The Th wild life of Gary Oliver page 35
Opening day for elite under-18 page 31 league
Thursday April 5,, 2012 Serving Surrey urrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com www surreyle l e ader com lead
Learning centre for teens will take over North Surrey school this fall
Discovery program is on the move
Lisa Menard, 9, (right) sister of missing girl Jamie-Leah Prohl, and family friend Beth Couture address the media during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at RCMP headquarters. Lisa is holding a picture she drew of Jamie-Leah.
by Sheila Reynolds A SPECIALIZED program for elementary students
EVAN SEAL / THE LEADER
‘Please come home,’ 9-year-old urges missing older sister North Surrey’s Jamie-Leah Prohl, 12 (below right), was last seen March 27 by Kevin Diakiw NINE-YEAR-OLD Lisa Menard sat speechless in
front of a bank of TV cameras at Surrey RCMP headquarters Wednesday afternoon in a heartwrenching attempt to get her sister back. At a police-arranged press gathering, Lisa clutched a teddy bear while hiding her face behind a picture she drew of her 12-year-old
sister Jamie-Leah Prohl. Around the picture she wrote, “I miss u Lisa,� “I love you,� and “Please come home.� Police share Lisa’s concern for Jamie-Leah, who was last seen during the evening hours of March 27 before going to bed at her home in the 13200 block of 105 Avenue.
is being moved out of a North Surrey school at the end of the school year and a learning centre for teens is slated to move in by September. Due to dwindling student numbers, the longstanding Discovery School, one of the Surrey School District’s “choice� programs, will be housed in different, yet-to-be-determined elementary school in the fall. Enrolment at Discovery is only about 57 students this year and has been slowly declining over the past several years. The building, near 131 Street and 109 Avenue, has the capacity for approximately 200. Trustee Shawn Wilson said the board of education simply couldn’t justify using the large space for such a small number of students. “We should be respectful and responsible in terms of the resources of the school district ... and when you support a program that’s not carrying itself, you’re taking away from other resources,� he said. “To maintain a program that’s not viable and not provide services that people want, you’ve really got to ask yourself if you’re doing the right job as Shawn Wilson a trustee. I felt, as much as I would have liked to support the community that would like to see Discovery stay where it is, we just couldn’t do it.�
See JAMIE-LEAH / Page 5
Editorial 6 Letters 7 Sports 31 Arts 35
“I felt, as much as I would have liked to support the community that would like to see Discovery stay... we just couldn’t do it.�
See LEARNING CENTRE / Page 3
People 39 ClassiďŹ eds 41
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