The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday June 11, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager A celebration of life Although the medical community has made impressive strides in the war on cancer in the last 50 years, the disease continues to steal our mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, siblings, friends and colleagues. The frontline of that war sliced through Oakville Friday night when the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life was held in the blistering heat at Appleby College. The Relay for Life is a unique fundraiser that the Oakville Beaver is more than pleased to support. It is a fun, emotional but extremely rewarding event that saw thousands of people of all ages join together to confront this disease head on. For those unfamiliar with this worthy cause, Relay for Life is a 12-hour, overnight event that takes place annually in more than 480 cities across the country. Oakville organizers should be so proud of what they have accomplished through this large undertaking. The Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life is an opportunity to get together with family and friends to celebrate cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost, and fight back in the hope of finding that elusive cure. One of the most heart-warming features of the Relay for Life is the lighting of luminaries in honour of those taken by cancer. The flickering lights provide inspiration to participants all night long. It is a sight many of us will have forever etched in our memories. In all, 162 teams registered for the 12th annual Oakville event that has only grown in popularity each year. We congratulate the volunteers and participants for their hard work and dedication. Relay for Life proves cancer cannot steal the human spirit. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A new school in Clearview wouldn't be a Big Box I was deeply disappointed that The Beaver would run a full-page ad (Saturday, June 7) from an undisclosed advertiser proclaiming that the Halton District School Board is considering a "Big Box" school in Clearview. As a parent of a young child at Maple Grove School, who also served on the PARC for this area, I am saddened that the Beaver does not hold its advocacy ads to the same ethical standards that it holds its journalists to. One option presented to the school board during the PARC process included building a school of 400-450 students in the Clearview area because a large number of students are being bused out of this neighbourhood to keep the empty schools in the south of the ward open. According to Human Resources and Social Development Canada, the average school size in Canadian towns and small cities like Oakville is 886 students. If the undisclosed advertiser believes that 450 students constitutes a "big box" school, then he or she must be enjoying the benefits of the publicly-funded private schools BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com in Ward 3 and need a reality check. Most communities don't have the luxury of enjoying a school like New Central that sits more than half empty with only 94 kids. I'm sure the New Central school community is tight-knit, but our schools need to do their job first -- educate our children. Because schools in Ontario are funded by enrolment, New Central is a good example of why schools need to have more than a close parent community; they need students. According to the CD Howe Institute, compared to other schools, New Central ranks only in the seventh percentile after looking at Grade 6 EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) results and adjusting for socio-economic factors. Busing 400 children out of Clearview to fill up old, aging schools in areas with no children is not fiscally responsible or fair. Unfortunately, a working-class neighbourhood like Clearview cannot take out a full-page ad in The Oakville Beaver to say so. DENISE O'CONNELL Pud 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.