Editor:
So the Fraser Institute now thinks we have a poor high school. Four years ago they gave Lakes District Secondary School (LDSS) an award for being the ‘most improved’ high school in B.C.
As a staff member, I haven’t noticed any difference between then and now.
We have largely the same staff with the same level of commitment and expertise. The Institute’s school performance studies director Mr. Crowley states “there is no evidence to suggest that low income parents are not interested in their child’s education.”
This motherhood statement is a deceptive attempt to minimize the evidence that socioeconomic background plays a large role in, and is a good predictor of, student success.
When accounting for socioeconomic factors using accepted standards of statistical analysis, LDSS performs at or above it’s predicted level.
Last week we hosted our 11 annual Alternative Arts Festival.
Busloads of students from the other district high schools joined our students and staff in an all day show featuring 62 back to back student performances.
Staff and students have been preparing for months, all on extracurricular time.
Unfortunately, the Fraser Institute’s ranking methodology is oblivious to events like these and many other things we do.
The fact is, we could improve our Fraser Institute ranking overnight simply by changing the way we register graduates in alternate programs.
We won’t do it, because we don’t care about their ranking and consider other factors to be more important.
I was happy to see from the Lakes District News online poll results that the public agrees.
Walter van der Kamp, Burns Lake
