A popular incentive program that was on the verge of phasing out of existence has been save in the proverbial 11th hour.
With only weeks to go in the school year, the Incentive Outdoor Academy appears to have been lifted from the ashes after the Richmond School District announced in May it intended to cancel new Grade 8 entries into the Grade 8-10 program.
“They have pulled a 180 and incentive is going ahead and they are committed to making it work,” said parent Mark Ellens, who helped organize numerous meetings between parents, district staff, teachers and students over the past month.
At issue, according to Ellens and letters from Superintendent Sherry Elwood to parents, was the belief that the program could not hire specialized teachers in the midst of a teacher hiring crunch.
Whereas Elwood considered the positions, such as a math teacher, special due to the programming, Ellens and parents, as well as the Richmond Teachers Association, thought otherwise.
“From all the details we could extract from [the district] last night (and it looks like they have really figured out all the details) it should be a win-win,” wrote Ellens to the Richmodn News, which received a handful of long letters from parents to Elwood.
Prior to the “180” Elwood had considered a revised program instead of an outright cancellation.
But now, said Ellens, “there is very little change to the program and they were able to address their ‘operational complexities,’ which really was just a couple of new B.C. curriculum requirements to fit in and to try and create a more flexible staffing model — which the union has agreed to.”
The program has existed in Richmond for about four decades and serves about 90 children.
