Samson Cree celebrate milestones
First Nation’s outreach school bringing success for on-reserve education program
A gala event Friday to mark 25 years of local control over education for the Samson Cree Nation also celebrates a series of recent successes.
The First Nation predicts 16 graduates at their new outreach school this year, had 26 graduates from Grade 12 last year and enrolment is over 1,000 as more parents see options locally for their kids. The First Nation runs three schools covering kindergarten to Grade 12 on reserve.
“It’s changing in the right direction,” said Marvin Yellowbird, chair of the Nipisihkopahk Education Authority.
Based in Maskwacis, formerly known as Hobbema, the schools serve a challenging population that struggles with poverty, gang violence and the lasting impacts of residential schools. But their new Hub program is keeping more kids in school, said Supt. Kevin Wells.
Every Thursday morning, a representative from the school, RCMP, probation, housing authority, child welfare agency and others meet to solve challenges keeping specific children from class.
They take a comprehensive look at what’s happening in a family and create an action plan — sometimes cleaning a house, moving a family, getting better health care or enrolling a high school student in evening courses.
“We’ve closed over 100 cases,” Wells said. “Our mantra is meeting
“Our mantra is meeting the needs of the kids. You’re going beyond a simple education institution.” chief martin yelo wbird
the needs of the kids. You’re going beyond a simple education institution.”
At the school, 60 per cent of the teachers are aboriginal, which is slowly helping to change attitudes in the community toward education and in the last two years hired coaches to help teachers teach math and literacy more effectively.
“We’ve seen growth,” said Wells, hoping to see those results show up this year on the Grade 6 provincial exams.
However, the school still struggles with funding, said Wells. For years, the federal government has funded First Nations schools on reserve at much lower rates than equivalent provincial schools. estolte@edmontonjournal.com twitter.com/estolte