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6 stouffville suntribune m thursday dec ih2003 opinion publisher ian pr0udf00t teleph0ne9054o2612 fax 9056408778 emaitjmasonythgcom website wwwyorkregioncom editorial underachieving schools should get most cash its about time york regions 240 pub lic schools received a bigger piece of the provincial funding pie ontario education minister gerard kennedy wrote a 112million cheque to help the provinces schools deal with stu dents from lower income homes and those who need help learning english as a second language york region will get 67 million 49 million to the public board and 18 mil lion to the catholic board the funds are in addition to the 190 million the province already spends on esl and the existing 358rnillion learning opportu nities grant its now up to both york region boards to decide how it willcarve up its share to best reflect the ever changing dynamics and cultural makeup of pur growing communities heres something however both local boards should be reminded of before they divide up the cash remember the annual education quality assessment office tests for grades 3 6 and 9 students while we acknowledge eqaq test results are just a snapshot of students academic abilities we cant ignore educa tional concerns when it comes to schools in the northern part of the region lets look atjust some facts markhams gateway public school for example has the highest number of stu dents actually every oneof its 800 stu dents who have another language other than eriglishas their mother tongue despite this learning barrier this school performed higher man tiie provin cial average in reading writing and math the same goes for many other york region schools where esl tt seems esl students in york region are faring quite well in the scheme of things now lets compare that to the dis- rrial performance scores for many ofyork regions northern area schools georgina in particular where students consistently ranklowest in the region most georgina schools are at the bot tom of the list every year and while the jbpard insists it is on top of the situation these scores indicate anything but something has to change or thou sands of kids living in georgina and dtiier northern areas of our region will never be able to compete for coveted liriiversity spots when and if they com- plete high school lis clear where the majority of this additional nearly 7 million must go whatever happened to hockey sticks basket baus or electrctra1n5 sunrtrtone wpwcm- letters to the editor woman in handicapped spot didnt deserve verbal assault this letter is to the gentleman and i use that term loosely who verbally abused an elderly woman in the parking lot ofsobey jn stbuffvilie friday mqrnirig k f your harsk language included people like you disgust me in reference to her parking in a handicapped spot had you not beeii so quick to attack rather than look you might have noticed the handicapped card in the window of hercar not satisfied atshowingyour ignorance only once you continued to be rude enough to comment that she seemed to be walking fine and why would she need a handicapped spot in true bully fashion you were cowardly indifferent and did not have the decency to apologize to her after you realized your error thank goodness the woman did not dignify your rudenessby trying to explain herself 1m sure you would hot appreciate anyone speaking to a member of your family as you spoke to myjmother i want you to know what a special persohtiry mother is in the hopes it may prevent you from repeating your inappropriate behaviour despite trie necessity of requiring a handi capped tag my mother lives alone and is a strong and independent 75yearold she daily goes to visit my father and helps care for him at alocal nursing home where he is restricted to a wheelchair- the stdufryille suntribune welcomes your letters ah submissions must be less than400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and addressthe stbuffvilie suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space i write letters to the editor 34 qvic ave po box 154stouffville l4a7z5emailjmasonymgcom you see our whole family understands and respects what the handicapped reserved areas represent she unselfishlydevotes her time to volunteer at the nursing home as well as markham stquffville hospital she was quite shook up after her encounter with you andcalled me at work when she got home wespoke and i told her it wasnt worth getting upset over but after our conversatioht became incensed enough to write this letter i only wish i had me opportunity to tell you iii person the frightening effect this had on her how dare you in your ignorance undermine her independence will she now think twice about venturing out alone you can bet the thought of strangers like you will be on her mind you must be a very angry man to vent so aggressively but there is ho justificatidri for whatyoudid ido hope you can make peace with yourself and maybe next time you could remember to do unto others as you would have them do untoyou merry christmas ddavis c stouffville editorin chief business manager sales manager new business j n debora kelly robert lazurko developments distribution fm stouffville aqua editor advertising director dawna andrews suntribune jimmasori reporters retail sales flyers nicole fletcher general manager york region printing a mettoland community newspaper joan ransberry hannelofe volpe advertising director classified bob dean 34 civic ave3rd floor stbuffvilie ontario l4a7z5 retail sales manager steve kane real estate events management v gord paolucci director marketing promotions sales representative managing director real estate dphrawpllw phone 9056402612 r fax9056408778 susariberry mikerogerson classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 website wwwyorkregioncom emailjmasonymgcom production manager pam nichols director of production jotinfuthey shows manager stacey allen membenojitanommunitynewsparaswiation office manager distribution manager classified manager v x canaatanmnwnlrnewsrjeb association- u- vivian otjeilt banybiack ann campbell c pntamfcouhctf 4 u vx w v- v off the top with jim mason please write we love letters t6 trie editor editors love letters maybe as much as santa claus email faxes snail mail hand deliv eries and couriered submissions bringiton we can survey the interests of resi dents all you want but one of the best indicators of a newspapers relevance is its letters to the editor section is there ayariety of issues being tack led in letters are they from a range of residents living in neighbourhoods around the community or ido the same names talking about the same stale topics keep popping up before the first edition of the stduffvillesun howthe suntribune hit the streets in 1982 we wondered from where we would cultivate mail not to woity the letters section of the first edition was filled with congratu latory welcomes to the community more than 1000 editipns later readers continue to fill the thursday letters box with a variety ofidcalcomment but we can always use more espe cially for the more regional letters page in the saturday edition of the suntribune tips for letter writers a few tips if imiay keep letters under our 400word minimum the fewer words the bet- ter as long as you can still make your point dont libel or slander anyone like you editors dont like spending time on legal matters your letter like our stories and columns must be truthfui and accurate be careful letter writers can be sued too dont use fancy or technical lan guage keep it lively yet simple v do write on a local issue that will be of interest to most readers email jmasonyrngcom fax 9056408778 mail box 154 stouffville l4a 7z5 or hand deliver third floor of 34 civic ave in down town stouffville include your day time phone number dont write a complaint against a business you say ripped you off or pro vided shoddy service we dont have the resources to delve into the world of con sumer complaints silverman helps this isnt please write whether its to talk about trie fate of the old town hall or praise the work of a volunteer jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune