ALDERGROVE STA AR Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 55 Years
| Thursday, November 7, 2013
Students Looking For Good Sports!
Check our website daily for updates, breaking news and more: www.aldergrovestar.com
Page 13: November 11 a Day to Remember Kwantlen Celebrates Traditions
PAGE 9
‘No-touch’ policy to stop ‘rough play’ By MONIQUE TAMMINGA Aldergrove Star
If you are a Kindergarten student at Coghlan Fundamental Elementary, playing tag or holding your friend’s hand will get you sent to the principal’s office. Langley School District has banned Coghlan Kindergarten students from all forms of handson play, including taq and all imaginary play. On Friday, a letter was sent home to parents of all Kindergarten students telling them their kids are banned from all forms of hands-on play. The ban doesn’t impact any other grades at the school. The ban means Kindergarten students are prohibited from “playing tag, holding hands, and any and all imaginary fighting games,” said the letter. The letter goes on to say that the school is going to have a “zero-tolerance policy with regards to hands-on play, resulting in the missing of playtime and trips to the office for those who are unable to follow the rules.” Langley School District spokesperson Ken Hoff said the decision to temporarily ban handson play stemmed from concerns made by some parents about rough play on the playground. “Some kids were getting hurt out there. For
these students, school is something new and this is a short-term measure taken to educate kids around appropriate playground play,” said Hoff. “Appropriate play means you can’t grab a kid by his hoodie and pull him to the ground when you are playing tag,” he said. The letter home to parents said “Star Wars” imaginary play was particularly troublesome. It isn’t known how the Kindergarten students are going to be policed, considering all the other students around them can do hands-on play. Hoff said they have received some opposition and some support from parents on this ban. The district has been taken aback about the widespread media coverage on the issue, he said. “It is a temporary measure, a learning tool to let Kindergarten students hit the reset button. No, we are not banning Christmas next,” said Hoff. He stressed that the school district is not considering any policies around hands-on play. He isn’t aware of the district ever doing this before, but said he is under the impression that there are some school districts with a no-touch policy.
Nine years for manslaughter By VIKKI HOPES Aldergrove Star
KURT LANGMANN PHOTO
Kwantlen artist Brandon Gabriel with the decorated drum he created for and presented to BC Hydro in thanks for the corporate contribution to the new Kwantlen longhouse on McMillan Island in Fort Langley. The mask above Gabriel’s head was created by fellow Kwantlen artist Robert Thomas, one of several old and new pieces in the longhouse’s artifacts collection. See story, page 3.
A man who pleaded guilty in connection with the January 2012 death of Ryan Saint Ange apologized to the victim’s family during his sentencing hearing on Monday in Abbotsford provincial court. “I don’t think there are any words in the English language that can define how I really feel,” Shayne Vauthrin said through sobs. “I have to live with it every day of my life. I never meant for any of this to happen, but it happened and I can’t take it away.” Vauthrin said he hopes Saint Ange’s family can forgive him for his actions, but he understands if they can’t. Several of the victim’s family members and friends were in the packed courtroom for the hearing, which ended with Judge Brent Hoy sentencing Vauthrin to a nine-year prison term for manslaughter with a firearm. Vauthrin, 28, has about seven years left of
his sentence, after credit is given for the time he has served in pretrial custody since turning himself in to police on Feb. 19, 2012. Vauthrin was initially charged with seconddegree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser manslaughter charge before a trial date was set. Saint Ange, 21, was found dead just after midnight on Jan. 14, 2012 by a friend who had dropped by to visit him at his home in the 27700 block of 56 Avenue in West Abbotsford. Although others lived in the home, nobody else was there when the friend arrived. Vauthrin was identified as a person of interest, and he turned himself in just over a month later. Evidence presented at Vauthrin’s sentencing hearing is banned from publication until after his co-accused, Robert Adam Van Dusen, goes to trial. The evidence includes any details of the crime and the investigation that folSEE: Page 3 lowed.
The COOL place to...
www.alderalley.com
Ph.604-856-2034 27070 Fraser Hwy. Aldergrove
Visit us online at www.alderalley.com