The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

W ednesdsaySeptem ber 26,2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER A3 "W e did it to show our s u p p o rt for th e fam ilies of th e victim s, to show our grief, our sorrow , and, our cond em natio n of th e a tta c k s ." - S a a d ia Khan, paren t Kids should walk to Blakelock, not be bused to QEP say Brookdale parents By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Parents of 40 Brookdale School Grade 8 students don't want their children bused to Queen Elizabeth Park (QEP) Secondary School when they can easily walk to Thomas A. Blakelock (TAB) High School. They, and parents of Grade 6 and 7 students who might face the same fate, don't understand why the Halton District School Board would even consider such a move. Yet, it was one of two options affecting Grade 9 students presented last Tuesday at a public meeting about QEP transi tion scenarios. It took Brookdale parents by surprise -- and made them see red. Pam Damoff, Brookdale School Council chair, said Brookdale parents didn't think their school was affected by the fate of QEP, which is slated for closure in 2005. The way Damoff sees it, Brookdale's Grade 8 students spent years in portables while Glen Abbey students were bused to their school and would likely be in portables if bused to QEP since that school would be at 126% capacity while Blakelock would be at 73% capacity. "You are proposing that once again our children be moved into portables. This is unacceptable," said Damoff, noting they'd have space in Blakelock. "To have this proposal dumped on us at the 11th hour is simply unacceptable. The Brookdale community has remained silent because we were not affected," wrote Damoff to board director Dusty Papke Wednesday. "It doesn't make sense," said Damoff of a scenario that would bus Brookdale students to QEP for several years, then bring them back to Blakelock. "You could be living right next door to the school, have two kids at Blakelock and your youngest would be bussed to QEP for a year or two, then come back to Blakelock," said Damoff. "It's odd that we would be put into the mix at the last minute," said Damoff, noting that not only would Brookdale students be bused to QEP, but also those from W.H. Morden, many of whom live near Kerr Street. Last January, a committee was struck to figure out the logis tics of shuffling kids around until then. But Damoff said Brookdale students were never supposed to attend QEP. "The committee was not mandated to make recommenda tions on students not currendy designated to attend QE Park. The committee has grossly overstepped its mandate," Damoff wrote to Papke. Sadler also noted that notice went home with all south Oakville students late last June outlining the "thinking" about options under consideration. The notice also said the options were "conceptual only." From the public feedback, recommendations will go to the board Oct. 3 -- with the earliest board decision by Oct. 17. A new, 900-student high school will open the following September in Glen Abbey. All northwest Oakville high school students will go to the Glen Abbey school until a second north west high school is built, likely in 2008. Islamic school raises funds for NYC firefighters B y A ngela B la ckb urn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Photo by Barrie Erskine Deputy Oakville Fire Department Chief John deHooge, Captain Renzo Rinaldi, Acting Captain Ivan Hansen show off one of their fire trucks to Nicole Syed, Isra Syed 6 months, M aariyah Baig, 8, Tariq Syed, 4, Baiyinah Syed 2. the New York firefighters' families. The sale was held early Friday after noon, after prayer, and a cheque was drawn up immediately and put in the hands of Oakville Fire Department Deputy Chief John deHooge to turn over to the New York Firefighters' 911 Relief Fund. M uslims, from students to their grand parents, in traditional Muslim dress to Western garb, lined up at the bake table to buy goodies. "We did it to show our support for the families of the victims, to show our grief, our sorrow, and, our condemnation of the attacks," said O akville resident Saadia Khan whose daughter Maariyah Baig, 8, is in Grade 3 at the school. O f course, deHooge, along with fire fighter Ron D arichuk, Captain Renzo Rinaldi and Acting Captain Ivan Hansen were the heroes o f the day when they let the kids climb aboard their pumper truck from Station 7 at Joshua Creek and Upper M iddle Road. "We hope people understand that it's not us who did this, but extremists," said Syed who moved here from Calgary with her husband so that their children could attend Al-Falah. "It's one of the best schools in the Toronto area," said her husband Burhan, who admitted he's had concerned about hate crimes against Muslims that have taken place in the province since the ter rorist attack. "I'm really scared and we did this because we wanted to show we have gen uine and sincere sorrow for what hap pened," said Burhan, adding that as a father-of-three he understands that some children of New York firefighters have been orphaned and that the children "have nobody to hug anymore." "It's important to separate religion and politics," said Burhan. DeHooge said the fire department threw its support behind the bake sale fundraiser because "It's very important that people of all faith communities live together in har mony and respect each other." DeHooge even took time out o f a fire fighters' conference in Burlington to par ticipate because "I felt it was important enough." The deputy chief said he knows that those of various faiths are "potential tar gets" for those who "want to paint all with the same brush." DeHooge said he participated in an interfaith memorial service held last week end in Oakville as a "show of unity in our community." It was an afternoon o f sweet success at O akville's Al-Falah Islamic School Friday. Sweets were sold at a one-hour, parentorganized bake sale, with $278 in proceeds donated to help ease the sorrow suffered by the families of New York City firefighters following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. "It might make a statement, but w e're ju st doing it from our h earts," said Oakville parent Nicole Syed whose son, Tariq, 4, is in Senior Kindergarten at the Burnhamthorpe Road school. "We all have families. We're ju st a small group of parents, but we felt we had to do something. It's important to help out where you can," said Syed. Her husband, Burhan, said only a hand ful of parents organized the bake sale how ever, many other parents showed up with everything from sandwiches to chocolate chip cookies to add to the bake table -- and then they showed up with their cash. School principal M oham ed Bhaba heads up the elementary school that hous es 180 students aged 4 to 12 in JK to Grade 8. T here's a monthly fundraiser for the school. This month it was done to benefit Customer seal of approval. k P R E S ID E N T ' A W A R D A % This award is presented annually to Ford of Canada dealerships for delivering the highest levels of customer service. Our team has been honoured both by you, and the Ford M otor Company, for putting our customers first. We'll continue to work hard at keeping you happy because we want to keep you coming back. R fIIi l II l - jjf g C a p ita l o f Fo rd C o u n try at Dorval Drive S U R F : W W W .K E N N E D Y F O R D .C A TU R F: 280 SOUTH SERVICE RD. W. 8 4 5 - 1 6 4 6 SVT