A12- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 16, 2002

school district pledges to boost student literacy here

By JENNIFER LANG SCHOOL DISTRICT 82 will promise to improve student literacy and arith- metic skills here by five per cent in an accountabil- ity contract it’s poised to sign with the education ministry.

The proposed docu-. ment, now awailing mini- stry approval, gained. near unanimous support from the school board last week.

The clock starts ticking in September.

By spring 2005, the dis- trict wants the number of students in Grades 1 to 10 meeting or beating expec- tations in reading compre- hension and arithmetic to grow by five per cent.

That target drew much praise, and some criticism, fram school board mem- bers last week.

School board vice-chair Peter King said a five per cent improvement in tead- ing skills is a reasonable goal, “In the past 12 years, there hasn’t been any im- provement,” he said.

Just over one year ago,

From front

Victoria may be stacking vote against towns: mayor

to sell the operations to Mercer proceeds.

Such a manoeuvre would be reminiscent of the 1997 restiucturing in which Victoria and the TD bank designated some of their secured debt in Skee- na as unsecured to swing the vote of unsecured cre- ditors, forcing them to take 10 cents on the dollar. A judge ordered a revote and the restructuring plan then passed without interfer- ence,

Talstra said it’s unclear so far how much money, and therefore how much voting power, the province would have in the category of Crown creditors.

“Tf they’re owed more than what’s owed to the municipalities then they've got us again and they can autvote us,” he said. “And then [ guess this thing is being ham- mered at us and we don’t

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the Kitimat trustee tried to issue an ultimatum to then-superintendent Herb Fader over reading scores.

King had asked Fader to make “large improve- ments” in reading levels, but the motion didn’t pass:

“A five percent in- crease doesn’t sound. like much,” King said Jan. 8. —

But he pointed out the number must be viewed as targeting the approximate- ly 30 per cent of students tested here who aren’t meeting reading expecta- tions for their grade level.

Kitimat trustee Barry Pankhurst, meanwhile, is disappointed with the five per cent target, and he thinks parents will be, too.

“The school district has a serious problem with li- teracy,” Pankhurst said. “1 think we should be shoot- ing a lot higher.”

He also complained that the plan, which in- volves a range of literacy programs in younger grades in addition to dis- trict testing to Grade 10, doesn’t appear to target in-

have any choice about it.”

“If on the other hand we can outvoete the Crown, then we're in a whole dif- ferent picture and we have to look at this very, very

_ carefully.”

t

L

He said towns could also ask the judge to con- sider creating a separate creditor class for the towns only.

Trying to veto the deal would be a high-risk move, Talstra admits.

Mercer is at least an assured deal, he said.

The other two bidders still need to raise money from financial markets, he

_ said.

“If they cannot get it and in the process we lose Mercer, we have nobody,” he said. “That is the risk that has to be assessed.”

fap between regional and provincial figures,” said district superintendent Randy Smallbrugge said, referring to provincial exam results and educa- tion ministry assessments that show Coast Mountains students lagging behind.

The district’s account- ability coniract also pro- mises to improve gradua- tion rates and encourage students to become more socially responsible.

Smallbrugge said the draft has been sent to Vic- toria for approval, and will be posted on the Education Ministry’s website next month, along with con- tracts af other districts.

Until December, when the deputy minister came here to meet with local of- ficials, it wasn’t clear what kind of penalties the district would risk if it fails to meet targets.

It’s now clear the con- tracts will function more as a guide for school dis- tricts and there won’t be

dividuals who need help.

“It’s fair enough for the students coming in Sep- tember in kindergarten or Grade 1,” he said. “For the student that is already having a reading problem now — where is the com- mitment for that student?”

During the summer, the school board announced a district plan that estab- lished improving literacy and numeracy in all grades as top priorities.

“Every one of these items have been set out in the accountability contract,” Terrace trustee Diana Penner said.

“1 am just thoroughly excited — thoroughly, be- cause | think this is a real- ly good stepping stone.”

Every school district has been asked to sign contracils outlining how they will do a better job,

Stewart trustee Les Deacon-Rogers said the district’s goals are a pro-— mise to the ministry and to parents. “I completely sup- port it,” he said. any penalties.

“We want to narrow the “Nobody’s head is + going to be on the line,”

Smallbrugge said.

But the ministry will want to know why targets aren't met, and will expect to see steps taken to cor- rect the situation.

That may mean lower- ing targets or changing

Talstra said he suspects programs, he said. towns will be treated as unsecured creditors and of- fered a small number of cents on the dollar for un- paid taxes.

Talstra said he was also disappointed Victoria moved last week to make Mercer the exclusive bid- der, barring further nego- tiations with NWBC.

NWEC president Da- niel Veniez has laid out his business plan and held town hall meetings in the tegion in late Decernher:

“From what we know of his plan, it’s 2 pretty good. one,” Talsira said.

He said Forest Capital’s also looks good, although it isn’t advanced as NWEC because it hasn’t been able to conduct due dilligence work on SCI,

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