Agreement benefits preschool and its students

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Cuts to education funding have forced schools to adopt some radical measures such as corporate sponsorship or worse, cutting programs, courses or support services.

But a group of parents and staff at Vancouver's Macdonald School have formed a non-profit society that has been extremely successful in raising money for program development - and implementing these programs. The society recently signed an agreement with the Britannia Community Services Centre that will bolster programming even more.

The Eagles In The Sky Society meets in a portable classroom which stands on the northeast corner of the Macdonald school playground. The area around the structure is cluttered with bikes, toys and other telltale signs of childhood activity. The portable also houses the Kidzone Out Of School Care Centre and the Eaglets Preschool.

Kidzone and the Eaglets Preschool had their beginnings as an out of school care program which was run out of the Macdonald School basement. The demand for larger facilities was created by the increasing numbers of children that required care as a result of the funding cuts. In 1994, frustrated parents and staff faced with a mounting after-school childcare crisis took matters into their own hands and formed the society. The society's non-profit status, they determined, would allow them to access funds to counter the cutbacks in core funding to the school which were directly affecting regular and special needs programs. The society received assistance from community development workers at the Raycam Centre which helped initiate the out-of-school care and preschool programs, helping it get off the ground.

Norine Colvin, vice-president of the Eagles in the Sky Society for the last two years, and project teacher at Macdonald School, has been involved with the school for nine years. She has watched The Kidzone program come out of the basement and mature into an organization that's creating fantastic programs for the community.

She is quick to credit Penny Coates, the City Childcare co-ordinator for Vancouver, for providing excellent guidance that eventually led to the association between the society and Britannia Community Centre. Colvin feels the new agreement between the society, its programs and Britannia will greatly benefit the community by giving Kidzone and the Preschool access to greater recreational and administrative resources.

"Most schools are connected to community centres or Neighborhood Houses," said Colvin, "and the association has been helpful. I'm happy and thankful to Britannia for their involvement."

Cari Morris, the preschool supervisor responsible for preschool curriculum and programming, is also excited about the agreement with Britannia.

"It's great," said Morris, "because to the staff it means security. Organizationally, the programs were not getting what was needed. The administrators had no interaction with the staff and would make arbitrary decisions affecting the program without considering the ramifications of their decisions. Richard (Gauntlet, director of administrative services, Britannia Community Services Centre) reached out and considered the impact of decisions before making them. I have more faith in the administrators now, in their competence level."

Morris is even more excited about the developments in the school curriculum.

"Because we have a lot of First Nation children, the curriculum has included a lot of books and games that are First Nations," Morris said.

Morris maintains that an open-minded attitude has prevailed in the development of the preschool curriculum that is culturally friendly. Because there are a high number of Native children in the school a great emphasis was placed on First Nations' content and this attitude has spread to Macdonald school.

"They don't teach about history, the history that 'started' when the white man came," said Morris. "They're conscious of that, that there was life before their coming - I don't think a lot of schools havecaught up to that."

Although history books in schools seem slow to change, the people responsible for Kidzone and the Eaglets Preschool aren't afraid to take on and challenge new frontiers to ensure the quality of their children's care and education.