Brett Hancock (left) and Chad Jobe (right) say building relationships with students is the key to helping them succeed, graduate and make the most out of life. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

learning alternatives

Nanaimo educators honoured for bringing alternative approach to school

Jul 6, 2019 | 12:59 AM

NANAIMO — The classrooms found in the Learning Alternatives program run throughout the Nanaimo Ladysmith Public School District don’t have flanks of uncomfortable desks or strict timetables.

Instead they’re much more free and personalized for each of the several hundred students who are bettered by the seven programs at sites throughout the school district.

Learning Alternatives district principal Brett Hancock is a finalist for the School Leadership award, which is given out by the province for excellence in education.

He oversees the programs and every part of his high-spirited character is built into providing an alternative way to learn.

“Everything is based around relationships,” he told NanaimoNewsNOW when interviewed at the site of the ABOUT program run out of the old Woodlands Secondary School.

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“We need to have positive relationships with every single student and their families if we truly want them to have success. We’ll stop at nothing to formulate those relationships and take the time to make this a safe, innovative learning experience for all.”

The school-age Learning Alternatives program will handle over 300 students in the upcoming 2019-2020 year. Hancock said it’s an increase of more than half. The adult-age program will support just shy of 60 learners.

Each program is fluid and changes at the beginning of every year to accomodate the needs of each student.

“We have to believe all of our kids can be successful and achieve at high levels,” he said.

ABOUT teacher Chad Jobe is also a finalist for the Social Equity and Diversity award. He teaches more than 50 students from grade 8 to 12.

Jobe said it really feels like he’s making a difference every day in the lives of his students.

“When you see students experiencing success-academic, social, emotional-and building community, you’re improving their life chances. As an educator, you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

In the ABOUT program, students call teachers by their first names and interact freely. Their learning space features a pool table, volleyball court and music studio where students can engage and learn in different ways.

Jobe said having the pool table, which might be seen as a distraction, is actually an educational tool to have students put their best selves forward.

“It may not sound like a huge risk, but sometimes if you haven’t tried anything and you’re brand new at it, to get up and shoot a game of pool can be tremendously rewarding.”

Despite not having traditional timetables or classwork, Jobe stressed the Learning Alternatives program is just as rigorous or even more so than a typical curriculum.

This year, four Learning Alternatives students have graduated and will pursue post-secondary education at VIU.

“These are kids that within the last 24 months had contemplated quitting school,” Jobe said. “Because of changing the context of the way they approach their learning, they were able to not only complete their courses but they were able to set goals about post-secondary education.”

Both Jobe and Hancock said having two award finalists out of only 30 be from the same program felt like recognition for everything they’ve accomplished.

In 2018, three Nanaimo-area educators were finalists. Randerson Ridge Elementary School teacher Tanya Adelborg won the Extracurricular Leadership Award.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit