The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

14 economist suntribune education saturday march 25 2000 ine is a good tip for student thornlea secondary school teacher richard cherry left assists student lisa lorefice in improving her computer skills in the thornlea intensive program a series of special classes aimed at instilling a sense of discipline in students staff photosjoerd witteveen an intensive educational program helps students who may be close to dropping out by gianni colavecchia staff writer p mike levitt looks forward to the day when he can make a million bucks intelligent and articulate the 18yeardld budding entrepreneur admits he often skipped classes and missed homework in the past so he volunteered to go into the thornlea intensive program tip a series of special classes that aim to instill discipline in stu dents and give them a second chance at suc cess tip is one of several reasons many people in the york region educational system levitt included say the proposed provincewide code of conduct isnt needed here levitt says tip has made a difference through its abbreviated but busy schedule and its strict rules on attending class it forces you to be selfdisciplined because theres not much leniency he said basically you get warned and youre out saying they want a system that will elimi nate excuses for unacceptable behaviour and unclear rules for students premier mike harris and education minister janet ecker have announced they will enact a code of conduct by september unlike the current system which allows hearings to be held before students are expelled the code would automatically kick students out of school for weapons and other offences under the code officials could send problem students to classes that are stricter than those in the traditional system students who are expelled would be sent to strict discipline schools with tougher rules parents of troubled teens could apply to have their children sent there but richard cherry a teacher with tip was quick to note his program despite its strict rules isnt a form of punishment the focus of tip is to be aware of the needs of students while instilling a sense of disci pline in them a studentparent handbook clearly spells out expectations one rule states any absence that is not validated will be consid ered truancy truancy is grounds for removal from the program cherry said he often stands in the schools hallway to make sure his students many of whom were truants and failed their courses get to class on time they are essentially close to being dropouts and this is a second chance for them the most important thing they learn is to be reliable consistent and dependable he said if they start to have difficulties we will sit them down and talk to them cherry takes a break from the interview to talk with a student who has walked through a doorway with reddened eyes were very sensitive to the whole stu dent said cherry who is also thornleas head of alternative education 1 i think at the end of the day she realizes we support her cherry credited solid facilities and a favourable studenttoteacher ratio in help ing tips 64 students achieve their academic goals the proof he said is in the fact 94 per cent of students get the credits theyre after while in tip they typically have 25 per cent of the credits they need before entering the pro gram he added bill crothers chairperson of the york region district school board said the pro posed code of conductis absolutely redun dant in york region it forces you to be self disciplined because theres not much leniency basically you warned and youre out we already have in a sense a code of conduct he said i would expect that it a provincewide code would be relatively consistent with what weve already done a safe schools policy he explained already deals with weapons and drugs on school property any student caught with a weapon is immediately suspended for 20 days and rec ommended for expulsion he added although earlier this week rumours about gunplay kept more than 700 students off the grounds of sutton district high school crothers said his boards behaviour guide lines are clear he cautioned against establishing rules that are too rigid elizabeth crowe chairperson of the york catholic district school board said the very issues the province wants to deal with are already covered in her board by an alternative education program asafe schools policy and codes of conduct for each school i feel confident that our policy is quite comprehensive she said noting a variety of officials including policeofficers have helped the board draft its rules gerry harrison president of the york region branch of the ontario secondary school teachers federation said safe school policies cover much of what the province wants to tackle a lot of issues that the government wants to address we have addressed he said harrison also said parents expect appeals mechanisms to be in place for students facing expulsion the province is addressing grey issues with a blackandwhite approach and playing upon the publics worries about violence in schools he added but ministry of education spokesperson rob savage said all the province wants to do is make sure safety and respect are vital parts of school life those are two key components we need to have in all our schools he said a provincial code will make sure all rules are clear and provide a standard of behaviour for every student in ontario he noted savage acknowledged many schools may already have clear rules but said the province wants to make sure they are enforced officials are still determining how they intend to enforce the rules he added optometrist ophthalmologist optician o whats the difference people including healthcare providers too often confuse optometrists with ophthalmologists and opticians although the work involved within these three careers is closely related their field of activity are quite specific optometrists provide almost 80 percent of all eye care in canada we are university trained doctors who detect manage and appropriately refer diseases of the eyes we provide most prescriptions for eyeglasses as well as for contact lenses and we also make and sell eyeglasses and contact lenses if you do not require surgery or have no eye diseases then like the vast majority of canadians your eye your optometnsr ophthalmolog are medical doctors who specialize in treatment of diseases and surgery of the eyes often ophdialmologists have a particular interest and only specialize in the diseases and surgery of retina or cataracts or other eye diseases most ophthalmologists do not specialize in providing prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses opticians arc trained technicians graduated from a nonuniversity community college who sell eyeglasses and contact lenses as prescribed by cither an optometrist or an ophthalmologist health as well as all other cyecarc and eyewear needs are fully met by a visit to dr hh walji hohsbscmodfios optometrist 471eyes 3937 6633 highway 7 markham website wwwdrvvaliicom email drwaljidrwaliicom