Wednesday, September 11, 2019 Vol. 42, No. 37
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Viking School Principal presents update for council Patricia Harcourt Editor
Viking School Principal Adam Madsen provided an update for Viking Council Sept. 3 as part of a mandate to increase communication and information to the community. Smaller class sizes are providing some planning challenges, he said, explaining that the number of students tend to fluctuate but are mainly on a downward trend at this time. The challenge for the school is how to offer subjects like the sciences when class sizes are small, and "keep the pathways open for secondary students." This year, Vice-Principal Kelly Arial has become the Grade 3 teacher and Madsen will be teaching Chemistry 20 and 30 instead of Physics. And he said that a slight decrease in teaching staff has been offset by a slight increase in support staff. "We're definitely not being disadvantaged," he said. "We're in the very same position as other schools in the division." The Viking School has two new opportunities that Madsen was excited about, including the high school redesign program and dual credit program. The redesign program is a way of re-thinking or re-imagining delivery of programs. Starting this fall, students can be part of a credit recovery program where they can complete more credits in a certain block of time. By taking several minutes out of each regular class time, a half-hour block of time has been carved out from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. where students can either do home work or access teachers for extra help. "We've created time during the day to give extra support to students who need it," said Madsen. "We had extremely positive
reviews about it last year and will continue it this year. With the dual credit program, students can earn credits to their high school diploma as well as a post secondary course. Battle River School Division pays the tuition fees for the post secondary course. "They will complete a college course for free," he said, adding there are "a huge variety of credit courses available." Madsen said he was "pretty excited about it," citing the case of two students who will get a health care certificate from Red Deer College while still in high school. Students can start this program in Grade 10. "As a small rural school we look for opportunities (like that)‌in order to keep the Kindergarten to Grade 12 school." With French language instruction now an optional course, the school offers a relationship and social skills building course called the Mentorship Program. "It is absolutely an excellent program," he said, which has older students mentoring with younger ones in the school. The school also faces challenges hiring experienced teachers. "We're a small town in rural Alberta," he said. As the principal, "I have hired zero veteran teachers in the last six years." So it is the younger teachers who are recruited. "We need to help make them welcome and stay," he said. Another challenge is offering programs with reduced student numbers. The student population has fallen by 75 students since Madsen started six years ago, when there were 325 students. He said there has been a slight decrease in student numbers over the last school year. This year, there are 249 students enrolled which includes 126 from
Kindergarten to Grade 6, and 123 from Grade 7-12. Final enrolment figures aren't completed until the end of September. But the trend is "graduating out a large class and taking in a small one," said Madsen. "We need some future thinking to make it work." In response, the school is combining classes where that is an effective strategy, such as putting Grades 7 and 9 together for health, physical education and art; and Grade 8 and 9 for French/Mentorship. Art will be combined for 10/20/30 classes, which Madsen says works well as a larger group. Madsen also said some issues aren't so easily communicated to the public due to privacy issues. He noted that the parental and community perception appears to be that "there is a lot of bullying and nothing gets done," about dealing with it. Madsen called it "a major challenge" as there are privacy issues that prevent telling anyone what measures have been taken concerning a particular incident. "We can't tell anyone other than the parents," he said. "The same goes for complaints about teachers." Students face other challenges that hinder their learning experience such as poverty, hunger, and mental health. Madsen said his mission for this school year is to address these kinds of issues, raise the profile of the school, and share some of the innovative activities and programs the school is undertaking. Viking councillors brought up issues such as teaching students financial literacy, having breakfast programs, and increasing physical activity to keep students healthy. Madsen replied that he was "willing to look at anything" to augment the school experience for students.
Kids recently headed back to school for the 20192020 year, and changes have been made this year in Viking School to enhance the learning experience, says Principal Adam Madsen.