School staff, parents outline ways to help students improve
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Fort Providence (Nov 17/00) - A group of parents are worried their children are not meeting academic standards.
The Fort Providence parents and Deh Gah school staff, many of whom are also parents, met in a workshop setting last week to discuss obstacles like truancy.
"Some kids are falling behind because of absenteeism," said parent Joachim Bonnetrouge.
"So we wanted to try to figure out what we could do as a community to really support the school."
Principal Jane Arychuk agreed absenteeism is a major hindrance.
"It's always a problem ... learning is being affected by these drop-ins. They demand the teacher's attention because they're so far behind," Arychuk said.
"Out of this we want to write an attendance policy with parental support."
Bonnetrouge said there were some other issues identified by the 50 people who attended the meeting. Those too can be addressed in constructive manner, such as cultural appreciation, he said.
"To help the teachers maybe we could have orientations, cross-cultural workshops at the beginning of the year," he said.
Residents must also confront dysfunction, particularly alcoholism, within the community, he added.
"We need to encourage gatherings in the community to identify the multitude of issues the kids and families are going through," he said.
Creating more structure at home would be another positive step, said Bonnetrouge. He added that turning off the television and helping children engage in homework would be helpful.
The parents and staff are scheduled to meet again on Dec. 7 to follow up on the issues.
