From the Smoky Lake Signal, December 12, 2001. Page 4.

Aspen View School Board meets at Waskatenau School

Aspen View School Board December 4 meeting was held in Waskatenau School. The board travels to various locations to get to know the facilities and the staff, and it is a chance for the schools to explain what they do best.

Waskatenau has a lot going for it. It is a friendly school and the students get top marks. But even before regionalization with the Thorhild and Athabasca School Boards, Waskatenau crowded against the county border had low enrollment. Despite the high community support, the school has faced closure under the Aspen View Board.
The latest facility viability study of April 2001, produced by Woods O'Neil O'Neil Architects, suggested closing Waskatenau and Thorhild Elementary School, as the number 1 option. While the Aspen View Board didn't act upon the report, last month they voted to put out tenders to have consultants produce yet another report, this time solely on the viability of Waskatenau and Thorhild Schools. The O'Neil report reported on all schools in the region.

New School Principal Denny Sawchuk welcomed the board and spoke of the school's sense of community. "You can feel it as soon as you enter." And what he can tell, from filling out the forms is how smart the students are. Their marks are high.

Students Union President Alex Thompson and Secretary Mavis Krahulec explained that the grade 7 and 8 class are in charge of the Students Union. The union is active in decisions and decide on the monthly fun day themes. Fun days they have had and are planning include Hill Billy Days, Sports Days, Cowboy Days, Crazy Hair Days, and Dress Up Days. The Students Union also plans field trips: golfing, swimming, Space Science Center, camping, West Edmonton Mall, etc. and they do fund raising for field trips, guest speakers, equipment and computer programs. Monthly fundraisers include hot dog sales. They have sold Christmas ornaments, had white elephant sales, and they have raised money for worthy causes such as the 30-hour famine.

The Students Union also helps staff supervise during morning and afternoon recesses, explained Mavis Krahulec, calling themselves ACES, which stands for Alternative Caring Educational Solutions. They help the elementary students figure out solutions for problems they may have with their friends. The ACES take training, do role playing and are considered a positive role model on the playground.

"We wear special vests and the students know they can come to us when they choose," explained Mavis.

Other Students Union activities include setting up the Christmas tree, decorating the gym, carolling and performing at the Christmas concert. They act as the emcees and help with the Santa bags. They have also hosted strawberry teas, honouring the senior citizens and are planning to hold a potluck supper for seniors in the spring.
Good kids, from a good community.

The trustees were impressed with the ACES program and asked whether it should not be expanded to other schools in the division. It has been going on for two years at Waskatenau.

Principal Denny Sawchuk said that as a new principal he noticed immediately the sense of community in the school and the area, and how important it is locally to have the school here.

"There is a lot going on at the school that is new to me," said Mr. Sawchuk, "a pancake breakfast when you have the whole community turn out. It's amazing, I have never seen it before, and it is the fourth school I have been in. Parents are helpful at the school every day."

In the last five years, only one student has not met the acceptable standard on the achievement tests. Instead of the extra curricular activities found at other schools, the students here focus on academics.

Bev Franchuk, Student Council chairman, praised the school and the community's commitment to it. She has been attending school council meetings for the last five years there has never been one canceled for lack of a quorum. "Waskatenau School Council meets every six weeks and the board Trustee Pat Palechuk has always been there to provide information. It makes us feel part of the system," said Mrs. Franchuk.
The school council's fundraising sub-committee has been fundraising for the Academy of Reading Project. The million penny fund keeps rising. It's community tithing, and when you only have a community of 250 people, you figure they have to stop giving sometime - but they don't. They want to see their children educated here. They want the school to stay, said Bev Franchuk. And we're sure that our students have the highest level of academic learning. The staff is always professional and caring, and are known personally by the students. It is not something you would have in classes of 40 kids.

"My youngest is in playschool now," said Mrs. Franchuk, "but he already knows all about the school. It's a nice, friendly, safe environment. Small classes are important. Those who can do the work quickly can have extra stuff. They are not waiting for the class to catch up."

The school is also supportive of the community. The public library, being located in the school, is an example. There are piano and Ukrainian dance lessons here too. The new playground across the street was a joint project of the Waskatenau Lions and the school. Waskatenau is a village of friendly people, and it is sports minded. It hosted the Western Canadian baseball championships.

The School Council president said the school board should not worry about the students in this small school not getting extra curricular activities in the school, the extra curricular activities are all around in the community.

Waskatenau was thanked for their input and the lunch.


Superintendent's Report

Superintendent Rudi Grab reported that he has contacted consultants to get a quote on preparing a report on the future viability of Thorhild and Waskatenau Schools.

School Trips

Superintendent Rudi Grab reported that school districts in other provinces are restricting students travel to within Canada because of concerns following the terrorism attacks of September 11.

Jubilee Insurance, which covers the school board liabilities, has strongly recommended that the board not approve any out of country trips this year.

From the Smoky Lake Signal, December 12, 2001. Page 3.

Editorial......
By Lorne Taylor

Aspen View School Board is to be complemented on their new performance evaluation for the Superintendent of Schools. The policy will put timelines in place and criteria for collecting data. There will be written evaluations and it will be a continuing process that should create the type of feedback that bureaucrats need.

Now, all too often, the public will get frustrated with a municipal government or school board and can't do anything about it. They throw out the politicians every three years, when often it is not the politicians but the bureaucrats who need the tune up. The politicians are stuck not allowed to discuss the problems (it's a personnel issue), so they take the guff about what the bureaucracy is doing. And three years later, they get turfed.

The School Act at least has a requirement that a superintendent's appointment be for a term not exceeding five years. New blood, new ideas and now yearly evaluations will keep the bureaucrats on the mark.

Pity the county doesn't do it.

From the Smoky Lake Signal, December 12, 2001. Page 5.

Alberta Learning will be writing its own history. 

The provincial Department of Education is withdrawing from the Western Canadian Protocol common curricular framework for social studies for kindergarten to grade 9 project. The protocol was to have all western provinces jointly produce social studies courses and textbooks, but Alberta has dropped out.

Aspen View Board Chairman Dave Dacyk explained the background. Alberta didn't agree on the radical direction that the Western Canadian Protocol was going. Manitoba and Saskatchewan were substituting a lot of aboriginal culture for Canadian history in the program. It was felt that it was going too far towards equality, so Alberta decided that Alberta history should be improved, but not have only one aspect of social studies studied. Alberta couldn't convince the rest of the provinces to agree, so has decided to go it alone.

Rick Morrow, assistant deputy minister of Alberta Basic Learning Division, in a letter to all school superintendents and educational directors for Treaty 6, 7 and 8 thanked the principals and social studies department heads for their input during the consultations with the Western Canadian Protocol. Alberta's timelines and requirements for development of the Alberta program of social studies could not be met through the Western Canadian development process. He said the jurisdictions have differing needs of hours of instruction, graduation and program requirements.

In July, Alberta Learning began developing the Alberta program of studies. A draft will be available in the spring of 2002 for consultation.

According to an October news release on the social studies program, the new social studies program will have at its core a focus on citizenship and identity. Canadian and world history, local government, economics, agriculture, resources, and environmental issues will continue to be important topics in the new social studies program. The program will recognize diverse cultural perspectives, including Francophone and aboriginal culture and history. The new social studies won't be in place until the year 2005-2006.

From the Smoky Lake Signal, December 12, 2001. Page 5.

Boyle School Funding

The rebuilding of Boyle School is coming closer to reality. School buildings board chairman Gary Boddez has notified Aspen View that $3,892,000, an increase of $300,000 over the last approval, has now been approved. The funding includes $11,800 additional dollars to complete the Aspen View's utilization study. The department doesn't want to be building new schools in a region where other schools are under utilized.

Boyle School will see a 1,450 square meter gymnasium expansion, new gym storage, two CTS areas, ancillary classroom and associated non-instructional areas to increase the capacity of the school to 605 school places. The school will be modernized as well as added on to.

A consultant will be hired by Alberta Infrastructure to do an independent cost analysis of the school project to make sure it can be completed with the funds allocated.
Aspen View School Board is waiting for the architect to provide a lower cost for the school reconstruction. So far the lowest bid was $700,000 above the funding provided by the province.

If plans for the school meet Alberta Infrastructure's approval, tendering will be held in January, and work should start after the spring thaw, and finish by December the following year.

From the Smoky Lake Signal, December 12, 2001. Page 5.

Simply Accounting for School Generated Funds

Aspen View's financial committee reports progress on changes to the accounting system. Schools have been provided with Simply Accounting software to keep track of school generated funds. The $470,000 worth of school generated funds are now kept in various accounts, such as Students Union, Grad, playground equipment, hot lunch programs, etc.
Schools have also been asked to do a video inventory of everything that is in the schools.
The financial committee is looking at a new purchasing policy for schools. Debt cards will be issued. The system is being used in the St. Paul School District.

From the Smoky Lake Signal, December 12, 2001. Page 9.

ATA Local explain PR Campaign

Aspen View School District held a teacher-board advisory meeting, December 5 at Thorhild School. Aspen View ATA Local Vice President Don Romanko, in a letter to Board Chairman Dave Dacyk, explained that since September Alberta teachers have been engaged in an extensive public education campaign intended to raise public awareness of issues affecting public education across the province.

The campaign has included radio announcements and billboards, as well as a province wide leaflet drop. The ATA is focusing their efforts on influencing government budget decisions for the next fiscal year. The ATA local is hosting the meeting with school council chairs and trustees to share their views with representatives of the home and community.

The Thorhild meeting was to focus on the role the provinces must play in providing school boards with funds that they need to satisfactorily address critical issues related to classroom conditions and teacher compensation.

"It is not intended," said Mr. Romanko, "to discuss specific issues related to collective bargaining."

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