PRSD hears ups and downs of Mennonite education program
The Prairie Rose School Division board of trustees got a strong insight into the unique challenges facing local Mennonite education at Tuesday’s public meeting.
Students and staff members from Redcliff Mennonite Alternative Outreach Program came by for a visit. After presentations from the students, RMAP principal Tracy Franks talked about some issues facing her school.
She cited declining enrolment in the past year (down to 69 students from a high-water mark of 82 in 2016/2017), fewer students accessing night school programs and the need to find an ongoing balance between continuing to deliver quality education programs, while at the same time taking into consideration religious dictates and bilingual needs of the school’s families. However, Frank chose to spend the bulk of her speaking-time highlighting the school’s positive outcomes and successes.
“We had our first high school graduate,” Frank enthusiastically told the board. “Our goal when we opened RMAP was to have our first graduate in five years, so we are just under the limit there.”
The school also won the $10,000 prize in Indigo-Chapters’ “Love of Reading” contest, which will allow them to purchase better German resources for students.
“We have now been chosen as one of 50 schools in Canada to receive $10,000 worth of books,” Frank said. “This time we get to pick the books. We are getting them 30 per cent off the cover price, and up to $10,000 worth of books. A lot of those books will be stored at the Redcliff Public Library. We are hoping to get some German resources in the Redcliff Public Library.”
Despite depressed enrolment numbers this year, Frank says signs were positive for steady growth in the years ahead. Frank projects 86 students enrolled by 2019/2020. In light of this, she made a special request of trustees to consider adding more busing to help her school meet these greater attendance needs.
“In the next couple years we are going to have 13 students on the Holsom Road,” she highlighted for trustees, “so we are looking at options to see if we can somehow transport them. If these kids don’t go the RMAP, they won’t be going to school. The parents right now are driving the students in, but it is becoming a hardship for some of them.”
“I don’t know what the possibilities are,” she continued, “but if we could have the ability to have a bus stop (in the area), we think the parents would be willing to drive them to a certain point to catch a bus there to RMAP.”