Case Study Response 1

CASE STUDY:  Buffalo Ridge High School

On December 10th 2011 our Division confirmed the rumor that due to an electrical fire Buffalo Ridge First Nations High School (BRFNHS) was closed.  Staff were continuing to offer classes on a daily rotation in three band facilities (two health centre board rooms, the elders centre, and the community hall) however this emergency response was not sustainable over the long term.    The Division Director and Chief of the FN announced that the 165 students of BRFNHS were going to be bused to Plain View High School (PVHS) in a neighboring rural community.   Plain View High School has a student population of 109 students.  Plain View has a Principal, VP/Grade 9/10 teacher, and 6 other teaching staff.  Buffalo Ridge had four term contract teachers who were let go and 6 teachers (3 FN, 1 Metis) who have agreed to transfer with the students.  The Principal at Buffalo Ridge has resigned. The Two Schools:  BRFNHS is a school that has identified a slow decrease in student numbers over the course of that past 10 years.  The community has seen an increase in urban migration due to the lack of quality housing and lack of employment.  The school has recorded poor retention rates.  The school has had a high turn-over of teaching and administrative staff.   The building has been plagued with both electrical and moisture issues, and the building was badly deteriorating.  PVHS is a school that has also identified the slow decrease in student numbers over the course of the past 10 years, like the Band School, the attribute the shift to increased urban migration due to lack of employment and educational opportunities;  and shifts in the economy have resulted in individuals leaving for seasonal work in the nearby oil patch.  The teachers are long-term staff members and some grew up in the community, or married into it.  The administrator is a mid-career woman with teaching and administrative experience at both FN and rural community schools. 

Response:

My group was on the Buffalo School team. Our school was forced to shut down because of a fire. We were then forced to move in with the neighbouring school. Our first response as a team was how we were going to deal with the situation. We had some time to spend on the reserve before we would move to the other school. In this time the school’s teachers, staff and students would be spending time intermittently between three different buildings. This would be incredibly inconvenient. First of all, any resources that we had left/access to would now need to be split amongst three buildings. This would make the use of these resources very difficult. Because the school was damaged enough to close we can assume the computers are no longer useable at this time. Therefore we cannot communicate or share our resources online. All of our students are now subject to the worst for of organized education that one can imagine. Secondly we as a team are not able to support each other. The students will be separated from their friends and peers and the teachers will be away from their colleagues. Some of the teachers may have developed a dependence on one another. To be away from each other, even by such a small distance would be discomforting.

Being separated into these three buildings would also be difficult for the community. These are community buildings that other people use every day. Although I’m sure the community members understand and are willing to help, eventually the burden would become too heavy. During this time the teachers and staff would need to begin developing a plan for the merger. In our group, we only really talked about what we would do. We never mentioned discussing the situation with the staff and students of the other school. This is something that we really should have considered. Of course that team would have concerns as well. We were only worried about ourselves. I understand how a group can be concerned about themselves in a tragic situation like this, but the group would have to understand that they are putting the other group in a difficult situation as well. Our group did not think about this. It is not something I thought about until now, so it is not something I talked about or neglected to mention.

Some assumptions that were made are that there would be a culture clash between our students and staff and those of the other school. Our group came from the reserve and the new school is in another community. We assumed that this community was like many others in Saskatchewan: a predominantly white population. This would cause some problems. We are not only invading their space but we are from different cultures. There would be a clash, even if there wasn’t anything to disagree about. People from both schools would automatically put up walls. We thought that the students from both schools would ignore each other or worse, be hostile toward each other. There was no way of truly testing this theory other than to begin placing students from Buffalo school into the Plainsview School. From here we would have to wait and see how the students reacted to each other.

Another concern was that the curriculum might not be being addressed the same in both schools. Reserve schools are federally funded and run, and public schools are run by the province. The curriculum would be different. Even if both schools were using the same curriculum for some reason, there is nothing saying that the two schools educators would be approaching it in the same direction. To merge the two schools at the beginning of a new semester would have its difficulties as far as social and administrative issues. However, there is no indication in the case study that this merger would be taking place in a new semester. We then have to assume that the fire was not a timely one and we must now transferring 160+ students and staff in the middle of a semester.

The best way to address this merger would be to integrate the students, creating a program for them to get to know each other, work together and understand the ways of the other group’s cultures. To dive right in the first day would be silly. The students would be too preoccupied with social behaviours and protocols to learn. It would make sense to have a day or two for the groups to get to know each other and how each school works. It would also make sense to, once a new semester begins, have the students of the two schools mix together, creating completely new classes. But before this can happen the semester does have to end. The Plainsview School was constructed for less than 150 people. Now there are approximately 300 students and staff, so the classes may have to share from the start (although I don’t think this would be ideal). If this is the circumstance, I think it would be ideal for the teachers to team teach. For instance, if two English classes need to be combined, the two teachers could work together before the programs are combined (while Buffalo is still in the community buildings). They could find a way to suitably combine the two units and therefore the two classes.

Before our school moves to Plainsview our teachers would need to contact the administration and resource teachers at the new school. We cannot assume both schools have the same resources. We would need to order what we would, but there is so little time available to do so. The librarian would be our best resource in this situation.

Some issues that we anticipated were that the students would form cliques. At first it would be within the two schools as a whole, but then they would develop further. These cliques would move on and become rivalries (which may already have been formed between the two schools). This could develop further and become hostile. The only real way to discourage this would be to encourage the students to work together and learn with each other. If they understand each other they are less likely to be hostile toward each other.

Another issue would be dealing with stereo-types which might arise. This is not something that you would want to address before it becomes an issue. If you do you are assuming that the groups will have issues with each other based on race. You can therefore only teach each other how to be understanding and accepting of their differences (if any) if a problem does present itself. 

One final note is that this scenario could a modern day representation of the treaties. If they developed their relationships properly, the two groups could represent how the treaties could have developed for the better. With understanding from both groups, the treaties could yield a much different response from both groups. This scenario sets up many of the same elements as were set up before. Two groups being forcefully brought together with tension and boundaries. The two schools could be reliving history. The teachers have a choice to make. Do they point this out to the students and develop some sort of project or do they left things unfold and watch what happens. This would be an interesting thing to discuss with the other group and develop further.