by Chris Clegg
Editor, South Peace News

It appears to me that people at Grouard have already voted with their feet.

That is, this will be the last year the junior high school program will be offered at Grouard Northland School.

Low enrolment is the prime reason for concern. Northland has held two public meetings, went door-to-door asking people for input, and will debate the program’s fate at the end of the month.

The first public meeting March 21 drew a few dozen people. The May 5 meeting drew a scant few. Like the parents choosing to educate their children in High Prairie, the decision appears to have been made.

How do you justify keeping a junior high program with only eight students open, when more than that have left the community?

Actually, you don’t. There is a fiscal responsibility Northland has to the ratepayers of this province.

It’s not that I don’t have great sympathy for the students and parents at Grouard. For me, two incidents come to mind.

First, I interviewed former Gift Lake School principal Mac Newman shortly before his death many years ago.

“I often wonder if we do the right thing. We baby these kids. They are spoiled with so much one-on-one time.”

What Newman meant was that when they graduated to high school, they entered an entirely new world with less one-on-one time, bigger class sizes and, of course, a new culture.

Second, a woman expressed a desire for more aboriginal teachers. Her reasoning was that students could relate more and do better if aboriginals taught aboriginals.

I am reminded when Barb Laderoute was named principal of Gift Lake School. I spoke to a student.

“Cree, like us!” the student said with a smile as bright as the sun.

Like the woman said, it does matter.

In a perfect world, aboriginals would teach aboriginals, but that can only exist for so long. At what point do the cultures mix in an educational institution? Upper elementary? High school?

High Prairie School Division and other agencies do an admirable job of easing the transition of our outer aboriginal population to schools in High Prairie. Is it perfect? No. Can it be improved? Yes.

There were many charges of racism directed at St. Andrew’s and E.W. Pratt High School at the May 5 meeting. It was unfortunate. Northland officials did the right thing by choosing to not wade into that debate.

The education system is not perfect in High Prairie but it certainly isn’t perfect in Grouard either. It seems to me that there has to be more understanding between our cultures if things are going to get any better.

The bottom line is, Grouard parents must understand that there will be more education and athletic opportunities at High Prairie than a limited program at Grouard. The same parents have to realize that can not be a bad thing and make the best of it.

Like I said earlier, most parents have already voted with their feet.