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economist suntribune thursday sept 19 2002 stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 publisher ian proudfoot editorial homeless youth a grim reality we must address its a common and perhaps under standable perception york region isnt plagued by homelessness its rare indeed to see a bedraggled figure sleeping in a doorway or panhandling on one of our quiet main streets or is it simply we dont want to see the prob lem as we drive by obliviously in our suvs if you looked in the parks woodlots and abandoned buildings at night you might begin to see the human face of the problem there are according to the experts about 500 homeless people in york region a hid den minority in our mostly affluent communi ties of 729773 yet disturbingly more than half our home less are under age 25 youth seeking shelter from the streets of york region have two choices a 12bed shelter for young men in newmarket or the hard- scrabble shelters in downtown toronto instead they choose streets alleys and parks cashstrapped home base a yonge street dropin centre for youth in richmond hill is lobbying to create the regions first youth shelter since opening its doors in june 2000 the centre has been overwhelmed by the number of young people who have turned to its ser vices of the 100 new youths visiting each month the centre workers estimate 70 per cent of them are or have been homeless when the centre closes at 8 pm grim real ity kicks in for many they are sleeping in the alcove behind home base can we shrug our shoulders when young people are sleeping in the streets simply ask where are their parents after all we have our hands full caring for our own children can we turn our backs on youth in crisis when there is an opportunity to turn a life around whats needed before the problem spirals out of control are educational outreach pro grams assistance in obtaining job training and employment both transitional and longterm living programs and health care designed for and directed at homeless youth but its an enormous challenge to provide more services in this historically underser- viced but rapidly growing region a regional report shows york region consis tently lagging behind other gta municipalities in funding levels for such services as hospitals public health longterm care and community mental health while politicians battle for their fair share of the funding pot agencies in social service sec tors are working together to use their limited resources more efficiently in the meantime the rest of us must do our part by placing more emphasis on the value and importance of the family in society opinion letters to the editor ignorance of teaching common re what could possibly be tiring out york public board teachers letter by j shaw sept 7 although i drive a car and some years ago took a course in auto mechanics i do not understand the complexities of my cars engine mr shaw is in a similar situation with teaching ignorance of the complexities of teaching today is commonplace i invite mr shaw to teach at my school for one week to find out why teachers are tired mr shaw would be able to plan units in seven or eight subjects prior to teaching read ing i would expect him to be familiar with assessment and evaluation techniques pre pare appropriate rubrics and understand the characteristics of each of the levels if mr shaw is unfamiliar with the develop mental reading assessment program we could arrange for inservicing on his own time is he familiar with how books are levelled in the primary grades what exactly is the differ ence between a level 10 and a level 18 book if the books havent been levelled for him he can do that on his own time too perhaps mr shaw would prepare and teach the grade 4 unit on plate tectonics he may have studied that in grade 1 1 as i did he may not have material for what he is about to teach but he can develop that on his own time marking should be completed promptly some of mr shaws students receive special education support for one period per day but the economist sunstoufmlle tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist sundtribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham l3p 1m3 email letterseconsuncom are with him the rest and require individual help statistically he can expect one of his students will have attention deficit disorder and approxi mately half in the toronto district school board speak english as a second language what adaptations will mr shaw make to his program to account for these students who require additional support classroom management techniques should take into account not all of his stu dents want to be at school some are not con centrating because parents are divorcing some regularly come to school hungry and some are abused can mr shaw recognize a child who is abused or neglected is he familiar with the legal requirements and reporting procedures for abused children sadly this is much more prevalent than he might expect teachers want to do the best job they can and yet face incessant criticism maybe its the disrespect that makes teachers so tired wayne hamilton markham editorial editor jim mason newsroomcconsimcom advertising retail sales manager steve kane sieveklheliberalcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandreivserabanncrcom classified manager ann campbell anncvrabannercom j real estate manager mike rogerson production electronic communications manager john futhey jflilheyyrngcom distribution distribution manager barry black bbtackerabannercom administration office manager vivian oneil voneileconsuncom s s m 7 x york region events managing director debra weller divelleryrngcom shows manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 fx 8531765 distribution 9052948244 esunpc canadian ontario press circulations audit council board member stouffville tribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distnbuting ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhillvaughan citizen markham economist sun stouffville tribune stouffville sun georgjna advocate york region business times at home good life yorkregkmcom and careg printing editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail fixer sales nicole mathieu advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci dave teetzel we cant get rid of skilled workers e verybody can be great because anybody can serve you dont have to have a col lege degree to serve dr martin luther king kids are dropping out of school some are homeless some are turning to crime and you can never find a plumber when you need one a fledgling campaign to establish a trade and technical school along the lines of torontos central tech is hop ing youll see a connection recent education reforms have raised standards and put an emphasis on becoming more competitive in the knowledgebased economy but for those who arent academical ly inclined it has been an exercise in frustration fact is some people are better at working with their hands than they are at book learning whats more canada needs their skills according to a 2001 study 15000 workers are needed to stabilize ontarios construction labour market york regions school boards are responding for example the public board participates in the ontario youth apprenticeship program which blends curriculum requirements with onthejob training but to get into a coop or appren ticeship a student must pass grade 10 with the elimination of the basic level last year students are forced to study at a level geared to community college or university but what if youre just not getting it grades 9 and 10 could seem like an eternity its as if were writing off a whole group of kids says diane mandell of second chance an agency that teaches basic life skills to teenagers who are out of school and unemployed she is asking human resources development canada to help establish a york region school that offers trade training alongside academics right now students looking for these opportunities might be steered to the youth apprenticeship program the ontario skills passport offered at the catholic board or a construction training centre in vaughan run by a trade union but ms mandell casts a jealous eye at schools such as bendale in scarborough which offer a diverse training program for good indemand jobs and wonders why york region cant have something similar perhaps one obstacle is public atti tudes york region has a high concen tration of universityeducated profes sionals its natural to want your chil dren to follow in your footsteps but we need to understand people have different talents and all are valu- abla 9 f f