The following is part two of a two-part series on the past, present and future of North Vancouver's School District 44, offered in con- . Junction with the district's Story of a Community exhibit. Part one. md which chronicled the development of the district from the turn of the : century to the present, was published in last Sunday's edition, Part Pa two examines the present and future directions for the district. ALONG WITH the fond recollections of the past, The Story of a Community exhibit (at Capilano Mall until . March 12) looks at the present and the future of the fe North Vancouver Schoo! District. i a It shows that while there has ‘ been a return in emphasis to the “three R’s’* and the acquisition of basic knowledge, the school system in North Vancouver now has a much more complex job to Contribuine perform. “There is still a place for facts, but there is a greater emphasis on compre. 7 CAROLINE EDLIO $2,000 RICHER THE STORY OF A COMMUNITY School system’s challenge is to prepare students for change learning how to obtain inforima- tion and solve problems,” said School Board chairman Don Bell in a recent interview. Unlike the standardized ap- proach of the past (filling stu- dents with facts and figures), ac- ting school superintendent Patrick Bell believes the student is seen as an individual with a more personal relationship be- tween learner and teacher. “We're now part of a very complex society and schools are being called upon to fulfill very different roles that weren't formerly expected.’ said Don Bell. NEWS photo Nell Lucente PREPARING STUDENTS for a rapidly changing werd is the challenge for educators of the present and future. Above, teacher Linda Yim gives Grade 10 Seycove Secondary student Jason Fisher a lesson on a Saving 1969 N. Shore News pays off for N. Van A HABIT of never throwing out old papers and memorable documents has paid off for North Vancouver's Caroline Edliq, who won $2,000 for producing an original 1969 edi- tion of the North Shore News. “*l kept the papers in a box in my basement,”' said Edliq, who owns a local construction company with her husband. Edliq said she didn’t expect to be the only one io enter the News’ 20th anniversary contest, so she waited a week before bringing in the newspaper. But after a couple of phone calls, Edliq soon learned that she would be walking away with $2,000 in her pocket. “I was shocked to learn that I had won. I've never won anything before.”’ Originally from Montreal, resident Edlig, a former high school teach- er, moved to the North Shore in 1969 and worked at the North Shore News as 2 typesetter. Her husband also worked there as a printer, when the staff consisted of a mere five employees. “I made all the carriers’ bags — all 70 of them,’’ Edliq remembers. Now $2,000 richer, Edlig plans to split her winnings four ways be- tween her family. ‘My son needs help buying a car and my daughter needs a new flute,’’ she said. Social support is one of the aspects school systems have taken on, as a cesult of the greater prevalence of single parent fami- ties and less stable home en- vironments. North Vancouver Schoo! District is committed to a wide variety of priorities. such as physical education, visual and performing arts, environmental education, special education and the French language. But perhaps the most crucial task for the school system is preparing students for survival and success in a rapidly changing world. Since 1981, computers have quickly invaded the school system, such that there are com- puter labs in every one of the district's 32 elementary schools and eight secondary schools. In addition to the computer science courses offered, com- puters have been integrated into mathematics, music, graphics, language arts and other subjects. Don Bell, a Safeway executive, has seen the need for more peo- ple to be computer literate. “For instance, we don’t write and send paper around any more. There is an emphasis on writing, but not in terms of penman- ship,”* says Don Bell. The district created a computer writing program that has proved so successful that other districts are purchasing and using it. The program teaches process writing, taking the student through the series of steps used by professional writers. 3 - Sunday, March 5, 1989 - North Shore News versity bound, there is an added respectability to non-academic pursuits, such as the learning of a trade or skill. There is an emphasis on in- novation in the district, with teachers developing curricula and writing texts for use throughout the province, and appearing as speakers at workshops. Some of the new Ministry of Education innovations, par- ticularly the radeless Kindergarten to Gilde Three system, took the district by sur- prise, however. “We would have appreciated some demonstration that this kind of system is working elsewhere; evidence that this is the way to go,"’ commeiited Pat Bell. Children will begin entering the system under the dual-entry pro- gram next January. But the district has always dealt with the challenge of jugel- ing teachers and facilities to ac- commodate continually fluc- tuating enrolment. Since the turn of the century, steady population growth necessitated the opening of new schools that reached a peak in the "SOs and ‘60s (with a total of 24,000 students at one time). The downturn in the '70s and resulting closure of several schools is now being follawed by a second, smaller boom (with about 15,000) students, ap- proaching 16,000). “We're constantly monitoring the demographics; keeping track of births in the hospital, family EDUCATION WEEK IS MARCH 6-10 Rather than cliscouraging stu- dents from thinking, the com- puter speeds up the manipulation of words and polishing of the work, and, according to Don Bell, ‘frees the student up to be creative."' Teachers are becoming more comfortable with the newer, “user friendly’? computers and arc beginning to use them to create test banks containing thousands of questions on a given subject. No student being examined would get the same test. Pat Bell described North Van- couver as a community which takes education extremely seriously, Many students (about 25 per cent) are university dound, the number of drop-outs is below the provincial average (more than 80 per cent graduate) and the provincial exam results are above average. North Vancouver Grade 12s, who accouat for three per cent of the provincial total, consistently win about 12 per cent of the scholarships. But as all students are not uni- allowance payments, house prices and checking with the municipal planning department,"’ said Pat Bell. Entry into kindergarten hit a low point in 1982, such that there are now only about 1,000 Grade 8s working their way through the system, This year's kindergarten enrolment is back up to 1,295, but the growth anticipated for the next five years will be seen in the eastern part of North Van- couver, where Seycove Secondary was built nine years ago. The construction of Dorothy Lynas Elementary is imminent and there are plans for the rebuilding of Burrard View Elementary (future Cove Cliff Elementary). New schools may also be necessary in the Nor- thlands and Roche Point areas. The schools that were closed in the "70s are now badly Iccated for the current student popula- tion and have since been put to other uses — Delbrook Second- ary as a recreation centre, North Star as a French school and Keith Lynn as an Alternate School. NEWS photo Mike Waketleld CAROLINE EDLIQ, a longtime North Shore resident, is the winner of the North Shore News’ 20th anniversary -ontest. Receiving a $2,000 che- que from News promotions manager Dorinda Emery, Edliq was the first person to bring in a 1969 edition of the North Shore News,