Holiday wishes _ Readers from around the world sent Christmas greetings to people here\XMAS A5/B1 Not bad Atoms put in solid performance at Smithers house league hockey tournament\SPORTS A16 Breakfast time Why everyone at Cassie Hall wore their pyjamas f to school last yweek\COMMUNITY A15 $1.00 pLus 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Tettace area) _TERRAG CE. ANNIVERSARY 2003 7 —s onnnceenes i} _———————_ Ft ~ Wednesday, December 24, 2003 VOL. 16 NO. 38: Santa to probe the four-day week OFFICIALS AT the North Pole have announced a review of the four-day week imposed on Santa’s Workshop earlier this year. Longer hours each day, shorter breaks, shorter lunch periods and in- tensified production requirements have made for problems, say officials. The four-day week means the work- shop is closed now on Fridays and was brought in as North Pole officials sought a way to ease a growing budget deficit. “We had thought that longer days for four days a week and closing one day a week would save money overall, * said one of the officials. “But we're finding it difficult for the elves to get up each morning. It’s also hard for them to concentrate on what.they are doing — quality’s suffer- ing,” he said. “By the time Monday comes after that three day break, we find they've forgotten a lot of what they had learned the week before.” ; Officials are also saying the early morning workshop start means elves are up and about when it is very dark, a situation aggravated because of the continuous winter conditions at the North Pole. “Quite frankly, they’re becoming crabby,” said the official of the elves’ attitude. “And nobody likes a crabby elf, least of all Santa.” “He's actually the one who wants the four-day week reviewed. If the elves are crabby, then Santa isn’t jolly and we've got a big problem.” The official said the longer working period also means the quality, of the toys being produced is beginning to suffer. “This is about retention of skills. And if that isn’t happening, those toys aren’t going to accepted,” he said. The four-day work week was one of several items incorporated into what North Pole administrators said was a New Era for the region. They said the idea was to present more opportunities and choice for the elves, “We wanted to unleash their en- trepreneurial spirit,” said one of the key administrators of the New Era, also being called a “Fresh Start.” . “At the end of the day, this isn’t about us making decisions for them. It’s about them making decisions for themselves,” said the official. But the four-day week review may be a sign that not all of the New Era plans are going well. An attempt by Santa’s reindeer to go on strike for a contract preventing their transportation service from being privatized was thwarted by a back to work order. The reindeer had said bringing in non-North Pole reindeer to do their annual trip with Santa would have placed the operation at risk. There were also mixed reports on a consolidation of some of Santa’s ac- tivities into a new company. called NSFP (New Santa Fun Products). Although there were successes in reducing everyday costs, owners had trouble convincing financiers to put money into the North Pole operation. And that lead to a seizure late in the year of some of NSFP’s assets, a situation that won’t be resolved for some time. — Lights galore MCRAE Crescent stands out every year over the Christmas season because of homeowner lights and one of the brightest displays can be seen at the residence of Manuel and Angela Dias, 5031 McRae. Britny Charron, Allison Kirkaldy, Claire Lussier and Amanda Godlinski accompanied the judges during the Christmas lights contest tour last week and stopped to admire the Dias house. More about the lights contest, and the names of the winners, can be found on Page A3. French immersion group first to put in dibs for Mountainview THE GROUP representing parents of French immersion students in Terrace is the first to submit a detailed proposal for Mountainview Elementary to the schoo! district. The Terrace chapter of Canadian Parents for French (CPF) is asking the district to turn the empty elementary school into the new home of the K-7 French immersion program. The school board ‘is inviting proposals for the use of Mountainview Elementary as a pub- lic school, setting a deadline of Jan. 31. So far, no other community groups have come forward with a proposal. “The board is interested in opening up Mountainview, however, they wanted to make sure it’s for public education,” superintendent of schools Randy Smallbrugge said. “If we have to open a school or do a school closure as o result of what may or may not happen to Mountainview, we can't wait until the last minute,” Smallbrugge said. “We have to act sooner, rather than later.” School districts must follow a 60-day con- sultation process before making a final. deci- sion on closing a school. That’s important because CPF proposes the board close Kiti K’Shan primary, school and transfer the French immersion students. to Mountainview and the remaining 118 English primary students to nearby Cassie Hall ele- mentary. Doing that will save the district approx- imately $61,000 in operating costs, mostly be- cause staffing requirements would be lower, according to the detailed proposal submitted in place for the 2004-05 schcol Dec, 12, The new school would also # help atiract more | students to the j program, and help bolster numbers in French immersion secondary grades, the proposal says. The proposal points out other financial in- centives for the board. More federal money for French immersion will be Randy Smallbrugge year, bringing in an unspecified amount of ad- ditional cash. As well, the per-capita grant for French im- mersion students has increased. Since CPF also expects enrolment will increase by at least 40 students at the elementary level, the proposal may bring in an additional $24,000 to the district, Moving to Mountainview and adding a late French immersion program starting in Grade 5 would fill the school lo two-thirds of its capac- ity. The majority of K-7 French. immersion slud- ents conte from outside Kiti K'Shan’s south side catchment area, the proposal says. Mountainview would draw additional stud- ents to the program, particularly from the Bench and north Terrace, immersion adyo- cates hope, The proposal also outlines some potential drawbacks. Parents are. worried the move would affect the number of specialized classes and programs available to French immersion students — music, art, and a fibrary. The proposal could also mean a change in bus routes to accommodate Mountainview French immersion students. A third concern is the student population of a “single track" French immersion school would be less culturally diverse than at Kiti K’ Shan. “One of CPF’s goals for Mountainview Ele- mentary will be to strengthen and maintain the relationship with native and other ethnic groups to ensure that the diversity of the pro- pram is maintained,” it states. It wouldn’t operate at full capacity for several years — more students would have to join the program, -and a new, late immersion program starting at Grade 5 would have to be added. The proposal suggests adding a daycare program, a for-fee all-day kindergarten to help ensure the school operates at full capacily un- til then. Meanwhile, the board may have its own proposal in the works. Trustees are supporting common grade groupings for schools of K+7 and Grade 7-12: This could affect primary and junior high schools in greater Terrace. “and the companies will ff | West Fraser opens Feb. 2 By JEFF NAGEL WEST FRASER’s Terrace sawmill is slated to reopen Feb, 2 thanks to a government-ordered truce in the coastal forest strike. The company’s Skeena Sawmills operation, originally scheduled to restart Jan. 5, was ex- pected to remain down for months in what many forecast would be a protracted strike. All that changed when the provincial government passed’ legislation Dec. 16 ordering workers back to w rk under their old contract. Negotiators for the IWA # work with mediator Don [j Munroe. If there’s no deal by May 31, he will impose a settlement. “Pm pretty sure it will & go to binding arbitration eventually,” said Tony Taphouse, the union’s strike § captain here. The union said it had to j strike once the Labour Re- § lations Board upheld the companies’ move to impose a new contract — had they worked under it, those terms would have stuck. “I would rather see it go this way than have a con- tract completely imposed on us,” Taphouse said. Skeena Sawmills general manager Lou Poulin said the Feb. 2 restart date still depends on cooperative Lou Poulin weather. ‘We're going to re-evaluate that at the end of » January,” he said. He said the mill was unable to reopen on Jan. 5 be. cause the strike halted maintenance work and stopped Cont'd Page A2 Student overseas trips banned By JENNIFER LANG A SCHOOL district ban on overseas travel won't affect any upcoming international trips because none are planned for the current school year. In the past, the board has given its approval to teachers seeking to use schools to organize student trips to countries like France. “In doing so, the board is sanctioning the trip,” superintendent of schools Randy Smallbrugge said. “Should something happen, the board is culpable.” But since the Sept. [1 terrorist attacks on the U.S, two years ago, a growing number of school districts, including some in British Columbia, have banned student travel overseas fearing they could be held liable in case of an accident or tragedy. The Coast Mountains school board had held off on taking a similar stance. But fast month the board decided it will not approve overseas travel due to the international climate. “In view of the fact that there’s instability in travel, particularly overseas to continents like Afri- ca and Asia, we're discouraging overseas travel at this time,” Smallbrugge said. Teachers will still be permitted to organize overseas trips with students — but nol on school grounds. The board’s stance means they'll have to do organizing and fundraising some place else. The board wanted to reduce the district's liabili- ty risk if something bad happened Coast Mountains students while they were travelling. What's also changed since 9/11 is the fact that recent accid- ents involving students on school outings have iurned out dendly - as was sadly the case with the deaths of Alberta students who were killed by an avalanche while on a school trip near Revelstoke.