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Wednesday, May 9, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER A7 Junk day is more thanjust throwing out unwanted trash I t's here again, that week where the pile of junk lying at the foot of your drive way makes curbside beauty a joke: Junk Day 2001. Or, as the region of Halton waste management guys put it more deli cately -- bulk and large items collection. Only in Oakville do we greet junk day with such decorum: wood tied up neatly, chairs stacked up, pool covers rolled up tightly; even a steam cleaner with a note cheerily affixed: "All parts enclosed" and extra bottles of carpet cleaner clamped next to it. Only in Oakville would we treat junk with such, em, civility. But beware a trend: some people are simply tossing their junk out without a care in the world. This year, some residents, unaware of the junk day etiquette, are not treating it with the proper respect it deserved. Some think it's actually for junk. Junk. In Oakville. They head out to the foot . D IA N E HART of their drives and dump old tarps, blan kets, cushions, broken toys without any thought for the appearance of the thing. Imagine. I mean, this is Oakville after all. You can't just put out your old junk; you must make it look as though you care a little. After all, how would it look if you were to dump the old couch out there near your neighbour's carefully preserved lamps and tables. Thoughdess, uncaring, decidedly unattractive. Not at all the Oakville way of doing things. Take us, for instance. Some of us are pack rats (I confess, I confess), others love nothing more than to "clean out the base ment". This makes for a tension-filled weekend, as some of us are busy taking stuff out; the others trying to keep it all in. "There's a one in, one out policy this year", my husband intoned four weeks before the grand event. My son, pack rat number two in the household, as evi denced by the room where you can't see the floor, retorts: "One out; two in." And my daughter simply sighs in that long suf fering way and wonders aloud if there is any credence to the belief she was bom into the wrong family. She is positive she is the real daughter of a power couple who, as she insists, does what any thinking parent does: squirrels money away in offshore banks. But I, and about a million other people, have better things to do than stuff our wads of cash into off shore banks. We just love F i n d o u t w h a t 's r e a l l y h a p p e n i n g a t s c h o o l s I am writing this letter because I can no longer stand by and watch attacks against our education system, educa tion. and the quality of the edu cation being delivered. Students and parents feel that they are being dealt a raw deal and I know this is not true. With an educational back ground in mathematics, I know very well what can be done with statistics. I also know that it is possible to misrepresent a picture, not just with the data that you are given, but with the data that you are not given. My school has two cam puses serving approximately 1,300 students. Approximately, 20% of them fit into one or more of the fol lowing categories. Learning disabled, ESL (English as a Second Language) or Life Skills. Not included in this number are those students who are identified as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Our Life Skills classes provide for some of the neediest students in the educational system. We also house a Satellite Program for students who are intellectu ally able but learning disabled. We are home to many regional, programs which are not avail able at other public, private or separate schools in the area. Whether they should be is for others to debate. We are home to a consider able vocational technological facility offering some of the most innovative programs in education, today. Our students are involved in the Ford. Academy of Manufacturing Sciences and several Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Programs. We offer the full range of academic programs to our students and are proud to boast of the number who con tinue their studies at universi ties and colleges throughout Canada and abroad. We regu larly send some of our gradu ates to Ivy League schools in the United States and hear, from them, that their academic background is as good as any. So why do I write this letter to you? Because there is the rest of the story to be told. Newspaper stories and politi cal commentary use data from standardized tests to inappro priately judge the quality of the education being delivered in publicly funded schools in Ontario. Many of our parents and students are questioning what is happening. Given that most schools have neither the same diversity of student abili ty levels nor program options, it is impossible to determine whether we actually compare favourably to them or not. But the public perception has been established and will take tremendous work on our part to overcome. The same can be said for any other school that caters to special needs students or ESL populations. The same can be said about schools that are not surrounded by a wealthy par ent population with a strong focus on education, or on study or the pursuit post-secondary education. When we enroll a student who reads at the Grade 4 level and have him reading at the Grade 6 level a year later, we deem that a "success." The data says he "failed." When one of our "special" youngsters learns to get on and off the bus at the right bus stops on the way to a "Co-op" placement, we consider that a success. According to the data, this stu dent "failed." When a learning disabled student has learned to use voice recognition software to better her ability at writing an essay, even an excellent one, the Test of Reading and Writing says she "failed." When the "gifted" student writes six paragraphs instead of the required five, he has "failed" because he couldn't read directions. The data that has been reported isn't wrong, but it is a tremendous distor tion of what is truth. Who cares? I care. Other educators who are doing their utmost to provide the best edu cation they can to our students also care. Our students care because they wonder if they are being provided a less than acceptable quality education and that is simply not true. Many of them wonder about their own abilities. They are as able as any other generation. Our parent community cares because they believe the data should represent a fair compar ison of schools, school pro grams, and quality of educa tion. The data shows no such thing. My job is to educate. Visit your local school so that you are truly informed. Better yet, visit my school. I'll gladly S h e rid a n H ills show you a wonderful school in action. As a teacher, let me ask that you "do your home work" before blindly accepting what you read. Our schools are not perfect, but they are a lot better than you are being led to believe. It's important that mem bers of the public assess our system fairly and justly. They need to know that true compar isons have not been made. In order that something come of the tests and the reports, then I urge governments and govern ment agencies to put together teams to meet with school administrators, parent coun cils, and school staffs to ana lyze the particular school's data and determine what plan, if any, needs to be put in place for that school. The most common recommendation is likely to be that the data collection and reporting techniques change. to look at other people's junk. It's odd, I know, but I just can't help wondering about the particular history attached to the stuff: that old chair that looked like it was in the first stages of being refinished, or that bookshelf that needs a coat of paint. Did it really have to be thrown out? It's very much how I felt one afternoon as I watched a lovely old house tom down on one of the nicest streets in Oakville, a small place with a wrap around porch and wonderful old windows, gone in about 30 minutes. I wondered at the time what sto ries were in that old house. And later, on junk day, there were those same old win dows lying, discarded. Not that I get sentimental over every single piece of junk. I mean, even I have to draw the line. That skateboard ramp that rammed a hole in our hose to the garden, the wrong type of pool pump we mistak enly bought last year, the ramshackle chairs, the old carpet and all the wood, tile, leftover from an overly ambitious winter project, we swear we'd never start up again. How lovely it feels to get all that junk saved up for a year out there for someone else to pick up. I am, it seems, not alone. Derek Walker, at the Region of Halton's waste manage ment division, says junk day is a popular time of year. It's good for everyone: home owners can leave fridges, stoves, dish washers, even broken canoes at the curb; professional scavengers can fill their trucks every year and the region doesn't have to dig old bikes and mattresses out of all our ravines. Looked at in the proper light, junk day benefits everyone. Really. Attention compost lovers: you can get seven free bags of compost at the region's dump this week just by donating a nonperishable food item. Bring your own bags and a shovel and have fun filling them up with some terrific compost. The donation -for- free compost week ends May 12. G > O A K V IL L E < *< « > N O T IC E 8 4 5 -6 6 0 1 THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF OAKVILLE IQ PROPERTY OWNERS TO DESTROY WELDS Notice is hereby given to all property owners, in accordance with the Weed Control Act, R.S.O., Chapter W.5, that all noxious weeds growing on their lands within the Municipality must be destroyed by Friday, June 8, 2001, and throughout the season. The Town of Oakville may enter upon the said lands and have the weeds destroyed and charge the costs against the land in taxes as set out in the Act 4 * Please note that Dandelion and Goldenrod are not classified as noxious weeds. Your co-operation in destroying noxious weeds, in particular, Poison-ivy and Ragweed, is requested. For further information, please contact Leo Ostner or Rebecca Waldeck. Municipal Weed Inspectors at (905) 845-6601. Acting Town Clerk TOWN OF OAKVILLE Sally Rewbotham White Oaks Secondary School E v a n g e lic a l C h u rc h C o u n c il & S t a n d in g C o m m it t e e M e e t in g s Monday, May 14,2001 P la n n in g & D e v e lo p m e n t C ouncil C o u n cil C h a m b e r s 7 :3 0 p.m . Tuesday, May 15,2001 C om m unity S e rv ic e s C om m ittee 7:30 p.m . - Council C h a m b e rs A dm inistrative S e rv ic e s C om m . 7 :3 0 p.m . - B ronte R oom M is s io n a ry 3301 Trafalgar Rd. (905)257-4645 (between Dundas & Burnhamthorpe) PLANNED EVENTS C o m m u n ity O u tre a c h M ay 8 -1 2 Tuesday, May 22,2001 C o u n c il M e e tin g C o u n cil C h a m b e r s 7 :3 0 p .m . Tuesday, May 29,2001 C om m unity S e rv ic e s C om m ittee 7:30 p.m . - O akville R oom A dm inistrative S e rv ic e s C om m . 7:30 p.m . - B ronte R oom 1. Tuesday, May 8, 7:30 p.m. Video Night: Pop-Com & Refreshments 2. Wednesday, May 9, 7:30 p.m. j Real Life Event: Refreshments & Coffee 3. Thursday, May 10, 7:30 p.m. Celtic Music Night: Coffee & Refreshments 4. Friday, May 11, 6:30 p.m. Dinner Theater Comedy & Magic (R.S.V.P.) 5. Saturday, May 12, 10 a.m. Family Fun Fest & B.B.Q. Games-Mine-Face Painting j N O T E : T h e P la n n in g & D e v e lo p m e n t C o u n c i l M e e tin g S c h e d u le d f o r M o n d a y , M a y 2 8 , 2 0 0 1 h a s been m oved t o W e d n e sd a y , M a y 3 0 , 2 0 0 1 T O W N O F O A K V IL L E C O N T R A C T NO. R-360-01 2001 S U R F A C E T R E A T M E N T C O N V E R S IO N P R O G R A M T E N D E R D O C U M E N T S: Plans, specifications and tender forms will be available FUNFOR on or after Tuesday, May 8, 2001 and may be obtained from the Department of Public Works. 2274 Trafalgar Road for a non-refundable payment of TWENTY-FIVE dollars ($25.00), Ct.S.T. included. x The Contractor whose tender is accepted shall be required to post a Performance Bond satisfactory to the Town of Oakville, equal to 100% of the contract Price and a Labour and Material Payment Bond totaling 50% of the contract price. P R O J E C T N U M B E R : R-360-01 P R O JE C T D E S C R IP T IO N : Uianldle F it t in g E v e n t T h u rs d a y , M a v 10 ( lilts and refreshments. You tould win a bra & contemporan ageless woman, quality conscious, with an eve lor beauty, who wants both comfort and looks. Reprocess/pulverize existing surface treated local road pavements, regrade for cross fall and profile adjustments, grade/shapc/compact reprocessed material, excavate/ remove soft spots and replace with new granulars, place new layer of HI ,8 base course and HL3 surface course asphalt. Reconfigure shoulders, replace curbs where necessary, all driveway and sod restorations. The following approximate quantities will for the basis of the major items in the tender: · 100,000 sq. metres of pavement reprocessing/pulverizing including reshaping/compacting resultant material 5,000 tonnes of Granular `A' limestone for profile corrections and driveway restorations 12,000 tonnes of HL8 base course hot mix asphalt 10,000 tonnes of HL3 surface course hot mix asphalt A D D R E SS; Sealed Tenders on forms provided will be received by the Town Clerk. 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville. Ontario. L6H 2L1 or by mail to P.O. Box 310, Oakville. Ontario, L6J 5A6. C L O S IN G TIM E/DATE: 2:00 p.m., locai time, Tuesday, M ay 22, 2001 Tenders will be opened publicly at a meeting of the Tender Opening Committee at the Oakville Municipal Building, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville. Ontario on Tuesday, May 22, 2001 at 2:30 p.m. local time. T E N D E R D EPO SIT: seam A certified cheque.' a Bank/Trust Company draft or a Bid Bond for the amount specified in the tender documents MUST accompany each tender. Any questions related to this construction tender should be directed to either Mr. D.L. Lambert. C.K.T.. at 905-845-6601, ext. 3338 or Mr. D.M. Cozzi, P.Kng. at 905-8456601. ext 4424 at the Town of Oakville, Department of Public Works. The Corporation reserves the right to reject any or all tenders and the lowest or any tender will not necessarily be accepted. R.G. Green, P. Kng., Director, Department of Public Works from petite to full figure A, 14, ( I ), I , I; <i, I I 10' Reynolds St., 'mirtli .it Liktslmrt Rd. 1.,) Downtown OAKVII.I.f 1 2 2 5 TRAFALGAR R O A D · OAKVILLE, O N T A R IO · L6J 5A 6 N o w y o u h a v e th e p o w e r to c h o o s e y o u r e le c tric ity fro m a n u m b e r o f c o m p a n ie s . C A L L 1 - 8 8 8 - 6 6 8 - 4 6 S 6 a n d r o c e lw * a »rmm, t t - p a a * b r o c h u r a . For more information on esertrecv comeet itor. m Ontano, DBase vis* our website at w«v» estgov on ca or Email fyittest govon ca © Ontario