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Can you hear me and hear me now. Greg would you please tell me in between stories which one the last one is going to be tell me before the last story if you know it. OK. Otherwise I get thrown off in the copy you. Know the beginning at the beginning. I can't hear the beginning of the last story if you know tell me that that's the last story before I start it. OK. I know at the end of the second to last story before I start the last story tell me that's the last story. OK. Margo. When you did a test on me I couldn't hear myself in my headphones.
OK thanks. Good evening and welcome to TV Journal I'm Amy Sam. Tonight Boston parents tell Devean Dukat they are gaining power in the city's schools. Walter cross senior citizen and community organizer talks about his life. The Strand Theater closed 10 years ago rises again in Dorchester and Louis mines finds out how the Canadians are dealing with inflation. All that right after the local news. The Boston Globe New England's largest circulation daily newspaper today unsurprisingly
endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Francis hatch. The Globe and endorsing Hatch said he had the temperament to be governor compared to Democrat Edward King. According to The Globe endorsement King from the start has offered simple but shifting solutions to complicated questions. The Globe also charged him with taking political advantage of people's fears. Last night both King and hatch held court to a statewide radio and television audience as they debated for 90 minutes at Faneuil Hall. While hatch and King were inside the hall members of the Socialist Workers Party circled outside the hall chanting Hagin king is no debate. Let the socialist speak. The group demanded that party candidate Lisa protest be allowed to participate in the debate. The League of Women Voters did not allow the socialist into the debate because according to one of the league's spokespersons Potash was not on the ballot. Meanwhile the same issue which threatens to tumble New Hampshire governor Meldrum Thompson from his office has become an issue in Massachusetts. Francis Hatch today claimed that Edward King supports construction work in progress rates for the development of future nuclear power in the Bay
State. Quipped as it is known Chargers electric consumers for the construction of power plants before the plants are in operation construction of the controversial Seabrook power plant in New Hampshire is being funded in part by quick rates. And Governor Thompson's that Democratic opponent is using the issue as one of his major campaign issues. Hatch today said he was against a quip rate's his opponent King was not available for comment. After a tense situation between Boston police Boston University security guards and striking be you service and maintenance workers this morning picket line set up by the Service Employees International Union remained intact outside delivery doors at the university. A brief scuffle erupted at the school this morning when strikers attempted to block the delivery of food. The union vowed to continue to hamper deliveries tomorrow. The union struck yesterday when rank and file members overwhelmingly rejected the university's latest contract offer. The maintenance workers object to portions of the contract offer which would allow the school to put workers on weekend
shifts without overtime pay. Meanwhile the union does settle with the university in the near future they can plan on servicing a 25 million dollar thirty five storey skyscraper along the Charles River. The university today announced plans to build the giant academic center. In other labor news a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Society of professors at UMass Amherst campus today said the faculty union is hoping to hold a ratification vote on a new contract. November 15th the Boston campus is expected to vote on November 20th and 21st. Meanwhile Douglas Fraser president of the United Auto Workers Union has spent the last two days in Boston. Yesterday Fraser who recently resigned from the White House Labor Management Group told the Boston Globe that the country is having a big problem with cynicism especially toward government. He said People have no faith or confidence in the governmental process. After leaving the White House group Fraser formed a new coalition of labor civil rights and other activists to apply more political pressure on the White House and Congress
for more reasonable economic policies for working people. An estimated three hundred fifty people today demonstrated at the Rhode Island State Department of Employment Security demanding jobs in the federally financed wind program. Protesters charge that only 2000 candidates were interviewed for available positions. Out of more than nine thousand five hundred who applied and that only 63 were hired. The protesters many of them welfare mothers said there should be 500 more openings in the federal training program. A similar controversy erupted in East Boston last month when the when welfare mothers there demanded that Eastern Airlines hire 50 welfare mothers under the winde program when Easterns new reservation terminal is completed. Finally the new Sambo's restaurant in East Providence Rhode Island may not be open much longer at least under the name samples. A coalition of black groups has threatened to go to court because it says the restaurant chains name is racist. As a result the local city council will vote on November 20th on whether to revoke the restaurant's food license. Similar
protests have occurred in Rockland Massachusetts and in other parts of the country. That's the news to the journal. If you're not the parent of a child attending the Boston public schools you might think that the school committee is the only group that controls the fate of the city's educational system and that you're wrong. There's a growing parent movement in the city made up of a network of community councils education reporter Vivian Duca tells us who's on these councils and what they do. Since the federal court order in June of 1074 there's evolved a network of parent councils at the local school level the district level in the citywide level. These are integrated. They're committed to school desegregation. They're committed to.
Educational reform. They're committed to. An idea basically that whatever affects the education of our children in the schools is the concern of parents. Henry Allen is the former co-chair of SAE PAC the citywide parent advisory council and is currently a representative of S. Dak for District 9. As you might have guessed. Parent Power in the Boston schools is spelled out in a series of initials which Alan will attempt to explain what we have at the local school level is the racial ethnic parent council piece say it's composed of an equal number of black and white parents as well as Hispanic and Asian parents when there are certain number of those other minority students enrolled in the school. On the district level and elected by the PC members in each district is the community District Advisory Council or seat Aqua show art and that is composed of one rep one parent representative from
each school. As well as a number of community representatives which were nominated by the Sea-Tac and approved by the court the federal court and we have representatives of the business community the college community labor in community agencies and organizations within the school district and at the next level there is the citywide Parents Advisory Council with representatives from each school district one black and one white as well as two Asian into Hispanic representatives elected to the C-PAC citywide Parents Advisory Council. Terms of you know functions or responsibilities at each level. What we find operative and evolving over the past four years is that those issues which are. Related directly to the individual school building. It might be physical repairs and might be changes in curriculum. They might be dealing with administration and trying to get new programs are a
host of other issues and concerns. Our APC really deals with those problems. The C DAC is looking from a district perspective at the problems the priority is the needs the issues the concerns. In each school district at the city y level the C-PAC really deals with the school department. The school committee with city wide issues that affect the districts in each local school. Another important parent advisory group is a citywide educational coalition a nonprofit corporation that has existed since 1972 it has acted largely as an informational source at the disposal of both parents and administration. Many parents who serve in the citywide educational coalition are also members of their local arre PCs and seed tax. The parent councils pride themselves in the thoroughness of the studies which they have carried out often more complete than the school committee's own reports. It is essential that the
councils perform this function well according to Hetty McInnes former C-PAC co-chair with Henry Allen. Because this is really the only source of parent control I think all the decisions are still in the hands of the school. But I think that the parents have a chance to influence that decision by coming out and speaking up for it or against it but the decision is still with the school committee and it will always be with me. I don't think there's any question that parent councils are needed. Boston School Committee member John O'Bryant I was very pleased when the court awarded that parent council be formed primarily because recent history of the school committee it's very clear that they did not involve parents sufficiently. I must say that since I've been on the school committee the citywide education coalition plus the set of y Parents Advisory Council have both given excellent input in several areas.
One was the new state law on minimum competency that have really been very helpful in that they have been helpful in terms of keeping us aware of the transportation problems. They have been helpful in terms of many other areas one. As far as evaluation of teachers performance. Another area where they've been very helpful is in terms of serving on the Budget Committee. I was chairman of the Budget Committee in the hearings and we had a representative from C-PAC citywide parent advisory council and one from citywide education coalition so that all in all they have had some fantastic input. My sense is that there needs to be a mechanism established whereby. Parents can have some legitimate power. Bryant was vague about what this mechanism would be although he did say that he felt that the parent element would never actually replace the school committee. But Henry Allen
says he's confident that if the parent movement continues to grow there soon may be an actual shift in the control of the Boston public schools. If we can succeed in Boston and establishing the rights of parents and strengthen the councils and build up a body of experience and knowledge and show that we can make a real difference then it's a step towards real decentralization and real decision making power in the hands of parents where it should be for GBH Journal I'm Vivian Duke at for more on parent input in school boards tune in Saturday at noon for National Public Radio's option is in education. Walter Krause is a native who has worked as a business person in places ranging from
the US to. He joined the Vista volunteers after being retired at the age of 65. He organized a senior citizen's Vista program here in Massachusetts the only one of its kind. Krause spoke with reporter David Freud. From what I understand the programmers the only program in the country devoted to having represent seniors and help seniors with different kinds of services. They are a comprehensive training and. As a supplemental security income. They're able to. Act as advocates for other changes to get them these type of services we have. And I'm no longer able to go to a doctor and able to afford the tremendous bills that are piled up by this. If you take the average.
As myself that has worked all their life to put them on a shelf at the age of 65 and said yeah and say look you're no longer worth anything to this society. Years and years of experience have gone down the drain their wasted years. Your income has been slashed so they are classified as second class citizens and very frankly having a tremendously difficult. Time to just exist at the present time. And much of this is is due to mandatory time in. My experience as the largest percentage of the seniors I don't say are but the largest percentage of the seniors are wasting there. You may experience and desire to do certain things when when you are a tad but if you don't have the
funds to be able to do that. And to be able to do the things that you might like to do. You're really in big trouble today. Now I'm saying the percentage there are a smaller percentage of people but affluent that do have a considerable amount of money that can travel if they so desire they can spend their money in any way they want. I think there are a lot of them I board I've met them and I know that a lot of them are looking and seeking for some worthwhile job worthwhile avocation something to do that would fill the hours and days and years that something worthwhile. I have people that I worked with that retired to Florida. We used to play golf together and they say and they made the statement before they retired fire and we would play golf every day. After a year or two they were so bored they didn't know what to do with themselves it wasn't fun anymore. It was a
job. Now they are looking for something worthwhile to do something to fill their hours and something probably worthwhile endeavor and relation to helping other people that are having problems. I think most of us saw a lot of particularly our age group. Our show involved in making a living during our working years and raising a family that we probably did not pan off a tension to social problems. I know all of that is true in my case and I think it's showing a lot of the people I worked with in life usually resolves around they they are acquaintances and people you work with to the exclusion probably a lot of other things that are worthwhile in this life. Walter cross head of the senior Vista volunteers program here in Massachusetts that sound portrait is one of the continuing series on the elderly. Oh my God. For my
book. Like one of our great vaudeville comedy greats like WC Fields used to pack the Strand Theater in Dorchester to capacity at its opening it was billed as the most beautiful theatre in New England. The glamorous home of vaudeville and silent pictures but vaudeville disappeared films alone couldn't keep the aging theatrical palace going. Ten years ago it closed and its rococo ceilings gilt Corinth the Intel ors and marble staircases were left to collect dust. Some residents fear that the neighborhoods most elegant edifice might be torn down and formed a committee to say that they solicited mayor White's aide arguing that restoration of the strand could provide jobs and much needed cultural opportunity in Dorchester. Why did greed and the city bought the theater and then applied for and got a 1.5 million dollar grant from the federal government. The restoration is well underway now and an OPEN HOUSE will be held on November 11th to show the progress. Reporter Chris out when spoke with
theatre president Ellen McKenna. When did this theater open. November 11 19 18 today. Who were some of the performers that came to this theater in that first year. In those first years. This Strand Theater would have seen Fred Allen who was a die Chester resident himself. Ray Bolger who made his debut on it's stage Fanny Brice Milton Berle Jack Haley and the list really goes on and on as we're sitting here in the old lighting booth looking down across the very opulent decor of the Strand Theater. I can see that we have beautiful sight lines. What is the sound like in this theater. Because Dixon nearly perfect the in 1971 I thought let's go from Macau to foreign. And Sid Bennett from the Juilliard School checked the acoustics and we were certainly encouraged to go
ahead with a. And that center with legitimate theater music programming I see is where surveying the orchestra in the balcony here all the seats are gone. What is what is the situation with the seats. The American feeding being stored refurbished to all those nice things are happening to them. New fabric new paint. What is the seating capacity going to be of this theater when it's restored and the seating capacity will be fourteen hundred seats from its original eighteen hundred seats and we've lost those for 100 seats in order to provide it. And why do you seat more leg room between seats and then the two rows we lost in the system for the enlarged doctors to pick which is going to house 50 use ations that magnificent. Why have you picked and Harriet McCormick's name for the Performing Arts Center.
She represented. In her life what we wanted to represent. As a group. She was concerned about cultural advantages for urban areas. She herself was a trained. Singer she was an opera singer. My husband and somebody I was representing the community. Missed I'm a comic and asked his permission and he said that's a marvelous tribute to her. What are some of the future projects you have in mind for that. Harriet McCormack Arts Center. Will be the first the first project is just about to get off the ground. And that's our seniors arts program. We have just hired a director for that program. The second project we'd like to develop is a children's. Project with children's theatre children's film also.
Will the theater be used for modern media. No limitations we want to try it. Whatever the laser beam shows I'm great and I think we will do that sometime next year. Film Festivals. We perhaps will even rely on a little more heavily on film. In the beginning year. Perhaps the first year or two what number one bill that audience and we need monies to to do all of the other programming. There's always been a vital community theater community in the greater Boston area as well as professional theatre Sara Caldwell now has finally secured a permanent home for her opera company at the old Savoy Theatre. Do you think that Sara Caldwell and these other community theatre groups will offer an opportunity for sharing resources. That's what I hope will happen. The situation we are trying to develop here would benefit more by a co-op a cooperative effort. We have these fine resources and I would like to think that we could
share them with the established professional nonprofessional groups. Bella McKenna president of the M Harriet acquirement Center for the Arts at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester or GBH Turner says Chris that one factor might be better for you. Then I take you back into hard news again property taxes and social service cuts are the hot issues in Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign this year. But as Louis Lyons finds out they're just as hot in Canada. Lyon spoke with Canadian Consul General Timothy A Williams. Well I noticed just a little while ago that the government lost I think 13 out of 15 by elections which sounded as though the must be a good deal
of dissatisfaction either with the government's handling of the economy or perhaps oh let's go back situation it is true that there has been a shift this shift occurred as a result of byelection such as not a general election a fair number of electors expressed a certain discontent and I think there's no doubt that this is related to the economic situation I would tend to relate it more more to that rather than the national average. Yes that's right. Would you say that the separatists are gaining or losing is it as a threat to Canadian government out of my own feeling is that we've seen a good deal of progress on this matter in recent months I think one thing you do have to bear in mind is that this discussion has been going on for some time in Canada. We lived with the. With two languages in our country ever since its Confederation in 1867 it's always been a peaceful process and it's been a dialogue and in recent years it's become quite evident that we do have
to sort this out in a more fundamental way. I think also you should bear in mind that in Quebec a majority of the Quebec population including the French speaking population has never ceased to vote in favor of Canada. They want changes in the relationships between the governments in the control over spending power and things of that sort. Changes are coming. And I am quite sure however that they will continue to leave Canada. As to relation between Canada and the United States what issues come to the top of your mind. I think immediately of lay all the lapping claims 200 miles and fishing and I see conference there is to resume on that Monday. It seems all that is happening here could be ironed out. We have a problem which is essentially a problem of international law. In the meantime there is an unfortunate and confused situation whereby we have an area of overlapping. Claims
and a disputed zone if you like and this is what leads to concern by fishermen from both countries that there is overfishing by the other. These are honest feelings by the fishermen on both sides and entirely comprehensible. And I think to some extent there continue to exist as long as we do not have a fisheries agreement. Does Canada have feel they have as much of an energy problem as it has been so much discussed in this country especially by the president. Yes I think that we consider that we have an energy problem of very serious proportions. Some years back. We discovered to our surprise and concern that we didn't have as much of our oil as we thought we had and it was at that time that we had to initiate a scaling down of our oil exports to the United States. The local property tax here is as you know if you read our local newspaper it's great the bone of contention we're having of a
fairly frenzied political discussion in the election over our taxation particularly the local property tax and all sorts of plans proposed to relieve it or change it. And I wondered about Canada whether your local services are financed in anything like a similar way that saw pressures on the the resident the homeowner. As we feel it does here. I'm not an expert on taxation or municipal law I do know that my own taxes in all who own my house are considerably less than than yours here at the same time although it's not a frenzy. Certainly you see similar concerns in Canada on this whole matter of costs and taxes and in particular expenditures by government and that's why just recently our government has embarked on a vast program of expenditure restraints restricting hiring in the foreign service and government expenditures.
Does the central government the national government in Canada distribute their financial aid for local services to a somewhat similar extent to our government which pays for a great deal for cost schools for welfare for Medicare. Yes we have a rather complicated system of para creation and of payments by the federal government to the various provincial governments which is intended to equalize the standard of living right across the country. Local governments right across the country are requesting more funds and increased taxation powers so we see some of the same tensions and currents produced I would say by a variety of things by regionalization by inflation by the increased demand for services in a climate in which governments have to impose austerity. It sounds as though you had many problems quite similar to ours. Yes but if I can close on a on a note your optimism I would say that that some of the factors we've been discussing. I have a
silver lining in the sense that the drop in the value bows of the American and the Canadian dollar does make our exports more but our exports in a better position than we can already see the effects of that. The risk is the reduction in government expenditures is producing a leaner government which I think will help us to go forward in a better posture if we consider I think that the constitutional dialogue that's going on at the moment is a and overdue and a healthy debate it's a debate certainly with its with its painful moments moments of truth if you like. But it's something that is useful and necessary and I think that it's helping us too much ahead. Canadian Consul General Timothy a Williams with Louis Lyons. That's TV Channel 4 this Thursday evening producer for tonight's show Greg Fitzgerald the engineer Margo Garrison production assistance came from Diane slaine and Becky Rourke. I mean the
sands have a good evening. We wish you well. Oh yeah he did. Yes.
Series
WGBH Journal
Episode
Ed -Parent Council
Producing Organization
WGBH Educational Foundation
Contributing Organization
WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/15-96wwqfsj
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Description
Series Description
WGBH Journal is a magazine featuring segments on local news and current events.
Created Date
1978-11-02
Genres
News
Magazine
Topics
News
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:31:50
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Credits
Producing Organization: WGBH Educational Foundation
Production Unit: Radio
AAPB Contributor Holdings
WGBH
Identifier: 78-0160-11-02-001 (WGBH Item ID)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Generation: Master
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Citations
Chicago: “WGBH Journal; Ed -Parent Council,” 1978-11-02, WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-96wwqfsj.
MLA: “WGBH Journal; Ed -Parent Council.” 1978-11-02. WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-96wwqfsj>.
APA: WGBH Journal; Ed -Parent Council. Boston, MA: WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-96wwqfsj