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Clarke High School students students spent third period Friday, on the side of the Hwy. protesting the lack of organized sports at their school this year. Students were permitted to stage .the walk-out provided provided they returned to class for their fourth period, which they did. According to student organizers, 1/2 of Clarke's student body was represented on the side of the Hwy. 115/35 Friday afternoon; off school property. Student organizers make it clear, their protest is not against teachers, but rather with the government, for lack of funding for sports programs programs and equipment at the schools. Region wide sports schedules schedules have not been made up for this year. Individual schools could form teams, but they do not have the league schedules drawn up for inter school competition. "We could organize the schedules ourselves," said Jessie Westerink, one of the student organizers, but we •don't have enough time; with all the new curriculum. "Clarke is a very athletic school," he added. "It takes a fair amount of time for teachers to make up these schedules," stated Clarke principal Leigh Facey-Crowther, who was keeping an eye on the activity activity on the side of the road. "Teachers used to be freed up in June to make up the schedules, schedules, because of their already heavy work, loads, teachers did not. do that last June. "Coaches are willing to coach, there's just no sched (Jlarke High School has swung into, operation for another school year and the focus for the past three weeks has been getting the new and veteran students acquainted with the sch'ool and many of the new procedures. Settling into a new ' high school can be a traumatic traumatic event and it's the job of the staff and the senior grades to help the newbies adjust. On September 14 all of the grades met in their Teacher Advisory Program (TAP) groups for the first time to get acquainted and then the grade nines spent the remainder of the day in orientation orientation activities called "play day". TAP is not only new for the incoming students but has been expanded to encompass all grades tor this year. Small groups of students meet with teacher advisors to map out their goals for the coming school year and beyond and discuss their problems and successes. Besides the students, students, many of the teachers are new to the program and - will be honing their TAP skills over the coming months. • Even though the school year .has just begun, senior students must make serious choices about for their postsecondary postsecondary education. During the first three weeks representatives representatives from several universities universities and colleges have already made presentations to the students about the merits and advantages of choosing a particular college or university^ university^ attend next year. During ule," stated Facey-Crowther. "Students wanted an opportunity to protest, they've had it. I feel the frustration frustration on the part of the kids," said Facey-Crowther. Students did return to school for their last class of the day. Organizers hope to escalate escalate their protests and say they are trying to organize a Region wide protest this Friday. Shepherd (continued from page 11) died with a debt they didn't create. 1 agree. As a government, entrusted entrusted with your money, we want the social safety net kept intact for those who will need it in the near future and for those who will want access for generations to come. I think we are also demonstrating demonstrating to the younger taxpayers taxpayers that wd don't expect them to pay for services they won't have access to when they need them. What Canadians have .worked so hard to achieve, as a 'nation, will remain intact. In 1995, the debt to GDP ratio was 7.1 per cent. I admit, this xvas an all time high.. It has bow fallen to 59 per cent a drop of more than 12 percent age points. That's a dramatic improvement. We can now keep the debt burden on a permanent down- . ward track. We can accelerate the $58 billion already allocated allocated to the government's five-year tax reduction plan. In a nutshell the government paid twice the amount of debt reduction called for by Stockwell Day. I don't want to sound like the job is done, that the government government can now relax and pat itself on the back. If anything it's just the opposite. Canadians are demanding efficiency and effectiveness from those it has entrusted with the job of governing. governing. I've listened and understand that you expect me to continue doing just that. I plan to continue working on your behalf to ensure the government doesn't forget its fiduciary role to all Canadians. MASARU KARATE CLUB 4858 Regional Road 18 , Newtonville, Ontario L0A1.T0 ' TEL - 905-786-2793 FAX - 905-786-1031 1 e-mail - rick.temko@sympatico.ca REGISTRATION FOR KARATE CLASSES AGES 6 to 12 AGES 13 and up MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2000 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2000 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. REGULARLY SCHEDULED CLASSES AGES 6 to 12 TUESDAY and THURSDAY 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. AGES 13 and up MONDAY - TUESDAY - THURSDAY 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.' For more information contact Richard Jones - Instructor October no less than five more institutions will be making their pitches to the future graduates. Even though it's still early in the term, Clarke has already held its first parents' night. On September 21 about seventy five parents of Grade nine students met with their children's teachers and TAP leaders to discuss progress and the school procedures procedures and expectations in general. October 12 will be next parents' night for all of the other gfades. If you want to know what is happening at Clarke then just check out our web site at http://ncboard.ncboard.edu. o n.ca/clarke/Index.htm. Mr. Saitz is busily adding pages and over the next few weeks more school information will be added to help parents and anyone else in the world keep up to date on the exciting changes and happenings happenings at Clarke.