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WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1976, PAGE 3 David Disney dropped out of Sehool in Grade 12, now he is one of region's most qualified educators Dr. David Disney, principal of West Lynde Public*Scliool, was once a grade 12-dropout, but today lie is one of the most qualified educators in the Durharn Region. Last year he received his Doctorate of Education from the University of Toronto, the. only person to receive this degree at the June con- vocation, and is the only Doctor of Education in the Durham Region Board of Education's elementary school system. Dr. . Disney's doctoral thesis has a special relation- ship to his present work, for it was a case study on the community expectations of West Lynde residents for their new school. Besides providing Dr. Disney with his degree, it prepared him for his job as principal at Whitby's newest school, as few principals have ever been pre- pared for their work. Dr. Disney is no stranger to the Whitby education scene, for he·has been teach- ing in public schools in the town and surrounding area since 1959. He was born in Oshawa and went to O'Neill Collegiate before quitting school in grade 12 to work four to five months in a bank. He didn't stay out' of school long though, for he soon returned to grade 13 in Toronto and went on to teachers' college. His experience includes teaching grades four and five at Kathleen Rowe School, grades 9 to 12 at Oshawa's Central Collegiate, and being principal of Brock Street Reach Central,, Dr. Robert Thornton, and Whitby Senior Public Schools. In recent yäis¯T-He has continued his own education, receiving aB.A. degree from Queen's University in 1967, a Master of Education Degree from the University of Ottawa- in 1971, and Doctor of Education from the University of Toronto in 1975 Dr. Disney holds a super- visory officer's certificate from the Ministry of Educa- tion, and in 1974 he taught a principal's course at Seneca College for the Ministry. In the summer and fall of 1975, he taught courses for the Master of Education level for f Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. In the spring of 1974 Dr. Disney was appointed princi- pal of the West Lynde Public School, and was given one year to prepare himself for taking on this. new assignment and planning the school to meet the needs and desires of the conimunity. He set up an office ati Henry Street High School, and set out to prepure his doctoral - thesis, which lie describes as "an application of knowledge to practical edu- cation problems". The job requires identifying and researching a development problen, which in Dr. Disney's case, was what the expecta- tions of the West Lynde resi- dents were for their new public school. He had experience in this kind of vork, for he had previously worked for the Scarborough Board of Educa- tion on a research job on how to gauge public opinion on professional developnent days. The mechanics of Dr. Disney's thesis involved put- ting together a thesis com- mittee, selecting the problem he wanted to pursue, and going before a university com- mittee to present and defend his proposal. "It was a fairly gruelling·session for a couple of hours", he said. The research took about six months of field work, and once he was finished, Dr. Disney had to have an oral hearing and evaluation before the University of Toronto's Senate. To do the research for his thesis, Dr. Disney took a ran- dom selection of names from class lists at King Street School and conducted inter- views with about 80 people about what they wanted for their children at the new school. About 18 to 20 sub- jects'were identified as beina uppermost in their minds he said. Itook them down to seven and developed a rather com- prehensive questioninaire based on these topics, he said. About 80 people were sent the questionaire, and partici- pated in 10 group interviews at Henry Street High School. Dr. Disney said he got about 65 per cent of the question- naires, returned, and the group sessions were reasonably well attended. The results of these sessions produced 23 basic objectives for the West Lynde School, and Dr. Disney took then too the staff lie was hiring, and found unanimous agreement. The final results were sent to every household in the community in December 194, and althougli the response was not that good, he said, they showed "an overwhelm- ing support for the objectives developed. Quite clearly, we had tapped the expectations of the conmunity". The thesis set out to deter- mine the expectations of the parents,.and set the objectives for the school. In his thesis, Dr. Disney reports that the niembers 'of the West Lynde community "are far more conservative in their views than miglit be expected from a young, well educated, active community". "They support the tradi- tional values of discipline, structure, and emphasis on basic subject areas. They are interested more in the means of achieving ends than accon- plishing ultimae ends". "The study created the be- ginning of an information net- work for the new school in that contacts within the con- munity were developed and a healthy school --- commun- ity climate was establislhed", says Dr. Disney. Dr. Disney found that the West Lynde residents did not want their children exposed to teaching approaches with any element of risk attached to theni. "They did nôt want anyone playing games with their children", he said. The study suggests that education planners and admin- istrators should be more con- cerned about developing ob- jectives for public considera- tion which deal with attitudes, and v.alues rather than specific programs. In his thesis Dr. Disney says he felt he got an in-depth undlerstanding and apprecia- tions of the concerns the resi- dents of the community held for their children, the school and the community in general. Dr. Disney describes his thesis as a new and original method of planning for a new school, and could be used in other settings. Although the Durharn Region School Board lias gone into sinilar planning at the high school lever; his is the first suclh study at the elementary level. "I don't think any princi- pals have been involved with the public to the extent that I have", he says. Dr. Disney points out that he has tried to operate the West Lynde School as much as possible according to the 23 objectives set out by the community, and trys to com- municate regularly and often with the people of the area. An advisory council of com- munity residents has been set up, the first for any school in Whitby. "I think we should listen to the people a lot more than we do", says Dr. Disney. "A great deal of our problerms really steni from misunder- standings. We develop assump- tions which we don't take time to check out". Dr. David Disney reads a copy of his Doctoral thesis, a case study of the expectations of the West Lynde community for their new school. Dr. Disney is principal of that school and is implementing the objectives set by the community through his thesis. He believes that communication with people is important in the operation of a school so that there are no misunderstandings about education of children. Free Press Photo I ORGAN TRADE IN SALE LOWREY SPINET 66600 LESLIE SPEAKER REVERBARATION HAWAIIAN ATTACHMENT YAMAHA YC11O STAND INCLUDED CARRYING CASE 99900 CONN CONCERT M630 TWIN 61 NOTE KEYBOARDS FULL PEARL LESLIE SPEAKERS BALDWIN SPINET (FRENCH PROVINCIAL) THEATRICAL TREMALD PANORAMIC SOUND AUTOMATIC BASS PERCUSSION 77700 HAMMOND M103 149500 (SHARP) FRENCH PROVINCIAL PERCUSION STER3O REVERBARATION DRAW BARS PRE SETS HEINTZMAN GRAND PIANO EXQUISITE PIECE PETERSEN MUSIC CO. 390 KING ST WEST OSHAWA 723«2259 OPEN TILL 9 PM WED.THURS.FRI. I AI Russell of Russell Travel Linited, 116 Brock Street South, presents the first airline ticket issued directly from the office to his mother Grace of Leamington.- - Sponsorship by American Airlines helped them acquire their approved agent status which means AI and his wife Linda will no longer have to run in to the airline ticket offices in Toronto to pick up tickets. The-Russell family gave Grace the ticket to Los Angeles to visit a niece. 41 Free Press Photo