! tee MS beara LE Mi Teas abe Sache Nes Gos APES 6 Lee aE _— they knew it was coming and _ 1y hot under the collar?” 7 home, he said. _ Parents confront board | over school problems | By CRIS LEYKAUF ARE OUR students second rate? That’s what angry Kitwanga parciits wanted to know when they confronted school board - trustees at a board meeting here last week, Concems over a number of is- Sues were raised, _ including violence in the school, lack of adequate busing: and the lack of a qualified learning assistant or a school counsellor, Parents from the Kitwanga Elementary Junior Secondary school area made the drive to Terrace for the mecting to demand action and answers from board staff and trustees. “Kids . are threatening kids every day at our school,’ said one parent, Before coming to the meeting; Cedarvale parent Reva Jurgeleit asked her son if he had any con- cems, “He said, ‘Every moming when I go to school I get ‘beat up. yo? This was the first time Jurgeleit’s son had told her of the beatings. ‘It's not isolated,’’ said another Pare, “These kids think they're mnning the school,’’ Throughout . the meeting. and outside afterward parents brought up instances of violence including a grade five student pushing over a Kkindergarten-aged girl, and a _ student threatening another with a carved wooden hunting knife, Robert Price, who has a grand- son at the school, know of ‘11 different cases of children using weapons in the . school, “T don’t send my grandson to. school to be threatened or beat on,”’ he said, Frequently, the violence stems from racism, say parents, Approximately 80 to 90 per cent of Kitwanga schoot students ° 3 are native, Land claims issues causing dissension among parents are also affecting students? rela- tionships, claimed one parent. Outside the meeting, Jurgeleit said native children are pushing Former principal stunned at stories FORMER KITWANGA principal Bob. Peacock was stunned to hear about the incidents of violence at the school. Peacock left Kitwanga Elementary Junior Secondary for another job with the district in June this year. “Unless there’s been a dramatic change in the behaviour of the kids, I don’t see this happening,” he said in a phone interview with _ The Terrace Standard last week. Peacock was a principal at: Kitwanga for three years, and. said he. enjoyed deing at Kitwanga more. than any other school he had worked at. - He: was'well liked by the stu- “dents, said Reva Jurgeleit, a Cedarvale parent with a son at the Kitwanga school. other sports, and even rode along in the back of a truck with the kids on bottle drives, District schoo] superintendent Frank Hamilton said trustees and staff will be meeting with Russell Zukewich and concerned parents to address the issue of violence in the school. But Jurgeleit isn’t wailing for the school board. Last week she took the initia- tive to'go down to the school her- self during lunch hour, to help ‘give the kids something construc- tivetodo. “The -kids seem to be getting restless more often,”’ she said. So on Friday she started a few sports games at lunch to help the stu- dents have fun. ' “P’ve lived here my whole life, . claimed to . non-native children around, tell- ing them to “gel off our land’? and threatening to ‘‘kick your white boy ass.” Back Inside the board offices a tumber of parents raised another issue, that of a lack of a qualified leaming assistant at Kitwanga. The woman who was the learn- ing assistant has now moved to- Terrace, Carol Good, the parent of a special needs child, was worried that her child’s education “Shee said s Peacock: frequdhilearrandilins goligntoiniakelandita: (9 "played basketball, soccer and ference if I can.’’ Unsafe vehicles | taken off roads NINETEEN aging pickup trucks and one car were condemned by motor vehicle inspectors in a pair of roadchecks one recent Satur. day moming. Terrace RCMP Const. JR. Walker said one roadblock was ‘set up near the Thomhill Pub on Old Lakelse Lake Dr. in an effort to catch unsafe vehicles'on their way to the dump. Another was lo- _ ~ cated on Lanfear..- °°! RCMP and motor vehicle In- speciors checked a total of 300 vehicles, condemning ‘20, and- issued 22 ‘charges and 12 written ; warnings. Walker. said ‘the trucks’ con--"* demned were not borderline cases . — they were invariably vehicles’ so unsafe that they endangered |: other people on the road; besides. their own occupants. “It’s not picky stuff,’ he ex- plained. ‘“We’re talking broken frames, seriously cracked frames,’ rusied out floors, and suspension, steering and brakes that should : have failed years ago.’? an “You've got people jamming - pieces of wood into the frame.of the truck to hold it together,’® he : | said. | Inspectors usually concentrate” on commercial and — industrial: vehicles more than private ones. But’ Walker said thot. may, change. “Tt became clear to us we have ; to do‘this more often,’’ he said. : “T think we just scratched the. ser- _ vice.” re Walker sald the owners of the’ . ‘condemned | vehicles were: not pleased. “You get a mixed bag of reac- tions,” lie said. “Some people accept it with some resignation it just happened to be today. And then we had a few who’ were. tea He: said. the average age of. the condemned. trucks was: 15:10:20. years old, But he said there ‘are still _a lot of vebicles older than. that that are safe because they’ te: well maintained. Eighteen - ‘of the. condemied vehicles were towed on the spot, and two were allowed to driv } They can’t go back on the road until defects are repaired and the. truck is reinspected. That’s unlikely, Walker added, because in most cases the neces- ° sary repairs would cost thousands of dollars ——.as much as- the cost * of buying a newer vehicle... ; Drivers who take a ‘condemned: vehicle back on the road-face.a minimum fine ne of $500 ca ght might suffer in the absence af a | Suitable replacement, .. Parents also complained that the school lacked a counsellor, ‘Please explain why-our chil- dren are not as important :as all the others in the district?’ one parent demanded, Skip Bergsmia, assistant super- intendent of schools, said the dis- trict was having difficulty j in fill- ing the position, and had to re- advertise it, When’ you choose d CA over other ciccountants, you get something more... The le aiference? CAs have year s of training ina wide € range of businesses, The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 18, 1995 - AS “RADELET 8 COMPANY Barristers & Solicitors, Vancouver; B.C, _Corporate Reorganizations + Tax Disputes dames W. Radelet Phone 689-0878 Fax 689-1 386 Kids Orly Clothing 4 REASONS TO SHOP WITH KIDS ONLY * QUALITY - 100% colton * Selection from Infants to Adults * Washer/Dryer Friandly © Unique Kids Only grow Feature - HOME PARTIES/HOSTESS DISCOUNT Call for your Free Catalogue Today Chartered Accountants of British Columbia . 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