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economist sunjsuntribime learning saturday june 102006 school boards hit homer in fraser report by teresa latchford staff writer the grades are in and eight york region elementary schools received a perfect 10 the regions school boards fared just as well in the fourth annual fraser institute report card ranking the provinces schools the conseil scolaire de dis trict catholique gentresud took the highest ranking of 79 out of 10 counseil scolaire de district du centre sudouest second with 78 followed by the york catholic district school board at 76 and the york region district school board with 72 the report ranks 2818 of ontarios elementary schools from public and separate school boards as well as french schools it is designed to help parents choose the best school for their children and monitor a schools performance but principal clayton la- touche of william berczy public school in unionville doesnt put much value in being ranked first and receiving a perfect grade we at the school do not sup port the rankings because schools are complex organizations mr latouche said eqao standard ized testing which the fraser report is based on is only one aspect of the success of a school the report uses nine indicators to determine rankings including average level of achievement on the grade 3 and 6 eqao in read ing writing and mathematics as well it uses the difference between grade 6 male and female students in their average levels of achievement on the eqao assessments in reading and mathematics plus the per centage of assessments that did nt meet the provincial standard there is more to a school than test scores principal latouche said school safety if the students are ready to learn a students sense of belonging and knowing the students and fami lies you are serving are all com ponents of success pope john paul h catholic ele mentary in richmond hill also scored a perfect 10 it is nice to be recognized principal dane mcwatters said but she agreed the report card doesnt consider behindthescenes programs and initiatives we have hardworking staff community and parents that make the school successful she said this looks at academics and not the programs projects or work done with the ministry of education sutton public school received a 55 out of 10 but there are positive programs in place to improve stu dent learning and teaching prac tices principal kim wittekoek said you cant compare apples and oranges she said sutton public has literacy programs to improve the schools standing the first step was to discard the class teaching approach and examine students specific needs with the help of a consultant the school implemented pro grams such as the bounce litera cy approach a guided inde pendent reading and writing program where students are grouped on a daily basis to work on an issue they struggle at for example summarizing with data like the eqao and the fraser institute we can deter mine what resources we need to succeed ms wittekoek said fraser institute school rankings york region schools ranked first in ontario school town 2005 2004 roy h crosby markham 10 99 st justin martyr unionville 10 10 william berczy unionville 10 10 flowervale thornhill 10 96 st angela merici woodbridge 10 10 bayview glen thornhill 10 10 pope john paul ii richmond hill 10 87 st emily woodbridge 10 79 york region schools ranked low in ontario rank school town 2004 2005 2709 jersey keswirjk 26 39 2436 prince charles newmarket 4 71 2324 deer park keswick 43 62 2324 lake simcoe keswick 43 62 2122 black rive sutton 48 62 the full fraser institute report card is available at wwwfraserinstitute ca staff photo illustrationteresa latchford its warm sunny and the school year is almost done for many students that means skipping classes forged notes help some students enjoy skip school month by teresa latchford staff writer before you give your child trouble for cutting class consider how many times you skipped school to lounge under the june sun for generations june has been unofficially skip school month for students who cant fight the lure of warm weather and anticipation of summer vacation one grade 12 student who will remain unnamed said she cant resist cutting class on a hot friday you are almost done the week and you just want to go outside she said of friday afternoons it is too hard to resist the temptation with a group of her friends she usually goes for lunch and they coax each other into not returning instead they hit some common hot spots for students cutting class we go to the mall the coffee shop or sometimes just out in the field behind the school and sun tan for the afternoon a fellow grade 12 student said we have been cooped up for so long in the winter we just need to get out of class some students dont even leave the school grounds when cutting class and settle for socializing in the cafeteria while others play football or frisbee on the school field other times students will pile into a car to take a trip to a nearby beach for some fun in the sun or just stay home and relax you are almost done the week andyou just want to go outside it is too hard to resist the temptation getting caught doesnt seem to be a deterrent one student even admitted to forging notes from her parents to get out of serving a detention but the majority of the time excuses will do and those excuses seem to be timeless i didnt feel well so i went home one student said my friend had a crisis another chimed in i just say i didnt feel like going a third laughed seniors at the newmarket seniors meeting place used the same excus es when deciding they didnt want to go to school bob mcgann 70 said he remem bers the seduction of a nice day when he and his friends would go to the pool in aurora play baseball or pool and get into loads of trouble we used to steal canadian flags and then return them the next day he laughed as he remembered we also used to taunt the cops and then run like hell once a police officer chased the group of rowdy teenagers across rail road tracks where the officer tripped on the tracks accidentally triggering his gun but of course you cant do those kinds of things today mr mcgann said doug may 70 remembers build ing a damn across the river on lome avenue in newmarket and swim ming until dinner time or going chip munk hunting with a bow and arrow at a local farm he never got caught until one trip to the thornhill pool we used to hitchhike up to that pool he said but we got caught because we couldnt get home detentions didnt deter these troublemakers either because a day out of class was worth every minute in the principals office