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v i jji j tyi f cviy azisa 1 1 i i i- stouffviixes ualrrv jeweller weekender edition wifci 1 ewellers across from i wl3wm clock tower vjock lower ibm i i stouffville ametmlmuigmtnwmtynewspaper saturday october 12 1991 52 pages 25 cents i sonshine square draws 350 people to baird meeting kate gilderdale correspondent more than 350 people packed the gymnasium at orchard pairk public school tuesday night at a public meeting protesting the cancellation of sonshine square clubs at four area schools sonshine square ai nondenomina tional lunch time bible club launched in 1989 was run entirely by volun teers andas open only to students with written permission frpm their parents a recent ruling by the provincial government that lunch recess constitutes partof the school day has resulted in the clubs cancel lation v keith baird policy advisor to the minister of education attended the meeting also present were harry bowes chairman of 5 the york board of education rori warder stouffville resident and member of fine- fair ness in noonhour electives and i nator of the coalition for religious freedom m education who acted as moderator sonshine square clubs began in the fair of 1989 vvhehxoncerried par ents met with harry bowes and the principalsof grchardjpark andsum- mitview schools warder told the meeting the concept was approved and in january of 1 990 tbaljantrae and whitchufclihighlands were included as a result of parental interest enrollment was 348 students with signed permission slips from their parents the clubs he added were provided at no cost to students schools or the board of education arid attracted students from many dif ferent christian denominations as well as other religions and cultures aii education ministry suggestion that the program could take place before or after school so that it could be deemed as being outside the school day was impractical because the majority of students were bused said warder bowes said he had supported the concept of the clubs when he was approached by parents in 1989 he added that it was the opinion of the thenliberal governments educa tion advisor that the instructional day did not include lunch recess and therefore the clubs did riot contravene ministry guidelines on specific reli gious teachings however the present government has ruled that the noon hour is part of the school day four concerned citizens addressed the meeting in support of sonshine square and their submissions were followed by a presentation from keith baird who stressed that the ruling was not riiade on a personal whim of minister of education marion boyd the decision is based on a court case in elgin county in which the civil liberties association and par ents sued the ministry of education arid the elgin county board of educa- tion he explained the case arose from the fact that students in the area were forced to actively opt out of religious instruc tion if they did not wish to take part the court ruled in fayor of the com- plairiarits and also sought to differen tiate ibetween religious indoctrination and education about religion in the schools although the noon hour question was not directly addressed the inter pretation from the ministry lawyers is that it is part of the school day explained baird in the education act it describes the lunch hour as a scheduled mterval between classed the crucial segment is that we require boards to supervise and care for childfen that are on their premthroughffieiunch hour it was on that basis he said that clubs such as sonshine square which offer instruction based pri specific religious beliefs were deemed uncon stitutional the message he wanted to convey is that this is not a provincial decision andcertainly not an attack oh christianity but i understand why there is such a turnout and understand why you would be lobbying vpcifer- ously he explainedthat the charter of rights and freedoms left ihe government with severely restricted options and the consequence of being wrorig is a very expensive lawsuit following bairds presentation many parents voiced strong opposi tion to the governments position vanderzande told concerned parents not to give up and stressed that other legal opinions were much more hopeful mmm ward 6 meeting ward 6 candidate ken pren tice is holding an information night at parkview village boardroom this thursday at 730 pm all residents are welcome to the evening a tire fire on private property located on the town line just north of the aurora side road brought officials of the ontario min istry of the environment to the scene early tuesday morning our belief is that it was an electrical cause thats the way were leaning right now said whitchurchstouffville fire chief bill brown on the cause of the blaze the fire damaged large truck tires and tires for earthmoving equipment as well as a pole barn on the property but was not con sidered a threat to the environment firefighters had the blaze under control by 830 am tuesday damage was estimated at about 250000 cheif brown referred the matter to the towns bylaw department for further action mdrgot will not run margot marshall told the tribune on thursday that she will not be con- testing her wand 1 seat in the upcom- jng election earlier this week marshall stated that she had given serious considera tion to ninning again despite her oirigr inal decision to step down i thought there would be a whole line up of people that would be waiting for me to retire after nine years there could be such a large turnover in council and that riiakes me a little concerned only one candidate ivanka bradley had filed nomination papers for the seat at press time bght to uxesuona extra irsjfttls 16val engine 100 hp frontrearcfiscbrakesa independent suspension suzuki m markville suzuki 4072 hwy 7 east markham fast economical 4707044