The Chilliwack
Progress Friday
27
9
39
Scene
News
Sports
Handel
They’re back
Seasonal favourites from CSO
Bruins
Adjusted breathalyzers make a return
Bruins feel the Blades’ edge
Your community newspaper • Founded in 1891 • www.theprogress.com • Friday, December 3, 2010
Completion rate still below provincial average Katie Bartel The Progress The Chilliwack school district needs to do a better job with its middle school students in order to improve its six-year completion rates, said superintendent Corinne McCabe. Only 69.1 per cent of Chilliwack students who started Grade 8 in the school district six years ago completed Grade 12 in the district last year, according to the B.C. Education
Ministry’s six-year completion rate report released earlier this week. That’s 10 per cent below the 79 per cent provincial average. “We are still very concerned with our completion rates, particularly for our aboriginal students,” said McCabe. The completion rate report shows the percentages of students who graduate with a Dogwood diploma within six years of starting Grade 8 in the same district. The percentage of female students com-
pleting in Chilliwack dropped by two per cent to 69.2 per cent, but male students jumped up almost three per cent to 69.1 per cent. Aboriginal students dropped six per cent to 45.4 per cent. “Our aboriginal students are a challenge for us; they’re a challenge for the whole province,” said McCabe. For several years now Chilliwack has been hovering around 70 per cent for completion. Two years ago district officials started
analyzing the numbers school by school to determine which students weren’t completing and why, and to create solutions to better engage all students. Middle school, they discovered, was the problem. “We need to focus on how we can better support our students in Grades 6, 7, 8 and 9 so they stay engaged in learning,” said McCabe. “If we can get them to high school, we can get them to graduation.” Continued: SCHOOL/ p14
NDP enters gravel mining controversy Robert Freeman The Progress Fraser Valley residents haven’t been listened to by their local MLAs, NDP environment critic Rob Fleming charged after a meeting Wednesday with residents who are fighting against a regional gravel removal plan. The NDP have also been largely absent from Fraser Valley gravel issues - both in the Fraser River and in land areas under a proposed Aggregate Pilot Project. But Fleming indicated that may change after the Wednesday meeting in Yarrow. “I’ve committed to come back with the (NDP) mines critic,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday. “Fraser Valley residents haven’t been listened to by their local MLAs, particularly Randy Hawes,” he said. Fleming said Hawes, who chaired the committee that drafted the APP, “doesn’t have a sense of balance because he’s tied to the industry.” Fleming also said the B.C. Liberal government has “marginalized” local governments’ ability to enforce bylaws covering gravel removal – and several gravel pits continue to operate even though they don’t meet regulations. “They just do not have boots on the ground in the Fraser Valley,” he said, about B.C. government enforcement efforts. Continued: GRAVEL/ p8
An RCMP officer surveys the scene where this pickup truck crashed into a train on Knight Road just before midnight on Tuesday. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Driver seriously hurt after crashing into train Robert Freeman The Progress A truck crashed into a train at the Knight Road crossing in Chilliwack just before midnight Tuesday. The driver of the truck, a 33-year-old man from Chilliwack, was taken to hospital with seri-
ous injuries. Police said four vehicles had been stopped waiting for the train to pass when the truck crashed into the fourth vehicle, then pulled to the left to pass the remaining vehicles and headed toward the tracks where it crashed into the train. Three of the vehicles left the
scene before police arrived, and investigators would like to talk to those drivers, who are asked to call the RCMP detachment at 604-792-4611. “The police also wish to remind the public of the danger involved in trying to beat a train that is approaching a crossing,” RCMP Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop
said in a news release. “A few moments to stop and wait and ensure your personal safety, the safety of those on the train, and of those on the roadway with you is all that is needed to avoid a very dangerous situation.” The cause of Tuesday night’s crash is still under investigation.
$1.25 12-10F CS3