Students thrive in educational bumper zone

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It looks like a regular school from the outside. But looks can be deceiving.

L.E.A.P., the alternative high school in Lloydminster, is anything but ordinary. It's a place where teenagers facing tough home and social problems, substance abuse recovery or trouble with the law, can find a safe haven and get on with their lives and schooling.

It's a school that offers a safe, challenging and positive refuge from a mainstream world where they just don't fit in. And how principal Gordon Spendraith, his staff and students have managed to pull it all together, is just short of amazing.

"At L.E.A.P. we offer education to our students in a very different way. The bottom line is that they're here, attending, building some success. As a mix of outcasts from the mainstream, 14 to 19 years old, they jell really well and look after each other. There's a real sense of community here and I guess you could call it a pretty tight place," said Spendraith.

The Lloydminster Education Advancement Program is set up for a whole range of students: young offenders, pregnant teens and moms, students from a lower social economic setting and those who need to have more flexibility and discipline in the school system.

"The staff works very closely with the courts, probations and corrections who will release young offenders back into the community with ourselves as the gate keepers," said Spendraith.

With 34 students on board and four staff members, the school offers a smaller, more predictable environment for young people who have difficulty dealing with the dynamics of a large high school population.

Part of the mandate of L.E.A.P. is to go beyond the educational and social aspect, through public health and social service programs, prenatal care and young parenting support, recognizing that some of the difficult, real-life problems faced by many of these young people need hard-core, real-life solutions, explained the principal.

"What we have built into L.E.A.P. is a real paradox," he said. "While the discipline is really heavy duty, some things are much looser and more flexible, and with the small numbers there is a real consistency in our day to day activities."

While the school is not specifically tailored to Aboriginal students, the staff is highly cognitive of the fact that a large number of young people in the program (35 to 50 per cent) come from Native or Metis families.

And that's when cross cultural sharing becomes an important part of everyday life in this school.

"If we offer a sweat out at Onion Lake, we offer it to everybody," the principal said. "As a school, we celebrated National Aboriginal Day last year, learned to cook bannock in home ec, participated in sharing circles with Elder Jimmy Wasewitch and took part in a lodge raising with Glen Littlewolf from Onion Lake. Our cultural and spiritual direction comes from our students."

The social/cultural needs of Aboriginal students are also met by a full time youth services worker, Sandra Opikokew, who encourages her Aboriginal students to practice speaking Cree and follows her own Native spirituality as closely as possible.

"Having an Aboriginal councillor is very significant in the Lloydminster context because many of our Aboriginal students are struggling. Many have parents who were put in residential schools so they don't priorize education or encourage it in their children," said Opikokew.

Opikokew, who earned her social work degree at the University of Regina and is one course short of a full degree in Native Studies from the University of Saskatchewan, is planning to go back to school in two years to pursue a masters of social work degree.

But for now, she is really enjoying the challenge of working in the L.E.A.P. program. She calls it "a real bumper zone for kids."

For many students, attending a regular high school is overwhelming, like getting thrown into the deep end of the pool when you haven't learned to swim or tread water yet.

L.E.A.P., on the other and, explained Oikokew, offers small integrated classes with minimal class changes that is correspondence based with tutorial support from the teachers.

More flexible than an a regular semester system, it also allows a high degree of privacy because no one else has to know what level a student is working at.

"This is an important part of building self-esteem because one of our kids could be 18 and working at a Grade 7 level,", said Opikokew.

Working together as a group, learning hands-on real life skills, is an important part of the program which includes fitness, skiing, swimming lessons, community service, cultural field trips and a soup to nuts approach to home economics.

"By the 18th of December, our students will have spent six weeks preparing to serve a full course Christmas dinner, made from scratch, in a hand decorated hall, to some of the 'partners' in L.E.A.P. - Saskatchewan Social Services, probation and the Thorpe Center for addiction recovery," she said.

Teen parent cooking classes have been an important part of the program for Beverly Redwood, a member of the Cowessess Band in Saskatchewan, who didn't want to go back to regular high school after having a baby.

Redwood said L.E.A.P. lets her be a better student and mom because when her child is sick, her teachers "perfectly understand" and she can stay home and look after him.

"I like be able to talk to Sandra, and Gord really pushes us. He gives us a chance to let off steam and then pushes us again - to work, learn and succeed in our goals, and if I can't get a baby-sitter, I am allowed to bring my son to school," she said.

Neil Cross, from the Frog Lake Reserve in Alberta, said he likes L.E.A.P. because he can work at his own pace and ask for help whenever he needs it.

"You can't do that at an ordinary school because there's too many students and you can get lost in the shuffle. I like it here because you can set goals and you don't feel that far behind. You can keep your head above water. Ialso like having an Aborginal councillor. I remember having a great Aboriginal councilor at Father Gorman School and it was one of the best things at that school," he said.

One of the students interviewed by Windspeaker, a young offender from Saddle Lake Reserve who cannot be named, explained that he would recommend the L.E.A.P. "to kids with big problems."

"You work at your own pace, chose your own subjects and nobody's going to make you work but yourself. You can go as far as you want or stay back if you want. You don't get that in a regular school," he said.

After serving one year of a two year sentence in jail for committing armed robbery, this student was released back into the community, into what he calls, "the best and most appropriate place for me to be, the L.E.A.P. school."

"It was the saddest day of my life when the judge sentenced me, but I'm out now and I feel better. My goals are learning to weld next term at the Composite High School, high school graduation and learning traditional dancing and regalia making. I've been to many traditional sweats, powwows, Round Dances and Sundances and learned to canoe, fish and skin a deer when I was incarcerated. My Cree isn't very good, but I understand what my Elders tell me. What I have to say to other kids about life is, if you want to find out the hard way, quit school. If you want the easy way, stay in school".