?AGE 14, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY,APRIL 22, 1987 Discipline, curriculum changed: retiring teacher By MIKE JOHNSTON At the end of this school year when his students leave for their summer vacation, teacher Keith Adair will also be leaving school - but he won't be coming back, retiring after a 34-year career. He is retiring at the age of .57, having satisfied the Durham Board of Education's 90-year-rule. (When age, plus years as a teacher, add up to more than 90, a teacher is eligible for retiement.) Adair's first teaching assignment was at Parkside school in Ajax. He started Sept..1, 1953. The he taught a combination of Grade 3 and 4 students general sub- jects. Since that time, the teaching profession has undergone a lot of changes - mostly for the better, says Adair who today has a Grade 5 class at West Lynde school. "Parents weren't involved in the school's activities as much when I started," says Adair. For example, at West Lynde, parents hold a hot dog day an, average of once a month to raise funds to purchase equipment for the school. From Parkside, Adair moved on to St. Andrews Public School in Ajax teaching Grade 6, 7 and 8 students. The dates fail him now, but from St. Andrews he travelled to Ajax High and then, Pickering High School. But an oversupply.of teachers at the time, saw him travelling again, back' to St. Andrews, where he taught math. Again, his stay would not be a lengthy one. Five years after his return, in March of 1979, the school burned to the ground, an act of vandalism. So again, Adair was on the move, a move that brought him to West Lynde where he has taught for the past seven years. One of the more dramatie changes Adair has witnessed is the level of discipline in the schools. While the strap is not used anymore, it was allowed when Adair began his teaching career. He used the strap once. "I think I used it on the right per- son because he settled down after it and thanked me for the year." Without the threat of the strap, discipline takes a different form. "There is really the same level of discipline as there was then, I would say it has just taken a dif- ferent form." Today, • a teacher will try reasoning with a student before any type of punishment is used, such as a detention, says Adair. "Kids are kids, it isn't any easier to teach them today than it was when I started." Students. are now more knowledgeable on a wider area of subjects with the advent of com- puters and television, he says. But despite that advantage, today's students still have trouble with the basics such as time-tables and spelling, says Adair. What kids are taught today has also drastically changed. "When I taught the kids about the solar system, Jupiter had 10 moons, Today they have discovered three more." For instance, at West Lynde, students who aren't behaving in group situations as they should, are placed in Behavior modification class after discussion with the student's parents. When Adair started teaching, a student that had problems, sirfiply received more attention from the teacher. In 1953, Adair had 43 students in his combination Grade 3 and 4 classes. Today, his average class is 30, although a move has been made to bring that figure even lower. "That would be a tremendous help, not only to the students, but the teachers." He says stories that parents tell their children about having to walk miles through four feet of snow just to get to school are sometimes stretched "just a little." KEITH ADAIR will end a 34-year teaching career when he retires at the end of this school year. "It wasn't always that bad." While teaching has comprised the majority of Adair's life, he did not start out as a teacher. "That became very boring after a while and it didn't pay much," he recalls. So after leaving the accounting business, and trying his hand as a salesman for Grand and Toy, Adair decided to pursue a career as a teacher. He entered teacher's college in 1952. It was evident to him then that the need for teachers was there and it was growing. In fact, the government needed teachers so badly during the 1950's that the only qualification a teacher needed was a Grade 12 education. Adair had his Grade'13. "It wasn't odd to see an 18-year- old teaching," he says. When t e need for teachers decreased, the government raised the standards for teachers to having a university degree. "I then started taking university courses during the summer in case I had wanted to teach at the high school level," says Adair, who lives in Ajax with his wife. Their two children are both grown-up but attended the school that their parents taught at. 'They took some kidding along the way," joked Adair. After 23 years in the business, did he feel he was a good teacher? "At times I got the feeling I was doing a good job, but other times, when you can't get through to a student, you start to wonder. But for the most part, I think I got through to them." CORPORATION OF THE PLANNING c. TOWN OF WHITBY DEPARTMENT NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING Monday, May 4,1987, 8:00 p.m. Meeting Hall, Whitby Municipal Building Whitby, Ontario A Public Meeting will be held by the Administrative Committee of the Corporation of the Town of Whitby to consider applications to amend the Whitby and Durham Regional Officiai Plans and Zoning By-law 1784, as submitted by Marquis Investments. The subject property is located at the northeast corner of Consumers Drive and Sunray Street as shown on the map below. The purpose of the Official Plan Amendment application is to expand the permitted uses on the subject property to include a hotel and hotel accessory uses. The site is presently designated and zoned "Industrial". The applicant is proposing to develop a 9-storey, 128 suite hotel with the following accessory uses; banquet facilities, restaurants, dinner theatre, bar lounge, T.V. sports hall, day care, shops, health and recreational facilities and a bowling alley. The purpose of the meeting is to present the applications to the public and the Administrative Committee and to permit interested persons an opportunity to make submissions to the applications. If you are unable to at. tend the meeting, your written submissions may be f iled with the Planning Department by May 18, 1987. Further information may be obtained by calling or visiting the Planning Department, Level 7, 575 Rossland Road East (416) 668-5803. ROBERT B. SHORT Director of Planning Corporation of the Town of Whitby Grandy's land was part of the par- cel that reverted back to its original owner. But now, Grandy finds he is stuck with the terms of the agreement signed by the developer and the Region. According to the Region's solicitor Shan Jain, Grandy was part of the agreement because he was a mortgagee and is bound by the terms and conditions set up, in- cluding a restriction that the land owner pay for the installation of services should the land be developed. He added that while Grandy may have no intentions of becoming a land developer, a subsequent owner may wish to develop the property and the agreement should stand to cover such an event. Jain also concluded that any ac- tion by the Region to release Gran- dy from the agreement could prejudice the Region's - claim regarding the letter of credit. He said the case over the letter, which now amounts to some $3 million, could be before the courts within the next six months. Jain said under normal circum- stances, the Region could release Grandy from such an agreement. An impending legal battle bet- ween Durham Region and First City Development Corp. over the Brooklin Development Agreement has a local farmer caught between the proverbial rock and ahard place. Through his solicitor, Neal Gran- dy had asked the Region to release him from a servicing agreement registered on his land by Durham in the early 1980's. At the time the agreement was entered into, the land in question had been sold by Grandy to Rathgar Construction Ltd., as part of a 600-acre acquisition intended to house a 8,000 unit development. First City and others entered into an agreement with the Region agreeing to pay the $8-million cost of installing sewers and water to Brooklin, paving the way for their own development. As security a let- ter of credit in the amount of $2.2 million was posted. In September 1984, after it was discovered some 300 acres of land had reverted back to its original owners through foreclosure, the Region cashed the letter of credit claiming the developers had not lived up to their part of the L argain. Region holds local landowner to 'de al'