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Yellowknife high school providing alternative road to graduation

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2004graduation92 Michael Hugall/NNSL photo Route 51 at Sir John Franklin began in 2010. It has been used to give current and adult students the opportunity to get their high school diploma. Diane Brookes left, is helping adult student Stephanie Vickers. (April 17, 2018)

Despite changes, a Sir John Franklin high school program is continuing to help at-risk youth graduate, says principal Dean MacInnis.

The program, Route 51, is an off-campus alternative learning environment that helps troubled students from becoming high school dropouts by allowing them to complete courses outside the classroom.

Diane Brookes, left and Stephanie Vickers are hard at work at the Sir John Franklin, Route 51 program. Vickers is working toward her graduation and is planning on going into a cosmetology program in Alberta. Michael Hugall/NNSL photo

Tweaks have been made to the Route 51 Learning Centre over the last three years but despite the changes, which include fewer online courses and different learning modules, Route 51 is still showing results, said MacInnis.

The program has done away with Alberta-based course material and Route 51 students are now learning what amounts to a replica of what they would learn in a regular high school classroom.

MacInnis said Sir John Franklin High School's overall graduation rate is about 90 per cent. There are 15 students who are enrolled in Route 51 and their graduation rate much is lower. McInnis did not have precise statistics for the program but said he expects seven or eight of the pupils to receive their diplomas this year.

“When they make it across the stage it's a big deal,” he added.
But with the end of the school year looming, some of them are getting nervous.

“This is the time where many students get restless and tend to think the semester will never end,” said MacInnis. “We take this opportunity to talk with students and remind them that graduation is achievable.”

Staff have developed a way to determine if a child is at risk of failing to graduate, at which point they are enrolled in the program, said MacInnis.

“Some just don't have the ability to show up to class on time,” he said.

The program has enjoyed some notable successes over its 10-year existence.
Yellowknifer previously reported on then 16-year-old Aimee Yurris, who in 2014 used the program to earn the 100 credits required to complete high school. In doing so Yurris won the Governor General's Academic Medal for having the highest marks in her graduating class and was able to graduate high school a year early.

Diane Brookes, a Route 51 instructor for the past two years, said the program provides a different setting for students who may not excel in the classroom.

“We find a lot of students who come through the program need more one-on-one attention or they're too shy to ask questions in the classroom. Because of this they tend to fall behind,” said Brookes. “When they come here students show what they can really do and they get the support they need.”

Despite the successes of the program, MacInnis said some parents remain unsure about Route 51.

“Parents still show a lot of hesitation because they think their children are being punished,” he said. “We are a support system and this program has really increased how many kids are completing school...all it takes is for a few kids to be successful and we will have been successful.”

MacInnis said programs like Route 51 used to be places where students were sent for discipline but times have changed.

“This is a safe place, we're not here to judge the students and they're definitely not her to be disciplined,” said MacInnis. “We try and use the program as a motivator for students who are serious about their education.”