When Shelli Tattrie’s oldest son was barely out of kindergarten he was already a fluent reader.
The Youngstown, Alta., mother credits the local kindergarten with pushing its students to prepare them for elementary school where three grades work together in one classroom. For many small schools across the Prairies, blended classrooms and declining enrolments are common.
This community runs its kindergarten as a not-for-profit society rather than part of the public system. This year there are three students who are taught basic reading and other skills beyond what the Alberta Education curriculum demands. Once they enter the regular school program, they fit in more comfortably within the classroom of Grades 1 to 3.
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“When our kids come out, they can read. It is such a help to the teacher,” Tattrie said.
It costs as much as $20,000 a year to keep the kindergarten running in a rented portable classroom on the school grounds. If there are more than six children, the province provides more grants and covers costs like teacher wages.
To boost the budget this year, Tattrie developed the idea of a unique auction in the heart of Alberta cow-calf country. She obtained 31 ceramic cows standing about one foot high and approached professional artists from Saskatchewan to British Columbia to decorate each piece. The artists are donating their skills.
The embellished cows will be sold at auction Nov. 16 in Hanna, Alta., before 550 guests.
Located in east-central Alberta, Youngstown has fewer than 70 students from kindergarten to high school, so parents and teachers work hard to maintain their schools and offer the best quality education they can. That means an enriched kindergarten to a well-rounded school program that includes video conferencing for subjects like French.
To stay open, school supporters have lobbied the provincial education ministry to prove the importance of what they are doing for local students who spend many hours each week on school buses and less time in school.
“We are not rural anymore. We are remote rural,” Tattrie said.
Living far from facilities that city students take for granted, these parents believe they are building their children’s future and producing their own fair share of professionals with a well-rounded education.
“We want to make sure they have the opportunity to do those things,” she said.
