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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, March 8, 2012 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Letter to the Editor Neil Oliver Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West David harvey Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief Daniel Baird Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor Riziero Vertolli Photography Director Sandy Pare Business Manager RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association MARK DILLS Director of Production Manuel garcia Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution Sarah McSweeney Circ. Manager Website oakvillebeaver.com The OakvilleBeaver is a division of Democratic process sought in Ward 4 boundary reviews Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award Place Awareness Breakfast fundraiser, recently held at Toronto's Royal York Hotel, to increase awareness of eating disorders. Lee Giles (centre) executive director of Sheena's Place was also there, along with Carrie Cox de los Santos (left), who spoke about her successful recovery and ongoing efforts to share her story with others suffering from the mental illness. CREATING AWARENESS: Oakville's Jennifer Joseph-Skariah (right) volunteered at the 11th annual Sheena's Kate Simandl / Special to the beaver Education is in a state of crisis and apparently, the crisis is worse in Oakville's Ward 4 than anywhere else. Ward 4 school boundaries are once again under review, having been reviewed just three years ago. This time, horrendous long-term decisions are being made within a six-week period. How can important decisions that affect the lives and education of thousands of children be made in such a short time frame and in the absence of evidence and experts? This would never work in the business world or any other domain. At the root of the issue is the `high demand' for French Immersion (FI). This program, due to the lack of capped enrolment, is beginning to infringe on the remaining neighbourhood schools as it looks to expand. I am against any optional program being delivered as a better resourced sub-system within a public education system. I am against a special interest group having the ear of a trustee and board with no regard to the overall impact on the community. This issue has been dividing the community for the past 20 years. Enough is enough. The federal government's agenda in supporting FI with a French-as-a-SecondLanguage grant is to "double the proportion of secondary school graduates who are functionally bilingual in English and French, by 2013." I am not confident the 50 per cent FI program in Halton will actually achieve this desired outcome. While many parents select FI for the language itself, many select it for the erroneous perception that it is a better and more elite educational program. What helps with that perception is the passive screening that currently occurs and, which results in inequitable access for those who wish to learn the language, but are slow learners or have poor attention. Others are simply dissatisfied with the core education system and are looking for something `to stimulate their child'. Given the delivery model, we have parents who need to commit their children in Grade 1 if they wish to pursue FI... while the rest of the children are not offered basic French until Grade 4. This does not make sense. The scenario proposed by the Halton District School Board (HDSB) supports two more schools in Ward 4 changing to dual track -- after a highly-controversial `process' and `consultation'. This would result in three dual-track and one single-track FI schools in a ward of eight schools. I don't think this review process was strong enough, had enough evidence or consultation to merit any decisions being made at the present. See School page 8 Getting tired of `stars', `reality TV' and all that's in between 'm tired of celebrity worship. And, I suppose, I'm just tired of celebrities. I know I'm tired of Snooki. Truth be told, I don't really know who Snooki is. Honestly, what is a Snooki? And why should I care that she is probably pregnant? And yet it's a headline on every entertainment website and, unfathomably, most legitimate news sites. My daughter tells me that Snooki is a reality star, like The Situation, from MTV's Jersey Shore. I tell my daughter that The Situation is this: I don't care. I'm likewise tired of the Kardashians. Kim and Kris and Khloe and Kazaam and Kantaloupe, etc. Who are these people and what did they ever do to deserve such fame, fortune and nauseating ubiquity? Did they cure cancer? Broker world peace? Nah, but I'm told that they have umpteen reality shows that, thankfully, are lightyears removed from any reality any of us can fathom. Speaking of unfathomable -- honestly, at this point in my life I don't care whether Jennifer Aniston still pines for Brad Pitt, who left poor Jen for Angelina about 100 years ago. My guess is that Jennifer has long since moved on with her life. Either way, I don't want to hear about it. Everyone knows: Jen should have just stuck with Ross. While I'm on this rant, let me tell you that I'm tired of celebri- I ties giving me marriage advice. I think there should be a law wherein you cannot offer marriage advice if you have failed at marriage or appeared on Hollywood Squares. Oh, and I'm really, really tired of celebrities telling me how to raise my kids. Give a regular person a baby and they Andy Juniper struggle for the next 18 years trying to determine what is best for that enigmatic dependant living under their roof. Give a celebrity a baby -- which they will invariably saddle with some idiotic name (Peanut Buster Parfait or Snot) -- and at some point between birth and that first feeding they become vocal experts on all aspects of child-rearing. I'm tired of celebrities force-feeding me diet and nutrition advice. Are you listening Suzanne Somers? If I need diet and nutrition advice I will to get it from (and I know this will shock a lot of people)... a dietician or nutritionist, not the whacky blonde from Three's Company. Ha. Celebrity diets: workout for 60 hours a week (like you have no other obligations, or life), embark upon the most faddish `cleanse' imaginable, and eat half a stick of celery whenever you feel like you're about to black out. Then, feign offence when someone calls you "stick" or "pencil." Now, I realize there are millions of obscure stars in the sky that few people have ever heard of -- that said, I'm nonetheless tired of people no one has ever heard of being labeled `stars'. Take the current crop on Dancing with the Stars. Honestly, in what universe can Urkel in any way be classified as a star? I know I'm being a bit snippy. If I were a celebrity, I'd apologize. Yeah, I'm really tired of celebrity apologies. Wherein celebrities say/do idiotic things and then issue the obligatory apology through their agent: "Oops. Sorry. My bad." Oh, yeah, it is your bad. Stop saying and doing dumb things, and if you really must act like stupidity is in your blood, or you're genetically wired to behave like a moron, then stop apologizing. Because it's not only making me snippy, it's making me crazy. And very, very tired. Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook at www.facebook.com, or followed at www. twitter.com/thesportjesters.