SCHOOL PROJECT
Late last school year I mentioned in this space a project called Vancouver Schools at 125 Yearbook, which aims to celebrate public schools' role in civic life.
The British Columbia Society for Public Education earned a $14,000 grant from the city's Vancouver 125 grant program to launch the project.
Its website, at vancouverschools125.org, now features information about Vancouver schools, but organizers are looking for contributions from the community.
"This is an interactive process. We're now at the stage where we're seeking people's interaction," explained Catherine Evans, a project volunteer who also sits on the society's board.
Project manager Helesia Luke said the goal is to collect stories about all the schools through discussions with students, educators and parents.
A toolkit is available for school-based groups to hold "celebration cafés" to discuss ways their schools promote diversity, aboriginal culture and positive initiatives in their communities. She suggests those interested use the "tell us about your school link" on the site and fill out the online survey. The information gathered will be posted within a few days.
There's also a "discussion guide for school communities," which groups of students, parents or educators can check out.
Luke encourages people to send photos, videos, classwork, awards or articles that illustrate what's going on at their schools, including information about projects ranging from school gardens to volunteer initiatives.
"It's a way to let people speak about their own schools in ways they choose to. There are not many opportunities for people to say publicly what's going on in their schools, what great projects they're doing, or how they're making a difference in their communities. This is a way of letting people tell the stories they want to tell," Evans said.
"To a certain extent it kind of corrects the balance, or restores the balance, in terms of the way schools are publicly being represented. We hear much more criticism than we do the good things they're doing.
This is a way for people to get out and talk about the good things they're doing- One of the nice things is [the project] also lets schools talk about what makes them individually or uniquely interesting and the way they uniquely contribute to their community. So you get a bit of a sense of the character of each individual school-so the personality, perhaps, of the school."
Information about the project is also available on the site through flyers printed in three languages-French, Chinese and Spanish. The flyers can be downloaded.
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