parent Advisory Council. At a meeting Wednesday, Hass Gable said, parents expressed concern over the prospect of a walkout but said they were also
worried about Bill 22 changes to classroom composition that will set aside rules limits to numbers of children with individual education plans allowed in the classroom. She said parents are afraid there won’t be funding and supports to help in classrooms where there are more children with special needs. “We, as parents, are very concer ned about those things and want to speak out about them,” Hass Gable said, noting said parents didn’t want to wade into the politics of Bill 22 or wages issues. The Coquitlam Teachers’ Association (CTA), meanwhile, says the three-day walkout is necessary to show the government teachers are unhappy with Bill 22, which will impose a cooling off period, remove class composition rules and limit mediation to non-wage issues. “It’s very draconian. It gives nothing but it takes a lot away. It’s not true mediation,” said CTA president Teresa Grandinetti. see 87% OF O TEACHERS, C S, page g A3 3
Chances end for at-risk youth Insufficient funding behind closure of Chance to Choose By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Funding cuts and rising costs have forced the closure of an employment skills pro-
gram that has helped hundreds of at-risk youth access education and find jobs. Chance to Choose co-ordinator Evelyn Humphreys confirmed this week the program, which has taught youth aged 15 to 35 about the job market for five years, will shut down March 27. Humphreys said the date was chosen to give the pro-
gram’s Port Moody landlord adequate notice, explaining that the program has faced funding problems before and was even closed briefly because funding arrived late. What’s different this time, she said, is the combination of a funding cut and higher wages for the youths, who get paid minimum wage while taking the program.
Demo at women’s centre: page A6 “We have 38 participants at $10.25 an hour instead of $8 an hour and that’s a huge difference,” said see CUTS LIMIT, LIMIT, page A6