NESTLED AMID a wooadiot’ landscape at the end of a quiet Keith Lyna street sits North Vancouver School District 44’s answer to the changing educational demands of North Van- couver’s teenage popula- tion. ; By A.P. McCredie Contributing Writer Tie 88-year-old heritage build- ing that houses the Keith Lynn Alternative Secondary School (KLASS) opened its doors to stu- dents 18 years ago in an attempt by district trustees to address a growing student dropout rate. “These students are a part of the school system who have expe- rienced failure as part of their everyday school experience,”’ KLASS principal Tom Tupper said at a recent “Students at Risk” conference in North Van- couver, “They enter a class and know that they are not understanding the lesson. They are the brunt of both teacher and student derision either overt or covert.’’ In 1974, Tupper, then head of special education at Hamilton secondary school, was approached by District 44 administrators to become principal of the district’s first alternative school. Eighteen years later, Tupper sits relaxed and comfortable in his paper-strewn principal’s office — a Macintosh screen blinking at the ready, a jar of chocolate chip cookies sitting in the corncz, the hum of an overworked copier drifting through the open door. Looking back on the first year —— no staff except Tupper return- ed for the sophomore season — the principal could hardly have _imagined the present incarnation of the school. After five years at the North Star annex, the school moved to the Keith Lynn location, and since then has tripled in size to accom- modate the 120 students and 26 staff members, including teachers, teachers’ aides, and childcare workers. Tupper says the first year’s enrolment was 21 students. The staff size was seven. Including Tupper. Noting that ‘‘there was a very real world of work available to our dropouts of only two genera- tions ago,” Tupper sces the cur- rent demand for enrolment at KLASS — a one- to six-month waiting list is constant throughout LOE Ne pers Wea 29,080 Sunday, June 14, 1992 — North Shore News - 43 An alternative education experience NV’s Keith Lynn school educates students cut adrift from the mainstream Wi] THE 88-year-old heritage building that houses the Kelth Lynn Alternative Secondary School (KLASS) opened its docrs to students 18 years ago in an attempt by district trustees to address a growing student dropout rate. the years — as a sure sign that the entire education system needs an overhaul. . “We must start working col- laboratively with the ‘real world’ of this community and making our education system meaningful to all of our constituents.”’ Some sobering statistics recently released by Employment and Im- migration Canada: @ about 100,000 young people in Canada drop out of school every year; @ 64% of the jobs created in the next decade will require more than 12 years of education and train- ing; @ almost half of those jobs will require more than 17 years of education, “The kids that come here have bought into the fact that they have to get an education,’ says Tupper. ‘‘We are trying to offer individualized programs that are a little more palatable. interesting and relevant than the materia) be- ing offered in the mainstream, comprehensive schools (with a mandate to ‘provide all services for all students’).”" As 3 junicr high school (Gradcs 8 to 10), KLASS offers credit courses to students who have FINI G20. SEDAN V6 xd Pit "4 Meow waite. Heise, rat er ode found the traditional high school format te be a negative experi- ence. “They have little interest in civ- flizations beyond North Van- couver and Jess interest in the nuances of algebra and basic grammar.’”’ Some students have probiems at home or with the law. Another factor for many stu- dents attending KLASS is both the class size and the school size at regular high schools. “Many find a school like Car- son (schoo! population 1,050) overwhelming. Their specific needs are not being addressed as they are just one of many, many students,” says Tupper. NEWS photo Mike Wakofizid INSTRUCTOR LINDA Sellars worke with a student during an English class at Keith Lyni. : eae TT Pickup $12,500; ’88 Toyota Tercel $5,900; ‘87 Juguer Once a2 student has made it through the KLASS waiting list, the student must complete an in- terview and commit to personal involvement and active participa- tion in all aspects of the school curriculum. Both report cards and newslet- ters appear every five weeks, mak- ing the writing and copying of doth an ongoing duty. “For all the open-style appear- ances,’’ Tupper says, ‘‘the schocl is surprisingly structured.”’ Teachers and students address one another on a first-name basis, in keeping with the school’s motta of ‘'Trust, Respect, and Success.” Eight courses — English, math, recreation, science, social studies, cooking, art and lifeskills — are required of all KLASS students. Apart from providing a sound academic base for reintroduction into the mainstream system upon Grade 10 graduation, the goal in each class is to create a positive environment that allows the stu- dents to strengthen their self- confidence. During a math class, for exam- ple, students are assigned prob- jerss not by age-group cr grade, but by individual ability, each student having his own, tailor-. made, curriculum. Another important aspect of KLASS is its Wilderness program, created in 1975, Throughout the school year teachers take their homeroom class on a number of challenging outdocr trips, incliding camping on the Oregon ceast, hiking up Black Tusk, and cycling in the Gulf Isiands. Of these trips, Tupper says that “some kids have more strengths in the woods than in the classroom.” An outdoor experience allows those students to realize a measure of success that would otherwise go untapped. It is difficult to judge the suc- cess vate of this school in terms used to grade mainstream schools. Perhaps Tupper sums up the teal value of Keith Lynn alter- native secondary school best. “About 80% of our Grade 10 giaduates go on to something else — some kind of educational pro- gram. Of those, about 60% com- plete Grade 12. “Hf they were just left in the system, without the KLASS alter- native, it would probably mean 100% of these students would never graduate high school.” Considering that the operating budget of KLASS is $20,000 a year, it would seem District 44 is wisely investing in the future at the end of that quiet Keith Lynn street.