Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students now have equal access to specialty programs in the early years of their education, regardless of where they live.
"We've had a tremendous amount of work done with Northern Lights staff," associate superintendent Jimmi Lou Irvine said to the NLPS board of trustees during their March 28 meeting.
"Because of the work of some of our staff who just consistently went out and met with (First Nations groups) and introduced them to our community partners, together they dreamed up what they're calling Jordan's Principle Navigator for Early Years pilot project."
Last year, Irvine explained, staff spent a significant amount of time with the Regional Collaborative Services Delivery (RCSD) to engage with the division's First Nations partners. While its been a priority for the RCSD to partner with First Nations, there has been hesitation in the past due the issue of provincial funding versus the usual federal funding received on reserves.
"They pitched to the federal government that all of our First Nations students living on reserves should have access to an equal program like our provincial students do. I'm talking specifically about the PUF program, which our students aged three to six generally have access to. From a funding perspective, it's a Cadillac type of program where they have access to so many hours of educational assistant time."
PUF stands for Program Unit Fund, and is available through Alberta Education for students experiencing difficulties in one or more areas of development. It's designed to help ease them into the school system while they're still at a young age by providing an extra level of support.
However, since it's made available through the province, children living at a federal address (on Aboriginal reserves) were previously unable to qualify for that funding.
"They made enough of a case collectively that we were approved for a project that's unique federally. They were given over $1 million to ensure that this happened across northeastern Alberta," expressed Irvine. "One of our staff members, a former kindergarten teacher from Vera M. Welsh, was hired to be that navigator and work with Tribal Chiefs Ventures to roll that out. We see that benefitting our students almost immediately."
The project is a win for the division, as Irvine noted not only will it ensure all students get the support they need, but will also help to strengthen their relationship with the different nations they work with.
"We serve six different nations and, given our vast geographical area, we wanted to ensure that our students in Heart Lake First Nations were getting the same support that our students in Cold Lake First Nations would get."
Associate superintendent Bill Driedger added, "This has been an issue throughout the province for years and years. Other jurisdictions have struggled with the same notion, and here we have a home-grown solution and dollars that have come our way in order to make this happen. This is a really big deal for kids in our area that are going to get some fantastic services they didn't qualify for before."
