THURSDAYMARCH 13, 2014
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RANKING LOCAL SCHOOLS
Privates dominate District 69 schools way down think tank’s list JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews.com
Parksville Elementary is the top-ranked local school in the Fraser Institute’s latest report card of B.C. elementary schools, sitting in 410th place out of 979. Six other District 69 elementary schools were part of the rankings. Nanoose Bay and Winchelsea were tied for 586th. The others were Arrowview (649th), Qualicum Beach (769th), Bowser (793rd) and Errington (908th). The other two elementary schools in this district, French Creek (Coombs) and False Bay (Lasqueti Island) were not part of the institute’s rankings this year. Mt. Arrowsmith Teachers Association president Debbie Morran said she doesn’t put a lot of stock in the rankings. “It’s a misrepresentation of the success of a school when they are ranked solely on how students perform on one given day,” Morran told The NEWS this week. “There’s so much more to a school than a pen and paper test. We respect it as a snapshot but you can’t rank schools on a snapshot of one given day.” The Fraser Institute says it used 10 indicators to come up with a rating, and subsequent rankings, of the elementary schools. All of the indicators are linked to what are called the Foundation Skills Assessments, government-mandated tests taken by students in Grades 4 and 7. None of the schools from District 69 that were part of the rankings has Grade 7 classes. The institute said in these cases, marks were factored into an elementary school’s ratings from test results of Grade 7 students attending middle schools where these students are likely to attend after graduating from elementary. See RANKINGS BASED ON FSA, page A4
TYSON TAYLOR PHOTO
TRAINING HARD: Nicolette Kipling was back at Jim’s Gym in Parksville after capturing silver at a recent weightlifting competition in Port Alberni. Kipling is training hard with coach Ed Fergusson (seen above in the mirror) for the upcoming Seafest Competition in White Rock. See story on the front of our sports section, page A37.
Suspicious fire injures three men AUREN RUVINSKY
writer@pqbnews.com
An explosion in Dashwood caused by what police are calling “a clandestine, illicit, drug-production opera-
tion” sent three men to hospital Monday, including two who were in bad enough shape to be air-lifted to Royal Jubilee in Victoria. Dashwood Fire Chief Nick Accia-
vatti who was the first on scene at the rural property on Nahmint Road, off Corcan Road, soon after the 1:45 p.m. call, at what sounded like a routine house fire. See HIGHWAY 19 CLOSED, page A8
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