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2-Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, August 12,.1987 Mrs. Elsie Milnes, mother of Rev. Fred Milnes and pictured above with grandson Lome Milnes, took part in a Milnes family picnic held in the Orono Park last Saturday. Saturday. '• Mrs. Milnes lays claim to 31 grandchildren and 30 great grand- Education and the election It had been our intent to write about David Peterson and the liberals issuance of $80 million to help train and school unemployed who had left school for a period of time. The scheme was to offset the drop-out rate in Ontario which has been reported in the area of 40 percent after the grade 12 level. The proposal was and is nothing more than a patch on the fabric of education and really would do nothing to reduce the drop-out rate. Since this announcement the Peterson team have come forth with a more realistic scheme in which they would reduce class sizes in grades one and two from 30 students to 20 students by providing funding of $170 million to hire some 4000 new teachers. Being concerned with the dropout problem it seems most logical to deal with the cause and the cause likely starts in the early educational stages. If a student does not receive the social skills in kindergarten and the basic three Rs in the next three or four grades little can be achieved in the later years of the educational educational program. If a student does not have a good foundation in reading, math and literature they are not going to go very far and the educational system will become a drag and dropout surely surely results. But a good foundation in the basics will assure%etter results and cause the dropout rate to drop. It would appear with the Peterson announcement that on average grade enrolment does reach 30 students especially in the lower grades. According to Bill Carman, local trustee on the Northumberland and Newcastle Board of Education, the Board's policy has been that when a class reaches 25 in numbers a teacher's aid is hired to assist in the program. When the number reaches 28 the grade is split. If this was true over the whole,of the province the impact of the-program may not be that much. It could well be similar to the promise made in a former election by then Premier Bill Davis when' forestry was an issue . . . cut one tree, plant two. The promise sounded great but there just wasn't the trees to plant and it would take years to establish a program and operation to raise the required number of trees. The program could well be a good start if it would just go far enough and let it be said at this time that mortfey alone is not enough. We found interest in a news release on the formation of the Ontario Public Education Network. This network encompasses encompasses all the teacher federations and associations, the two trustee organizations and the individual school boards. Its purpose purpose is to raise the profile of public education issues in this provincial provincial election. The Network in their objectives hope to generate awareness and support for four items being -increase the provincial provincial funding of education -increase provincial grants to public school boards for new school construction, renovations and repairs -halt any attempt to pool commercial or industrial assessment assessment -and halt any attempt to provide public money for privatdndependent schools. * The eight organizations within the Network are key Eniovs oicnic at Orono P&rk players in prov iC *' n 8 quality education and their objectives are no more, than Hiort/nioney and a protection of the tax base for the public school system. "Should >iot these key players, teachers, trustees and the boards, be ponding out what they can and should be doing to improve the educàtional system. Canada does not nor does Ontario Ontario have the ultimate in education and a government report last year stated that inadequate teacher training may be at the root of the drop-out problem. So what about improving the performance performance of teachers in the classroom and keeping skills up to date. Is English and math a high priority in all classrooms at all levels of education. What about administration or is it afraid to rock the boat. It is interesting to note that a recent release from Quebec notes that 15 percent of Quebec teachers are not qualified to teach the subject that they are assigned. Why would it be any different in Ontario when the need arises to find jobs for whàt may be redundant teachers. The first and most important thing to do is to set goals and establish priorities and then to make them abundantly clear to parents, students, teachers and school boards. The general public deserves at least that. The problem is more than money and the Ministry of Education well knows it. having done this the money must be provided for a top-notch system. Hurrah for McDonald's Ask any kid and they will tell you McDonald's, the, creator of the Big Mac and Quarter pounder, is the greatest. They have their reason but recently McDonald's served up an offering offering other than Big Mac that would have us give the company a Hurrah and it does have some relation to their products served over the counter. The company has given notice that it will stop serving Big Macs to its Canadian and American customers in foam containers containers made with chlorofluorocarbon - chemicals that are destroying the Earth's ozone layer. They point out that the decision was made fully recognizing recognizing that McDonald's packaging represents only a minute portion of total CFC usage and will not have any realistic impact upon the level of CFCs being emitted. - , It may however be a lead to others and with some direction direction from our governments to the point of legislating the ban on such products much Could be done. . > Any hope for governments to take drastic actions to protect protect the environment is less than likely at this point and time. The crunch of destruction has to be rather drastic before' government government action is taken on the environment. A prime example in Ontario is a charge of five cents for a returnable can. It could as well be wtenty-five for on its return there is no cost at all. But pressure mounts from the can companies companies and governments back off. , Well the next trip taking the kids o,ut to eat will be to McDonald's. , 1 - , Day Care added to five schools The provincial government is paying to add Day Care Centres in five new elementary schools being built by the Durham Board of Education. The province province provides $235,000 for each Day Care space about the size of two classrooms. The Centres will accommodate accommodate up to 30 children. The province hopes to increase increase the number of licenced day care centres in the province by thirty percent over the next couple of years. St. Saviour's Anglican Church MILL STREET ORONO, ONTARIO Sunday Service and Church School 9:30 a m./ * Jk •■ÎÙkwAh Orono PASTORAL CHARGE Minister: Rev. Fred Milnes -Telephone: Church 983-5502 Manse 983-5208 Aug. 12 Ed & Olive Millson 983-5754 Aug. 19 Gillian & Bill Stubbs 983-5423 Aug. 26 Wayne & Jocelyn Lywak " 983-9716 Morning Worship Month of August Newcastle United Chun^i 10:30 a.m. Keeps - trucking along An Orono man, John Hendry, Hendry, will represent Ontario and the Canada transport Group in the Canadian Trucking association association National Rodeo scheduled to be held in Toronto on September 12th. Hendry earned the honour by finishing first among 135 competitors competitors at the Ontario Truck Roadeo Association provincial competition held recently in Kingston. Hendry is an employee of Can-Truck Transportation Ltd. in Oshawa who will now compete compete against representatives from other provinces. Oshawa gets $375,000 for renewal projects Both Oshawa and Pickering are each receiving $375,000 from the province under the Program for Renewal, Improvement, Improvement, Development and Economic Revitalization (PRIDE). .■ The grants can be used for a wide range of municipal activities activities in both new- and older areas. The Town of Newcastle had made application for Such a grant. children, i nose attending the picnic came from as far away as New York and British Columbia. Mrs. Milnes celebrated her 89th birthday earlier this summer. Gotta Getta Gund LAST CHANCE FOR GUND ■ ■ SPECIAL - - SALE ENDS AUGUST 22nd Start Vitamins 'Now. . PARAMETTES » FOR ALL FAMILY MEMBERS SAVINGS ON'ALL. SIZES ORONO, ONTARIO 983-500$