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inside 6 new you 12 sports 19 classified 20 1 q mike forgie of the streaking stouffville spirit accepts scholarship to michigan university community calendar event whitchurch guides breakfast with santa when sunday dec 15 9 to 11 am where ballantrae community centre aurora rd i a trifle english some history and recipes on a fine christmas dessert serving whitchurchstouffville since 1888 50 cents including gst 32 pages saturday dec 14 2002 students have improved but eqao results slightly better than last year by mitchell brown staff writer students in york regions pub lic schools have improved their reading writing and math skills but officials say theres still cause for concern a report released last week by the education quality and accountability office shows ontarios grade 3 6 and 9 stu dents did slightly better in their eqao exams during the 200102 school year in york region 62 per cent of participating grade 3 students met or exceeded the provincial standard in reading 68 per cent in writing and 73 per cent in mathematics that compares to province- wide results of respectively 53 per cent 59 per cent and 61 per cent grade 6 students also fared well with 70 per cent passing the reading portion 67 per cent in writing and 73 per cent in mathe matics provincially the results were 58 per cent for reading and 56 per cent for both writing and mathe matics in grade 9 however the num bers looked slightly different while 71 per cent of grade 9 students in the academic stream passed the math assessment an improvement of 9 percentage points over last year only 21 see more page 8 all together now staff photosjoerd witteveen nicolette didone front left and hayley peters right and their classmates from my first school preschool in stouffville have a show of hands during their annual christmas concert at latcham hall in stouffville memorial park on tuesday evening to reach us 905 6402612 town could lose 16 from fire dept mpps reject bill to allow fulltime firefighters to volunteer by joan ransberry staff writer public safety will not be jeopardized if 16 volunteer firefighters known as doublehat ters are cut from the whitchurchstouflville fire department union and town officials are both insisting concerns were raised after the volunteer firefighters employment protection act also known as bill 30 was defeated at queens park on wednesday bill 30 was designed to protect those full- time firefighters who also serve on volunteer fire departments in their home communities these firefighters who are paid by the hour for their volunteer work are known as dou blehatters the defeat surprised firefighters oak ridges mpp and minister of tourism and recreation frank klees international association of firefighters iaff local 4152 president john winters and mayor wayne emmerson a timetable for dismissing the doublehat ters on the whitchurchstouffville depart ment has not been set mr klees called the defeat of bill 30 offen sive and an attack on personal freedom since career firefighters face expulsion from their unions and possible dismissal from their jobs for volunteering the iaff union bars the doublehatter practice on the grounds that members tired from working both jobs could pose a safety see mpp page 11 ktjmmaitofayjifaai o honda north markham honda 461 1 hwy 7 wost ol kennedy rd unionville 9054 7 7 2451 genuine honda oil and filter t change includes premium quality 5w20 or 5w3kmotor oil m genuine honda ojmilter and a hew draining gasket mpnthur parts and service open till midnight m hoikii models tfaxes ht included provirriialremiriiniiitlnul foes it any excluded yifemtwwiwywat d 2002 honda quality dealer north markham honda has been presented with the prestigious total quality dealer award from honda canada inc for 2002 town and country 6400888