Whtby doctor. found.guilty of nmconduct ,re3 Attempted murder Varying views charge laid, 1 on labour 'act à % - .0 --- - -' page II rerorm page V Leask on national hockey team È~1îI Modified sehool year considered... for Sinclair By Mark Reesor Sinclair Secoudary School couid go ta a modifed schooi year caiendar as eariy as September 1997 if students and parents agre.. Sinclair principal Kay Egan says the. idea has beeni discussed since last year wheu a comniunity survey asked whether parents were iu favour of iuvestigating a three-semester school year. The response was "positive," skie says, so a task force has been set up ta look into it furtiier. It will make a report at the. school's communty council meeting Nov. 28 (7 p.ni.), at whicii time. Egan says subcomnittees wiil be set up ta, look at specific issues. "X inl fact, the. interest is there... tiien we wouid pursue how we could make it happen." But there will be "at least a year of people having a chance ta, provide input before we decide whether it'sa yes or a na. "There's no way that w.'re just gaing ta say 'guess what, we're gaing ta, do this.' That's not the plan at ail." If the. answer is yes, "then it will take us an extra year to, ixnpiement it so we can h. ready ta go in the. fail of '97," she says. Eg an' auticipates holding an information session on the idea early in the new year "and then we'll see where we go from there... "W. don't know what we're going ta b. presenting yet because tiiere's so many models around of iiow yau can do this.". Egan says skie personaily likes the. three-semester model. "In a three-semester echool, the option is always there for a student ta oniy attend two (Sinclair is now on a two-semester system). "What is often a criticism of the modified school year is that there's no choice; you end up coming and going tiiroughout summer months and ail the rest. "With aur model you could stili be a student here in the. normal time fr-ame - you'd just finish up a littie earlier - and. then you-would chaos. whetiier you wanted ta take' tii. additional semester or not." Students could also miix and match, takcing tiie winter semnester off, for exampie, ta work on the. si siopes and attending the other two. Tiie school already has a name for the. proposed system. "We're calling ours Continuous Learning at- Sinclair - the OLS model - because the. 'year-round school' or 'modified school year,' some of tiose connotations kind of get people worried about what you're talking about. "W. just want ta make it clear that we are* offering contiuuous iearning and the student can apt SEE PAGE 19 By Mike Kowalski A local citizenis' group has vowed ta continue* fighting ta preserve acute care iiealth services at Whitby General Hospital. JoAnne Prout, ca-chair of the Save Our Generai Hospital (SOGH) comxittee, does nat accept Ontario Health Minister Jim Wilson's endorsemeut of a proposai ta couvert the hospital into a rehabilitation treatment centre serving Durham Region. Prout said SOGH is considering several options lu light of Wilson's Rehab-onl rol liely. for h.ospital >Dy M&k Kowaluki Whitby General Hlosptal's days as a, predominantly acute care healtii service faeiity appear ta b. numbered. Despite vows that the. fight -ta retain acute car. and emergency services will continue (se separate story), Whitby General seema more and more destined for a radically different raie.-1 <A. controversial- - proposai ta convert the 26-year-old, hospital, into- a repëonal rehabiittoný freatmentcete cetly. received the, backingcf Ontario Healtii Minister Jim Wilson. The. proposai, strngiy opposed by -many ,local' residents, organizations, and politicians, IS a -key recommendation cf a plan for restructuring area hospitals put forward by the. Durham Region *District Health Couneil earlier this year. SUtilltab. determined, however, is wiiat, if any, eristing or new acute care services may b. located at the. Whitby site.- The fact that Wilson did not mie out some outpatient servces being retained in the new facility has resulted in different interpretations of bis Sept. 27 letter ta the. health council. "My unden3tanding is the. minister says it siiould be rehabilitation for inpatient care,w said Wilson press officer Barbara Selk 'That doesn't preclude outpatient care if appropriate, but it will b. outpatient only, skie said. "As a general kiospital, Wbitby, would b. ciianging its focus and attention, ta rehab." Selkirk confirmed, that while ,Wilson is 'basically supporting the health council recommendations," he also wants the council ta ensure that Whitby residents' access to emergency services, for exainple, are not restricted. Under the health counicil proposai, ,expanded 'hospitals lin Oshawa. and Aj axwould -serve the. emergency and, surgery needs of' "These are questions that must b. deait with in the. neit step," said Selkirk. - 'The minister has said h. wants. the community ta b. kept informed." 1 Inbis letter, Wilson has given the health council until the. end of next February ta submit a report on how the. recommendations can be implemented, including construction and operating costs. Chief among the. six items to be addressed is one calling for identification of the size and siting of ail programs and services in Durham, "ensuring that the needs of Whitby residents are met." Healtii couneil chair Gerry Blake cannot. understa.nd the different views pojle have taken of Wilson's comments. "Everyone seems ta want it ta say something else, but my interpretation is exactly what the letter said...it's rehab 'with outpatient services at Whitby and that's ta b. defined," said Blake. "Other people will r.ad certain' messages into it, I-just go by the words in the letter," he said. SEE PAGE 19 recent approval of a hospital restructuring study undertakçn by the. 'Durham Region Dfstrict- Héalth Council. Passible measures could include "rejuvenating" its 3 1,000-name petition campaigu or holding a raily similar ta the one whicii attracted iiundreds of angry residents last fail, Prout said. Iu addition, SOGH will be meeting with ailier graups opposed ta the elimination of acute care and emergency services at Whitby General, skie said. "Whitby has ta demonstrate a unified approach," said Prout. 'Tm not as optimistic as some of the. otiier players (about Wilson's intentions), altiiough that rexuains to be seen," skie admitted. ."But we have ta came together for a clear direction for Whitby." Prout said there are "pluses and minuses" ta Wilson's letter lu wbicii the minister supports the health council recornmendations, for restructuring Durham SEE PAGE Il SOGH to carry ontight- 9%