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Erbsville emotions rise Trustees accused of ignoring ‘the real issue‘ e Furious with the Waterloo County board of education‘s decision to close Erbsvillie public school at the end of the current school year, angered parents have lashed out against the failure of trustees to recognize "the real issue"‘ . The parents, who remained strangely silent as the board passed down its verdict last Thursday night, are upset that trustees failed to consider concerns about the French immersion program slated for the new Beechwood West School, a facility that will accomâ€" modate a number of pupils from the soonâ€"toâ€"beâ€"mothâ€" balled rural school. Alan Jones, an opponent to the impending closure since the outset, is particularly angered by stateâ€" ments made by trustee Sue Coulter, who claimed at last Thursday‘s meeting that the closure of Erbsville and French immersion were "two separate issues and should be treated at such." Chronicle Staft Jones argues that Erbsville should stay open to service students wishing to remain in an Englishâ€"only school. He says programs at other county schools have suffered because of the French immersion program and will likely do so at Beechwood West. 132nd Year No. 5 _ "In my view they (trustees) probably should have reviewed the immersion program before they made a RAPPING FOR A GOOD CAUSE Don‘t be surprised if you get a knock at your door this month from a university student in need of money. The Delita Chi fraternity is staging its second annual duvootorg;&ofinn.l’obohddonunuw“mpm, 80 couples will be dancing the night away trying to achieve a $5,000 goal. Pictured here: Steve Burnett (centre) warms up the turntable at the expense of Mark Loach and Karen Keller. Mark Bryson photo fina} decision on Erbsvilie. "Contrary to Sue Coulter‘s comments, the concern at Erbsville is the French immersion at Beechwood Waterioo trustee John Monteith suggested to the board that Erbsville be given a oneâ€"year reprieve in order to determine how well the new Beechwood school, scheduled for September occupancy, will be able to accommodate the growing Beechwood area. He claimed the school population could swell to 500 because of all the construction activityâ€"over 100 more than the planned capacity. Trustee Twyla Hendry argued the Erbsville situaâ€" tion was an instance where Kitchenerâ€"Waterioo schools must be forced to "bite the bullet‘ in order to gain provincial funding for schools in Hespeler. Brighton School in uptown Waterioo and instructed the Facilities Committee to investigate and identify an additional catchment area for the school. Margaret Anglin, another parent upset by the decision, says the verdict will force her family to move to an area in Waterloo serviced by either Brighton or Elizabeth Ziegler schoolsâ€"the only two remaining Englishâ€"only schools. Monteith‘s motion was defeated 11â€"4, only gaining support from John Hendry, William Otto and Gary At the same meeting, trustees voted to keep open Currently a resident of Westcourt Place in Waterâ€" loo, Anglin‘s daughter would be forced to return to Keatsway public school in September. Keatsway‘s French immersion program has been severely criticized in the past for providing "elitist‘" education to children in the French program at the expense of those receiving English education. Having already yanked her daughter out of Keatsway last year for that particular reason, Anglin wants no part of the school again. ‘"‘I‘m resigned to the situation. We‘re going to have to move," she said. Jones is also considering a move, probably to Guelph where core French is offered in grade 1. Core French provides students with 40 minutes of French per day while immersion is a half day. Both parents were particularly upset by a revelaâ€" tion made last Thursday that 51 students had already been enrolied at Beechwood West requesting the French immersion situation in Grade 1. Parents were told last summer that the school would be a 50â€"50 split between French and English programs. At present number this will not happen unless trustees decided to place a limit on the number enrolied in French. A full report on French immersion will be tabled in February. Greening up key to our civic image The transformation of the Waterloo Town Square parking lot into public parkland is being examined as a method of remedying uptown Waterioo‘s "civic image‘‘ problem. To function as a "traditional village green‘", the proposed green space may be the first step in a series of cosmetic changes to the city‘s oftenâ€"maligned core area. A new parking structure with 450 spaces would be constructed under the proposed parkland, with costs to be shared between the city, the user, the businesses which benefit and building owners. Mark Bryson Chronicle Staff Showcased to the media on Monday, the parkland scheme is the focal point of a mammoth revitilization push for the uptown The preliminary development plan is the end product of a threeâ€"month Uptown Development Study carried out by Arcop Associates of Toronto, a consulting agency retained for $60,000 to guide the changes which are expected to occur in uptown over the next few years. â€" Members of the city hall consultant team which provided input for the consultants will be hosting a public workshop session tomorrow Waterloo contributed $30,000 towards the bill with the Ontario government picking up the reâ€" mainder. from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Marsland Centre. Interested groups and individuals are enâ€" couraged to attend and discuss the plans. Arcop senior partner Paul Hughes told reporters Monday that he feels the priority planning issues which need to be addresssed in uptown are civic image, the provision of (Continued on page 3)