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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1984-11-21, Page 5Luekno v Sentinel, Wednesday, November 2r, 1984 --Page 5 e 4 ✓ Open :House Ruth Alton will he holding an open house at her home NovembCr24:from 1,30 - 5' pan: for Sharon's Silks :including flower arrangement and Christmas 'decorations; Anne's 'crafts, Mary Kay Cosmtetcs and : •Child' , Play Books. ,Come browse for %Christmas ` gift giving ideas. [Photo by Sharer* Dietz] EIdeu. and Alma Lowry monied 50 years ,Mr. and Mrs. Elden Lowry celebrated fifty year of marriage on Sat,, Nov. 10, 1904.. Over. 500 guests attended' the Open House from 2-4 pm and 7-0 pm in the Ripley Legion Hall to Wish them well and to enjoy a light. lunch and wedding cake served • by. the grandchildren. All nine children of Elden ' and Alta , were home to celebrate with them. There are threefdaughters,: Marlene MacKenzie of Mount Forest, Janette Thompson of Pine River (Huron Township), and Corinne Mordaunt of West Hill; and six • sons Perrin, Lynn, David, Wayne andElliott • all of Huron,Township, and Carl of Edrnon- ton, Alberta. •A gift of 50 long stemmed red roses was received -from .the .25 grand- children. The' evening ended with a spon- taneous sing -song of Irish" and Gospel music, The next day relatives and close friends ." gathered for a buffet bayquetat Sutton Park Inii to honour"Elden and Alma. Big AuctionSale Held Auctioneers, ;Grant McDonald of Ripley, andWallace•Ballagh of'Teeswater had a big sale in the 'Huron Township Garage a week agog last Saturday ' on Nov. 9. The' disagreeable drizzle' had stopped all outside work so people came to Ripley and the sale. Glenn Farrell Passed Away Last Friday folks in Ripley were swirls, ed by the sudden death of Glenn Farrell of the Huron -Kincardine boundary. Sympathy ' goes to his wife Ina and all family members. at this time of bereavement. Also on Friday, Jack.Wilsonformerly of the 12th Con. West passed away in Walkerton: Sympathy goes to ' all family relatives at this tirne of bereavement; . . Visited In Ripley Miss Betty ;Peterson of Barrie, nurse the RoyalVictoria Hospital therevisited on Monday morning this week . here with her. Aunt Fran and Ab ,Wylde, andlied Cross .. By Stephanie Levesque f +' 3k".2' nC "Fair"' is how both the }iron County Board of ,' Education ''arid its secondary school teachers describe a fact finder's report released last week. "It's fairly reasonable. It looked at all of the problems but it doesn't really resolve everything," said District 45 federation officer Shirley Weary of Goderich. "It's a fair report in that it made a fair adjudication of the issues in dispute;'," said director of education Robert Allan. `However, both parties said some of the solutions suit them while others do not. Representatives from the teachers and the board met once after . they • each had ' received'the fact finder's report and before it was made public. Mr. Allan said the board has no announ- cement to make as a result of that meeting, but he says the fact finder's report -could be the basis of an agreement. Homemaker Mrs. Lynn Thornicroft: of Clarks (Con, 12 West).. Moven nuo nuron v uta Two weeks ago Mrs, Mildred (Re1vers) Johnson moved from her home at the north end of ,Ripley into an apartment in Huron Villa, • Helped Celebrate Anniversary Visitors from a distance who called to help celebrate the 50th (Golden). Wedding An- niversary of Elden and Alma Lowry at the Ripley Legion Hall on Sat., Nov. 10 were: Mr. Murray Elston, Huron Bruce M.P.P. of Wingham; Mrs. Rena Fisher of Wingham who had a one day pass "from University Hospital, London; Arnold & Vivian Lougheed & Andrew from Niagara Falls; Mrs. Sandra and Jennifer . Machan, Brussels; John & Dorothy. Carruthers, Lon- don;` Mrs. Irwin Carruthers, Goderich; David Gilles, Ancastei; Harry Herbert, Toronto; Rev. Dennis Van coaten, Hanover; Mrs. Lillian Simpson, 'Mississauga; Ron and.Debbie Simmons, Toronto; Tiffany. Gib- bons, Fergus; Elmer and. Marlene. MacKen- zie, Brent, Craig, Mount Forest; Blair MacKenzie•& Jackie Weber, Guelph;' Mrs. Josie MacIntyre, Johanna & Ruth Ann, Alliston; Mrs.. Ruth Rose, Markdale; Deb- bie Lowry, Guelph; Carl Lowry, Edmonton, Alberta: • Over • 500 guests. visited . with Elden and Alma ' to congratulate and ' extend best 'wishes. This record number lends credence to the saying that the folks in the Ripley Huron Community are family. New Front Entrance Starting on Wednesday morning Nov._ 14 last week the Birch Lane Construction firm with carpenters Martin Van Goor, of the 10th Concession East (in the former.. Maclver house) and Martin Brink of Dungannon commenced installing a new front .entrance for Cecil and Wilma Sutton's Store on the RL° ETA by Ab Wylds Ripley main . street. Working through the miserable weather they had the new en- trance with its ,windows in place by the weekend. Its clean fresh look adds to the ap- pearance of the. Ripley main street. On Thursday a work crew from the Glen Eaton Barn Painting firm - at Elmwood cleaned the caked chop dirt from the metal roofs of the chopping mill. They also in.1. stalled the remainder of the big name sign on the grain elevator for Bob Thompson. The top part has the letters "SHUR GAIN" in white on a red background and the bottom line "RIPLEY ELEVATORS" in white on a blue background which can be read a block away. • A week ago Brian Pollock had a tall Cylin- tower erected in the back yard at his Sunoc t .Garage. It is reported .to be a pro- • . pane as storage tank. . Go a South To Florida t Saturday Don and Anna MacTavish left eir Ripley home on the first part of their trys down to Florida. On. Saturday they went to the Coliseum for a day at the Royal Winter Fair. In the: evening they had 'seats for the Horse Show. On Monday of this week they flew to Fort Lauderdale then to their home in Tamarac. They plan to come'bac'k for a short Christmas visit at Ripley then go back to Florida for the winter. Annual Bazaar. Held On the afternoon of that rainy Saturday, Nov. 10 the Ladies Aid of the Knox Presbyterian Church in Ripley held their annual bazaar in the Sunday Schoolroom of the church. rem��n in dispute in teachers tabs. Mrs. Weary says staffing changes hand salary are the two, main .items .,in dtspp#e., The fact . finder 'report estates that the. teachers are asking for an overall • percent- age increase of 15 percent and the board is, offering 5.1 per cent. • , However, Mrs. Weary points out that that percentage figure represents both sides "initial" position and The process of negotiation has changed those figures. "No, we're not that far apart but. I can't give any details," said Mrs. Weary. "There are ,a fairly large number 'of issues outstanding in the negotiations, and as a result the Fact Finding report contains 14 recommendation's. The particularly critical issues would • appear to revolve -around staffing/work- load, remuneration and staff development funding. "In making recommendations, I at- tempted to keep in mind . the economic health of the community,' past history: school system needs, the heeds of the parties and the provincial pay restraint guidelines," states fact finder Gene Desz ca's report: • On the salary question alone, the fact finder recommends an increase of about fiveper cent on the teachers salary grid. This would include increment and grid adjustment costs. Theteachers are asking for a 7.5 per cent increase excluding increment and grid adjustment costs, and the board is offering four per cent plus grid restoration and increment. Other . monetary recommendations in - elude: • Removing the cost of living allowance. The teachers. want to keep it and the board wants 'it :removed: Increasing the summer and bight school teachers' salaries by five per cent. The teachers want the salary, at one-sixth of their grid salary while the board wants it to remain at the present hourly rate. Increasing the professional development fund by five per cent.The teachers want the funds increased from S65,000 to $73,370 while the board wants to reduce it to. $20,000. The othermain issue in dispute is staff ' allocation and teacher workload. The teachers are asking for a staff increase of about 24 teachers in the 1985-86 school year. This figure is only an initial position. The teachers are asking for the increases for a number . of reasons which include increased staffing outside the classroom. This includes A librarians, principals . and vice -principals. The board states the teachers cannot have small class sizes and have the board increase staffing outside the classroom. The fact finder recommends careful study: of the pupil -teacher ratio. Mrs. Weary said a meeting between the teachers and the board will ' probably be held in the near future. Concerned Parente voice opinions on French immersion... .fin; page 3 I ' • sion program. They just sigh as they struggle and wish that theycould have learned that way," said Abbott.. • ' Late learners ,a French, :said Abbott, , depend heavily on the ;written': word., therefore not developing the fluency' of the earlier immersed student. Immersion students are `Mess hung 'ftp about trying to speak," she added. Abbott called• the program, "The Great Canadian Success Story" and said that Americans and Europeans are' now trying to emulate the program. ' • • She emphasized the importance of par= ental involvement in the program arid' recommended parents make a point of reading, in English, . to their smaller children. She also advised parents to take •advan- tage of any' opportunity to let their child experience a francophone environ ent, through exchange programs, trips and' so on, , QUeotio t Perla, ; r. Following the speakers* comments, the floor was thrown open for questions and comments from the audience. Among the first to speak was Cletus Dalton, representing an organization called Concerned., Citizens for a Better Basic Education. ' Dalton charged that the meeting did not cansitute• a frit debate because there were no anti -immersion speakers on the panel. , He offered to fill the role of adversary himself and gave a short discourse . outlining the CCBBE's position on immer • sion. "It isnot too lateo stop French Immersion. I believe it can still be turned around„” said Dalton. He ' attacked McGillivray's contention that the program would not be. overly • expensive in this area. , "The overall long:.tertn cost of French ' Immersion for rural communities would be • • incalculable.Atthis time it's no secret the Board of Education is havinga hard time," said Dalton. Mr. Dalton emphasized hisgroup was not opposed to ,French Immersion, but feel it should be a user pay system, rather than an extra burden to the taxpayers. He also said that rural. "children must catch a bus, leaving for school as early as 8 a.m. and often do not return home until after 4 p.m. `This is a longday for a child, without facing 'a teacher who does not make sense,'.' he said. . 1 "Why should we be expected to welcome French into our daily lives; when shopkeepers in Quebec are fined for displaying signs in English," said Dalton., Another questioner wanted to know if a different approach to Core French might not be a cheaper alternative to immersion, "Why not instill in Core French students - hey, you've got something there - why not use it?" he said. One parent, who said he has a child entering the immersion program at St. Mary's, Goderich, next ,fall, wanted to know how, to differentiate between a student's ' normal problems at school and problems related to the immersion pro- gram. Abbott told him it is important for parents to work closely with and discuss. • any potential problems'with the teacher of the immersion program. Another questioner wanted to know about (he availability of qualitrt'eac,:hers, in light of statements by • a , prominent immersion specialist, who said she feltonly a native francophone should teach in an immersion classroom. The inquisitor was told that teachers chosen are good "language role models", but not necessarily native francophone. In reply to a question on the effect of school transferal on immersion students, McGillivray said "There is usually some difficulty during the first term (back in a regular classroom) but it does not generally result a loss of year." 1 • One mother wanted to know, "how 'marvellous a parent" she would have to be; to be helpful in her child's attempts to master French, in addition to all the other parental responsibilities. "If you don't have time - don't do it," replied McGillivray.