Today & Tomorrow
..Innovate, Generate and Create
In September 2009, Grade 7 students from our in-town elementary schools will be moving to either Dr. Kearney or Bert Bowes. Grade 10 students from those two schools will move to North Peace Senior Secondary School. This move will create space in our over-crowded elementary schools as well as enable all students in the Graduation Program (Grades 10-12) to be in the same building. It will also allow us to develop developmentally appropriate programs for adolescents in the “middle years.” Our in-town configuration would then be K-6, 7-9 and 10-12.
Although dealing with space and reconfiguration issues is a challenge, we also see this as a wonderful opportunity for schools, the district and the community to develop a vision for the future. This is our chance to “generate, innovate and create” on behalf of our kids and their kids.
The planning will involve three distinct steps. The first session will be repeated over three nights (April 8-10) from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at North Peace Secondary School (in the new gym). Staff and parents may attend any session that works best for them. The goal will be to gather feedback on what we are doing well in our schools and our district. In other words, gather descriptions of what we look like when we are “at our best”. Separate sessions will also be held for the communities of Hudson’s Hope and Prespatou.
The second session will involve the same people on one of three nights later in April. We have booked the same location for April 29, 30 and May 1. This session will take the next step of describing what it would like if we were always “at our best”… if “the extraordinary became the ordinary.” These two steps will help us to update and revise the vision for our district. Again, separate sessions will be held for the communities of Hudson’s Hope and Prespatou. Sessions one and two will be combined for a full-day student forum on April 2.
The last session is scheduled for a Friday evening and Saturday (May 30 and 31). This session would see as many people as possible who attended both Sessions 1 and 2, including students, get together to develop an action plan based on our common vision. This session will help us to prioritize areas of focus and get us to the practical steps that we will need to take in order to make things happen.
While attendance is obviously voluntary for all sessions, we hope that we can inspire as many people as possible to be involved. These are exciting times for our district. Please complete the registration form if you are able to take part. If you have any questions, please contact Jan Strandlund at 262-6017 or e-mail jstrandlund@prn.bc.ca