Article appeared in the Dec. 15, 2011 issue of the Interlake Spectator…
Principals, Arlene Perry, of Arborg Collegiate Institute, and Thomas Kowalchuk of Riverton Collegiate Institute, are enthusiastic about how well a shared campus is working for many students in both of the Evergreen high schools.
The two schools have joined forces to give wider course options to high school students in both communities.
“The vision was born many years prior,” said Perry at the Evergreen School Board meeting on Dec. 7.
The joint campus concept started with a collaboration between the two schools to offer Home Economics and Industrial Arts to Riverton students at Arborg Collegiate. More recently, Music has been made joint program, and the next in line could be greater sharing of academic courses. For example, the collegiate in Riverton has no French teacher, so students there have been signing up to take that subject in Arborg.
Other possibilities for collaboration between the high schools is for math students who may be able to opt for either Pre-Calculus, or Consumer Math, rather than be forced to settle for the math course that is offered at their home collegiate.
More options means better preparation for whatever post-secondary option a student is planning for.
To make all of this work, both collegiates have built extra time slots for core courses into the timetable. This way, students who opt to take classes at the alternate school will be able to reschedule the core courses so not to miss essential components of their education.
“Parents aren’t aware of the time table changes and think their kids are missing out on core courses,” said Perry.
It is a problem which sometimes has resulted in parents not allowing their children to take advantage of the joint programs, such as Band, Perry explained.
The schools are proceeding slowly to give parents a chance to become comfortable with the enhanced method of delivering education in the school division.
“As we (the Arborg and Riverton communities) continue to grow together, things will come together,” Perry said.
School trustee, Ruth Ann Furgala, pointed to the need to get the word out to parents and to Parent Advisory Councils, so they are not under any misconceptions about how the joint campus works.
“For me, it is critically important that the community buys into this,” said Furgala.
