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economist sunjsuntribune social issues saturday jan 17 2004 rural slums out there poverty conference told by mitchell brown staff writer she told heartwrenching tales like the one about a kindergarten student who was one of eight livingin a fourroom house two of which her family had to rent out to boarders to make ends meet or the one about the boy living with an alcoholic mother and abusive father who refused to bury the boys cat after it was hit by a car leaving the corpse in the street for the boy to walk by every day to school fiona nelson former head of the toronto district school board and fiery advocate for public education apolo gized to her audience for her toronto- centric examples but made it clear child poverty doesnt always mean a lack of money and it does not always stop at steeles avenue people who drive past the gated communities here may think youre wal lowing in prosperity but im well aware of the rural slums out there he said ms nelson who served as a trustee from 1969 to 1997 was the keynote speaker at a conference held thursday by the york region district school board to address poverty and how it affects learn ing and student success teachers and administrators learned from social workers and fellow teachers ways to recognize the telltale signs of poverty such as children forgetting to bring their lunch to school finding excuses to opt out of activities or field trips involving user fees or hanging around school after classes because ifs warmer and safer than going home calling on them to do nothing less than lead the revolution ms nelson told teachers it was up to them to agitate for changes to the system that will help the students who need it most iceland that tiny little spot of lava in the north atlantic has had a national school lunch program in place for decades she said it drives me crazy that we keep look ing south for our values when we should be looking east to europe where they actually value their children serving one of the most affluent areas in ontario if not the country the two boards inlfork region are also producing some of the highestachieving students if one goes by provincial assessment scores but westmount collegiate principal sharon list who helped organize the richmond hill meeting that drew rough ly 350 teachers and aclministrators said the regions growth in the past decade means more immigrant families and lowerincome families for the boards to serve welcome additions to the regions diversity but also new challenges she said every school in our rapidly growing region has an evolving demo graphic that requires teachers and staff to be able to recognize children coping with poverty the board already recognizes 19 performance plus schools spread across the map from markham to sutton to woodbridge which receive extra attention in terms of teaching resources social support thats up from 12 just five years ago an independent catholic school academic program v church on campus v low student teacher ratio interested candidates for september 2004 grades 6 12 must register for the entrance examination no later than february 12 2004 eor a personal tour of our campus and a review of our many programmes please contact the admissions office 9058331909 ext 329 tel 9058331909 fax 9058331915 2480 15th side road king city out v dedicated faculty positive leaining environment comprehensive intramural athletic program c rediscovering traditional catholic education lets make ganger history for information about cancer jggg 9393333 services or tcmake a donation this message brought to you as a community service of the economist sunsuntribune socim society jfllj du j tanadienne cancer young performers rated for the youth allstars site for more information call gai 9059461646 tifrifoercreefr minffiolf fashion show parade art exhibit musical troubadours youth allstars hite hi im dora dora the explorer treasure hunt ftfarville shopping centre 5000 highway 7 at mccowan bf marjrham w r meet me dt the 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