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The Acton Free Press Wednesday Oct Georgetown principal sparks revolution Balkinds manifesto I Junk foods out schools mm m m Junk food in Halton wns A Georgetown school principal has proposed program that in fact revolutionizes teaching and even the use of Eric principal of Howard Wriggles worth public school presented board of education Thursday with a wide ranging pilot project based on parenting education And flunking Balkind were social worker and Hills councillor Peter Marks and Judge James Fuller of s family court both of whom supported the mild mannered principal with revolution in his pen But the trustees were split some hading the program and eager to imple it as soon as possible others terming it irresponsible and possible interference with family life He realized that parenting has implications beyond education said first off to the board adding that he was also concerned with the effective communication of his program to both school staff and the public He said he has in the school system that the teachers are Irving their but in spite of the better thin provincial avenge tint students con slstently got on list fur gains probably will be limited and thtre ire too many children running into trouble To make progress said we need to more attention to research tint says that early ears of child development arc most important Even before the child health well is affected by the mother health and diet said Research into the years of life indie ite that the first six or when a child usually enters the public school system ineredbilc things happen in terms of development said For instance by three language patterns ire in by four inttl ligence is perhaps BO per cent on tin wiy to formed by five social skills and altitudes ire already formed he said Parents art the child most important teachers and what they do or not do affects that child life health diet social attitudes and learning capabilities said the goal of the program is that young people will be well prepared to handle society most Import ant and demanding Job- parenting We can say to young people here are the ways a young child grows and deve- three advantages to people are that there s an opportunity for an adolescent to make a con to society to care for because education so often licks the link between school and the world an opportunity to provide a use ful role for taking care of the and that young people help identify our for costs of the program he believed thc eiu be moderate especially when compared to the social costs if the program brought in The Addiction Research Foundation the Peter Marks a worker told the board and health agencies cm see a dircet linkage I el inappropriate and in id quite skills of parents whose children are addicted In escape life stresses Mirks said The parents themselves rcsirtto chemical abuse to ruiucetlicirown stress loads Marks There needs to be more emphasis at the levels of development Fuller said that from h as a family court judc he sees I- year olds from ill walks- of life who are taken away from their put into Children Societv because the parents lick skills I vc seen very few bad kids hut many examples of b id parenting Judge Fuller said not intentionally but merely ineffective and a lack of communication of parents in i fast moving society id kids can be triced back to problems in i childhood The patterns of such problems can be thanked but at huge cost to such as by placing kids in children s aid societies mental facilities training schools in foster homes Minister urges to buy Canadian The Minister of id in Dr Stephenson in her first letter to Hilton of education his uracil the bo ml to adopt policy of Tan To support the economy the minister in her r dated Sept IK the govern of Ontario is r and revitihiint its of giving nci in pur to goods ana ser inri equipment the emphasis placed upon in the prognms in our schools the minister would seem to be entirely this em ph In supported by a hey of preference for imdnn purchases It cost a day to have a child in a group home the judge said and in many instances we are dealing with emotionally defective kids due to improper parenting Judge Fuller said it the first time he had ever sup ported such a program We need to reach young people and help them prepare for parenting Trustees reaction Trustee Elsie reaction to Balkind pro posal was lukewarm It may be that there are too many places in society where kids can go she said Society is interfering with the family This program puts the responsibility back to the parents Judge Fuller said We have to be careful we don start a new institution warned trustee H H Bert Education has tain responsibilities and educators are busy making sure they do that job but when weputheivy emphasis as on the early years of develop ment We re distorting the purpose of education said Trustee Ivan Armstrong sud the taxpayers are carry as much as they can now We t encourage people to leave their children with us Armstrong said calling s report irresponsible You are the only principal who tells me there lots of time for everything Arm strong said You are trying to push the school board into centres Let the levels of government that pro ml day care deliver and let schools get on with 1 m Irving to say that knowledge of parenting and some practice is needed replied If we want guns in education it in early childhood education There art day care centres and nurseries in the com muni already said Tins is the right time to take advantage of an unity Trustee Bill Lawson citing statistics of youth contacts with police said some thing coming apart at the In one towns the police had contacts last voir but this year said Three were from materially deprived families from single families and percent were in the mam from a good responsible family The program for parenting that school principal Eric BoUtind has proposed his manifesto if you will boils down to a six step program and someonea revolutionary if you like to carry it out suggested that the Halton Board of Education create the position of co ordinatorconsultant in Early Childhood Education who would or adapt for use through the grades an appropriate comprehensive parenting and human rela tions program pursue the cooperation approval of the Ministry of Education in working towards acceptance of such a program as a mandatory component of every student basic education Investigate and plan for effective training and in service about teaching parent ion for class room teachers establish within existing schools a Centre for Human Development a meeting place and resource centre for use with and by the local community communicate with the Ontario Ministries of Education Health and Welfare and Social Services and with local authorities to investigate the poss collaboration and mutual development within existing middle and high schools or both leaching centres and dav cart and nursery centres for young children develop an effective and sensitive liaison and com munication with the public and with staff con the teaching of parenting education The six point program and the accompanying pages of full report was turned over to board executive committee Noting that board members spent almost an hour on work bv a concerned and dedicated principal on a pro vocative topic Emerson Lavender director of said the executive committees difficulty is not in deciding if the idea is good or not but which of the myriad of ideas we shall do because we can do them alt He said the executive committee was proceeding on the assumptions that instead of suggesting an add on ex they II be suggesting a reallocation of existing programs Under questioning from some sympathetic trustees told trustee Cameron Jackson that even if the board I does not approve the first I recommendation develop- ment of a parenting human relations course some of the other recom mendations can be carried Jackson asked IX some part of the program could be accomplished in other courses and made man datory Balkind replied that some high schools arc at tempting It but the problem Is that there arc limited facilities and the program reaches only girls In the higher grades Should the board be funding if Jackson con tinued We should be seriously looking said and if we searched hard enough we could find the money Money Is also available from other sources such as the ministry of Social Services under certain conditions Trustee Barry Shepherd said that Balkind program is recommended for grade seven to ten students The study and action arc long overdue Background Balkind eight page report which he left with trustees is merely a condensation of the major points in a page document that Judge Fuller recommended to the trustees dates his formal involvement in the concept of parenting from 1970 when he worked with members of Hit Program Council for Early Childhood Education which In 1972 urged to begin programs in effective parenting from September 1W5 to July had an educational development leave which he spent at the Institute of Child Study m Toronto I would like to point out that in a very definite sense this report is the result of a lot of thinking and work by a number of people Balkind said My job been mainly to tie it all together His report mentions three obstacles which most face during child re iring Ignorance in parents who all too often simply do not know much of the story of infant learning and development Stress The early years are definitely a dangerous period of life for a crawling curious infant which means extra work continuous caution and considerable parental anxiety Limited assistance The new mother Is very frequently left to handle the child rearing job alone But other factors diet TV and physical fitness must also be considered if parents arc to do a truly adequate job raising children said in his report Research has established the importance of diet for both the mother during pregnancy and the child in his or her early years Balkind said A well nourished child has distinct advantages in terms of the ability to learn and conversely an under nourished child faces real disadvantages Television Television is an incredibly effective teacher but can also be a damaging medium he said is time parents began to understand both the positive and negative sides of television arguments he said There seems little doubt for example that many of the hours which Ihechildrcn of J ears ago spent reading for pleasure the children of today spend watching tele tte know hat the child who Is physically fit tends to do belter job and reach higher standard in his icademic work than his more or unfit counter Junk food in schools may be out and nutritional foods In but no precise definition of nutritional exists board of education was told Thursday The board passed a package of recommendations dealing with the executive committee position on a re port of the Joint school health services committee Passed were re commendations that each secondary school principal appoint a staff person early in September to have responsib ility Tor the promotion of good nutrition that non sweetened juices be available in all pop machines and that the nutritional subcommittee be dissolved and the responsib ility for nutrition be assigned directly to the joint school health services committee However a recommend that the foods sold In school stores be limited to nutritional items only was re turned to the committee for further study because cording to Hon Chapman superintendent of special services of an inability in the literature to get an exact precise definition of nutritional A motion that the sales of chocolate bars for fund be banned fuiled to re ceive the support of the trustees The executive committee position was that the complete banning of the sale of chocolate bars would further increase the problems funds for extracurricular activities Rather than banning the sale of chocolate bars should be discouraged and 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