The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The NDP government is giving the school district in Thompson new targeted funding designed to boost lacklustre graduation rates. Premier Greg Selinger announced the initiative last week. 'Graduating high school is a critical step in any young person's life,' he said. 'This is about finding creative ways to ensure every student has the chance to succeed in high school, regardless of the barriers they face, so they can move on to post-secondary opportunities and rewarding careers.' The project is targeted at Grade 7 students at Juniper School to help strengthen student engagement and build connections that contribute to high school graduation. The project has been developed with the intent of supporting the current Grade 7 class over a five-year span until high school graduation in the 2018-19 school year. The project, known as Educating for Action, incorporates research and lessons learned from the Community School Partnership Initiative and the Aboriginal Academic Achievement Grant. It also incorporates research from Making Education Work, a five-year joint research demonstration project involving Manitoba Education, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, three First Nations and three public high schools. Educating for Action's key areas of emphasis will include: student engagement and academic success; student, school and community connections; career planning and exposure to post-secondary educational opportunities and settings; and cultural development to promote positive identity and cultural proficiency. Premier Selinger said a unique feature of the project will be training opportunities for students and community members in the art of digital storytelling. Training will be provided by Freeze Frame Manitoba and will occur after school, on weekends and during the summer over a five-year span, culminating in a feature film documenting growth and development among students and the community. While Mystery Lake School Division will receive new provincial funding through the initiative, a provincial news release did not mention how much money is involved. That figure is available to the public, but The Reminder was unable to request it in time to meet our publication deadline. The graduation rate at Thompson's high school, R.D. Parker Collegiate, has been reported as less than 50 per cent. _ Compiled from a Government of Manitoba news release, with files from the Thompson Citizen
