Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Mar 05/99) - Help may be coming for those students who have school-related problems.

Michele Tomasino, who has worked with "high-risk" kids since 1992, is proposing to set up a school in Inuvik to focus on remedial and behavioural learning.

"If we've got a 14-year-old who has a Grade 2 reading level, a Grade 5 math and a Grade 8 socials, the idea is that we're going to bring them up to par to fully a Grade 8 level so they could either stay within the system or be reintegrated into the high school," she says.

Tomasino is proposing the alternative school be run independently by Ingamo Hall and be up and running by September.

If her proposal is accepted and achieves funding, Tomasino estimates the school will accommodate 32 students between the ages of 13 and 18 who have dropped out of school and provide jobs for one program director, one teacher and four key workers.

"There's no way we can help all the kids who need this but this will be a start," says Tomasino, who formerly worked at the Southtown Alternate Program in Vancouver.

The school needs a minimum of $500,000 to start, as well as space to operate.

For the site, Tomasino says she is interested in a building owned by area aboriginal groups which she hopes can be donated.

Otherwise, she is asking for funds from the departments of Justice, Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment.

In exchange, these departments could each refer 10 specific kids to attend the school.

Aside from general behavioural problems, the program could help those with fetal alcohol effects, attention deficit disorder and other learning disorders -- something rampant in Inuvik according to a 1997 study by Dr. John Godel.

Godel studied 90 SAM school students in grades 1 through 3, intending to assess scholastic performance of Inuvik children. Instead, his results pointed to an epidemic of learning problems.

Godel found 21 per cent of the students had either fetal alcohol syndrome or effects, while a total of 48.9 per cent had some kind of "school problems."

Parent Audrea Wulf says she has heard many people try to discredit that study instead of tackling an undeniable problem head-on.

"It's as simple as not drinking while you are pregnant," she says of avoiding learning problems which result from FAE -- a condition many people do not realize they have until they are in their teens.

A cause for attention deficit disorder is not known so Wulf says this could be why that condition has less of a stigma.

She urges people who have fetal alcohol effects and other learning problems to be open about their condition so there can be programs to help them.

As well as remedial math and English, Tomasino says the proposed school will focus on outdoor education, traditional skills, life skills and cooking skills.