Education: Bookworms win reading challenge. 11
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K-Gr. 7 summer school approved Three weeks elementary school offered in July By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Summer school for elementary students is coming to the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District for the first time this July, and trustees expect it will grow into a popular program. There will be no charge for the summer classes, which will run for three weeks, July 7-23, from 9 a.m. to noon. The extra schooling will not be necessarily remedial in nature, and all interested students will be eligible to attend. It is simply aimed at being “a positive learning enrichment experience,” explained superintendent Sylvia Russell in her report to the school board on Wednesday. Classes are designed to give students more time in a subject area, or offer them a preview of a subject area. A Grade 6 math class might include students who have already completed Grade 6 but would benefit from review, alongside Grade 5 students wanting to preview their upcoming year’s work. There will be classrooms for math, reading and writing and fine arts. Students will also visit computer labs and be outdoors for science and physical education. There will also be a break outdoors each day. Kim Bondi, the Riverside Centre principal who will oversee the new program, told trustees the summer school will have less emphasis on textbooks and work sheets, and more on principles such as buddy learning, hands-on exploration and teaching through games. See School, 8
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West Coast Express commuters have faced 358 delays related to Canadian Pacific Railway so far this year.
West Coast delays double More than 100 in the past six months B y P h i l M e l nychuk pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
West Coast Express commuters have sat through more than 100 delays in the past six months, almost twice as many as a year ago. For harried workers starting the day on May 1, it was a freight train blocking the track that put train No. 5 a half-hour behind the morning’s schedule. Passengers that day had the option
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of jumping on to a shuttle or taking the No. 701 bus to Coquitlam. The next Monday, May 4, train No. 3 lost its engine, creating a 45-minute wait, requiring the train to limp into Vancouver Watefront station. being pushed by train No. 4. Then that Wednesday, a freight train blocked the track, putting the afternoon’s train No. 1 behind by 35 minutes. A day later, the same thing happened. The examples are part of the 358 CP-related delays to the West Coast Express so far this year, almost double the 291 delays for all of 2014. But if anyone’s frustrated, don’t get
mad at TransLink. TransLink redirects queries about the delays to Canadian Pacific which rents the track time. “We’ve been talking to CP to see ask if there’s anything that can be done. We really need them to come up with some solutions,” said Colleen Brennan, TransLink vice-president of communications and engagement. Brennan said the dozens of delays have hurt the commuter rail’s reliability rate. For the past five years, the on-time performance of the West Coast Express has been 98 per cent.
Even if that drops to only 95 per cent, passengers won’t be impressed. “But the reality is, if you’re the customer sitting on the train for 25 minutes, it’s cold comfort,” she said. “These incidents are very concerning to us.” Brennan didn’t have an exact number of complaints from customers, but said the volume is substantial. “Our staff are being called directly by customers. They’re very upset.” Between 5,000 and 7,000 commuters ride the five rush-hour trains daily from Mission to Vancouver and back. The service started in 1995.
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