Everything but the bathroom sink

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Pointe Claire resident Mrs. Golan is accusing the Lester B. Pearson school board of negligence in not telling her that a child participating in its international studies program she accepted to guard at home for a week has behavioural problems, and is asking for about $5,000 in compensation for damages, including some to her bathroom vanity sink.

As part of an agreement with any willing parent, Pearson's international studies program lodges students from abroad at a consenting family's home temporarily and offers the household a stipend of $600 a week. "Most of the people who (agreed to this) are single mothers that wanted to rent the room for extra money," said Golan, a single mother herself.

"I am ashamed because I did it for the money too," she added.

However, the school board maintains the home stay phase of their international studies program is an opportunity for foreign students to experience Canadian culture and domestic life in a nurturing environment. "(The money) is to help defray the costs of having an extra child. This is absolutely a volunteer service. It's not a service that we're paying for," said Carole Mastantuano, co-ordinator of the program.

The Chinese student Golan hosted is the third she had agreed to board at her home for Pearson. She first kept a student three years ago, and recently again accepted a Korean girl at the end of December. The Chinese student, a 10-year old girl, arrived on Jan. 20.

"She did several damages. The biggest was the water damage in my bathroom," explained Golan.

It could be seen last Friday that pieces of wood finishing had indeed peeled off her vanity sink. When Golan first asked for compensation for the sink, she was told by the board that damages could not possibly have been caused by a small child. "The damage appeared to be inappropriate to the time the student spent there," said Mastantuano.

Mastantuano also said the board removed the child immediately from Golan's home upon receiving her complaint, and the girl was not there for more than four days. Golan claims the girl was at her house from Jan. 20 to 26.

Golan received a letter from a design company confirming the damages could have been caused by water in as short an amount of time as she claimed. "It's definitely possible," said Sasha Goswami, a designer at SKG Design. She added anybody could try by taking a piece of finished wood at home, exposing it to water, and watching what happens.

Golan said her electricity bill, heating bill and Internet bill tripled after the arrival of the Korean and Chinese students, due to their extra usage of those services.

Her demands for compensation are based on a reparation estimate by SKG Design for her sink, as well as the aforementioned large bills.

"She called China 13 times," said Golan. The school board is supposed to provide special calling cards for the student to call home, she explained. The child was told to pay her back by one of her teachers and did pay her $20, she said.

As for the Korean student, Golan said she received an angry telephone call by the school board threatening to remove her. "You do whatever you need to," she replied, and the Korean student left on her own.

Golan said she felt very unprotected throughout the whole time, because the board does not prepare home-stay parents for problems in any way, and does not state it will provide compensation for damages rendered in its contract anywhere.

"I don’t have any other complaints regarding damages," said Mastantuano. She said the school board currently has about 150 host families.