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School attendance rates vary widely Emily Ridlington Northern News Services Published Monday, January 31, 2011
This doesn't shake principal Terry Young who would rather look at the graduation rates and how many students walk across the stage at the end of the year with their diploma in hand. "Without that Grade 12 diploma you don't have much," he said. Young makes reference to the plaques that hang in the school's hallways with graduates' names. The school has had more students graduate in the last seven or eight years, with 47 grads last year up from an average of 18 to 20 in years past. He said the school's focus is to work with each student and figure out what can be done to help them stay in school. Across the territory, the attendance rate for the 2009/2010 school year was 71.5 per cent, a decrease of 0.5 per cent compared to last year. Attendance rates vary from school to school, with 49 per cent attendance at Nasivvik School in Pond Inlet to 93.1 per cent attendance at Alaittuq School for the Grade 5-6 students in Rankin Inlet. No matter the percentage of attendance at each school, staff and those at the departmental level say they are working to increase attendance and there is no one solution to keeping kids in school. "It's not good enough and we've got to keep trying harder and doing better," said Paul Mooney, superintendent for Qikiqtani school operations with the Department of Education. He said each school in his region is trying to catch students' attention outside of the classroom to keep students engaged. In Cape Dorset, he said, every Saturday morning the children gather at the school to play table tennis, have lunch and then go home. In Pangnirtung at Attagoyuk School there are spring camps and schools across the territory have benefited from fiddle and guitar workshops. "School is not a club - we want them to be in school and they are supposed to be - the reality is we have to make the connection with kids," Mooney said. Right now, each of the three regions keeps track of attendance in a different way. Schools in the Qikiqtani region do attendance by the half day, Mooney said. He suggests they should start doing it by course. The Department of Education is looking at getting a new student record system which would standardize the way attendance is recorded. "It will be a definite improvement," said Brad Chambers, director of policy and planning at the department. He said the department has been looking at new systems and is in the midst of doing a privacy impact assessment to ensure personal information of the students is protected. The plan, Chambers said, is to test the new system in a couple of schools next year with it being put to use in all schools across the territory in three years' time. The total cost of attendance system will be $210,000. In subsequent years the department will pay $40,000 annually to cover contract services. If a student is not present and isn't excused, Chambers said there is supposed to be contact with the family. If this does not solve the issue, an inuusiliriji, also known as the community counsellor, will work with the family and the student. According to the Education Act, principals are supposed to be sharing attendance information with the district education authorities in the communities. "We want to have high expectations for our kids; we want to have our kids in school and we have to make school a relevant place for our kids," Mooney said.
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