Clyde River (Oct 11/04) - The community is working together to keep high school students in the classroom.

During public meetings held Oct. 5 and 6 -- attended by 50 and 14 parents respectively -- the parental organizations and the school's administration tried to figure out what it takes to get students to graduate from high school.

This year, Qulluaq school has eight graduates, which puts it slightly above the Nunavut-wide graduation rate of about 25 per cent.

Considering there are another 18 students who will not get their diplomas, parental organizations and the school's administration think that number needs to be raised.

Parent committee member Sarah Palluq has seen two of her children graduate from the school. She is hoping to impress upon other parents the importance of trying to keep their kids in school.

She says most of the students who drop out do so because of personal problems. But although parental organizations began discussing the drop out issue in the spring, they are still working on a solution.

Hughie Butt, the school's co-principal, has been looking at some innovative and traditional ways to help keep students from dropping out.

One proposal would see Grade 10 -- the grade in which many students get stuck and most often quit -- split into two levels.

"The smaller the group, the more effective you can be in keeping them from dropping out," Butt said.

Parents seemed to support the idea, but Butt said Qikiqtani School Operations believes it is unlikely the school will get the extra teacher needed to implement the plan this year.

So, Butt has been keeping to his small group philosophy and meeting with individual classes, as well as students on a one-on-one level, to let them know how to succeed. Now in his second year at the school, the two most important goals he sees are to increase attendance and decrease disruptive behaviour that might cause students to stay away from school.

Most parents seem genuinely interested in helping their children succeed, Butt said.

And while children seem to want to graduate and comprehend the amount of work it will take to earn their diplomas, Butt says he often sees the same students out playing late at night, sleeping in and missing school the next day.

"Some days we feel like we're sliding backwards, other days we feel like we're making progress," Butt said.

"It's going to take a while to change this, but if you say it's not going to change, it won't."