Change_Abounds

Feature Article October 9

Feature Article October 9, 2002

LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb Home

Change abounds at Prince Charles Public School in Veronaby Jeff Green "Its turning out to be a very worthwhile, interesting placement.

Thats how Principal Sue Arris describes her experience as she settles in for year 2 of her tenure at Prince Charles Public School in Verona.

Last year there was considerable media attention paid to the school over the criminal convictions of former Prince Charles students on matters related to bullying incidents that took place three years earlier.

Meanwhile, Sue Arris had already initiated a Safe Schools program in the school, which she had been using during her six-year stint at Rideau Public School in Kingston. The Board was certainly aware of my belief in the Safe Schools process when I was moved to Prince Charles, she told the News in an interview last week.This year the Safe Schools program is being expanded through the use of conflict managers, peer mediators, door and bus monitors. All of these are student jobs, which are taken on with training from school staff. Conflict Managers are students from Grades 4-6 who are charged with helping younger students resolve school year conflicts without resorting to adult intervention. The managers have been trained to listen to both disputants stories, determine their feelings, and help them to get beyond their differences.

Peer mediators are Grade 7 and 8 students who are trained to help students in their own grades deal with problems that arise amongst them.

Bus monitors have been trained in the rules for safe bussing, and are given the task of explaining the rules and helping the bus driver maintain order. Door Monitors watch over the bathrooms in the school, ensuring that students have permission from their teachers to use the bathrooms. While some of these practices seem extreme for a school environment, Principal Arris says they are based on a faith in the ability of the students in the school to look after each other and act responsibly, and the students are reacting to it beautifully.

There are other Safe Schools measures, including blocking off the driveways off Road 38 to keep cars away from the bussing area.

The physical environment at Prince Charles has changed as well. Prince Charles has not had a renovation for a long time, Sue Arris said, so we put in a proposal to renovate the entranceways, the pod, computer lab resource area, and the administrative offices. The Board decided to do the offices first, because it is the simplest of the jobs and could be done using board employees, while the other improvements are more extensive and will involve architects and engineers.

Principal Arris also said it would have been preferable for public relations if the student-centred areas of the school were changed before the offices, but sees the logic in doing the offices first. An air conditioning system was put in as part of the office renovations, which Sue Ariss says is something we didnt ask for in our proposal, but was deemed necessary by the board because of poor air flow in the administrative area. A committee has been formed to consider the next phase of the building project, including staff, parents and an architect, and they are expecting to have a proposal ready to send to the board by the end of this school year. After that it will be out of our hands. It will have to wait until the school board finds the money, Arris said.

A tour of the area that is being considered for renovation is like a trip back in time to the open concept days of the 60s. There is a large open area, with room dividers in place to create somewhat discreet areas. In this area there are four classrooms, the schools resource centre and the computer lab. In one of the classroom spaces, a Grade 2 class faces one direction, and a 2/3 class faces the other way. Sue Arris says she would like to see this whole area become more functional. I would like to see the computer lab move to a better spot, rearrange the resource centre, and create distinct classrooms and more useable office/teaching rooms. Its a big job, but its time.

Other changes in the school include a move to 50- minute periods, and having the days announcements take place just before lunch instead of at the beginning of the day. As well, they have increased their criterion awards program, and are focusing on raising the overall level of student reading at Prince Charles.

All of this is taking place in the context of a relatively large staff turnover from last year. Six of the 20 teachers at Prince Charles are new to the school. Three of those are new to teaching, and there is a new first-time Vice Principal at the school as well. Each of the new teachers has been paired with a more experienced mentor to help them with any problems that arise.

[Editors note: while this article was being written, The News received a letter from Michelle Long, a parent of a former student at Prince Charles, that takes issue with the renovations that have taken place at the school. The letter was shown to Principal Arris and some of her responses were used in the above article.]