Some parents of SOSS students are concerned about the school’s course offerings, relating to university requirements.
Some parents in Oliver are expressing concern after their kids had difficulty taking the high school courses they need to get into their chosen universities.
The September 17 meeting of the South Okanagan Secondary School Parent Advisory Council (PAC) saw larger-than usual attendance as several parents showed up to complain about what they feel are problems with the school’s course offerings.
Linda Fortunato was one of those parents.
Fortunato’s daughters, Patricia and Sabrina, are both in Grade 12 and have had to get more than a little creative to get all the credits they want in preparation for university.
They’ve both had to take online correspondence courses for credits they couldn’t get through SOSS, as well as arrange special work placements that take them out of their regular classes.
At the PAC meeting Fortunato brought up the school’s Socials 12 offerings. The 2015-2016 course selection handbook lists seven social studies courses at the Grade 12 level, not all of which are accepted by the universities her daughters want to attend.
Of the university-accepted courses on the list that SOSS is offering this year, one (Law 12) was full and the other (Social Justice 12) was only accepted at some of the universities Fortunato’s daughters wanted to attend.
Fortunato said that because of this her daughters are taking Geography 12 by correspondence—at her expense—to expand their post secondary options.
She is also angry that the only Grade 12 language course the school offers is Punjabi, despite the fact that Grade 10 and 11 French were both full in previous years.
“SOSS is not university competitive,” she told the PAC.
Principal Marcus Toneatto was at the meeting and took exception to Fortunato’s criticism, saying the school’s course offerings are based directly on what students choose to take.
He explained that SOSS initially gives students a wide variety of courses to choose from, with final courses for the year based on whichever ones have the most students sign up.
If only a few students sign up for a particular class, the school won’t offer it, Toneatto said.
“I don’t have the staffing to run a class of eight. I don’t hide any staffing, it’s right there. We offer a wide variety of courses; students sign up. If we have four students sign up for French 12 we can’t offer French 12.
“At one time, seven or eight years ago we would run a class of eight or nine or 10. We can’t run that now.”
He said that in some cases of low course enrollment the school might offer a Grade 11/12 split class, or have a teacher help a student with distance learning.
“For a school our size we’re doing everything we can to offer a wide variety of academics,” he said.
School funding is based on how many students are enrolled, and with enrollment down to 443 students as of the PAC meeting, Toneatto said there’s only so much the school can do.
“Our job is to prepare [students] in the best possible way for success at university, and if you look at how students are doing in university that graduate from this school, they’re doing well.
“I take exception to saying the school is not preparing the students for university,” he said.
Lucy Riley was also at the September 17 meeting.
Riley’s frustrations stemmed from the course selection system Toneatto explained.
She said her kids had planned courses in Grade 11 based on what they thought would be available in Grade 12, only to find out once their senior year rolled around that those courses weren’t being offered.
“In our family there are four courses that our two kids have taken that all of a sudden they have problems with.
“What I find is that you’re looking at the timetable and you’re picking just absolutely anything in order to have a Grade 12 course, and that to me isn’t a good way to prepare for university,” she said.
Riley asked that if the school knows it might not be able to offer a course at the Grade 12 level to inform the kids in earlier years because the availability of Grade 12 courses “changes the Grade 11 plans. If you wait until the end of Grade 11 then it’s too late.”
“Honestly I found it really frustrating to come in at the Grade 11 level and not have sort of the guidance that I felt we needed to make sure we had a plan for [Grades] 11 and 12. You are assuming that the courses that are showing up are going to be offered, so when they’re not there’s a lot of stress.”
Toneatto told Riley that the kids are informed, and said that if administration began making all the course choices students would be even more dissatisfied.
“This is not different from any other school. I’ve worked overseas, I’ve worked at five different high schools and it’s the same,” he said.
By Trevor Nichols
