GregoryTrudy Simpson
, Staff Reporter
ALEX WALTERS is raising his hand more often in class these days.
The 17-year-old Grade 11 student at Kingston Technical High School, 82 Hanover Street, downtown Kingston, credits his new confidence to a recently instituted tripartite agreement, the school's new way to get students more interested in learning and parents more committed to their children's development.
"It helps me to get more active in class. Whenever there is a question that I don't understand, I raise my hand and ask. It helps me to put out more of myself to do what I want to do," said Alex, who wants to be an electrician or auto-mechanic.
In September, KTHS, through Robert Gregory, its chairman, implemented a tripartite agreement for success which outlines the responsibilities of all the school's stakeholders.
It asked students to attend classes on time and every day; to participate in class and work hard to attain high goals; to take responsibility for their own learning and to always show respect.
PARTICIPATION
It invited parents and guardians to communicate with the school and teachers; to attend parent-teacher meetings; to take an active interest in children's school work and home work and to express positive encouragement to their children.
The school, through form teachers and the principal, also has roles to play key among them, setting examples for students, providing improved learning opportunities, allowing students to give feedback on teachers' performance and fostering harmonious relationships with the students.
So far, several of the 1,050 students and their caregivers have signed the agreement, said Georgette Palmer, the school's principal. Most of the grade nine students' parents and about 50 per cent of the grade 10s have signed. Most Grade 11s have not yet signed because the school has not had a general orientation for the parents of Grade 11 students, she said.
"It will take time to catch on but I think persons have bought into it," she said, adding that the tripartite agreement was also recently adopted for introduction in other schools at October's principals' retreat in Region One.
Ms. Palmer hoped the agreement would result in more commitment from eventually the 1,050 students and their caregivers.
"Sometimes parents think they don't have enough to contribute. They should know that there is more to contribute to a child's education than lunch money and bus fare. They may not have the know-how in the sciences and math but they must show interest. For example, they can ask how many subjects were done today, was any teacher absent. Students tend to comply when parents are in constant contact with the schools," she said.
With only one term gone, the school has noticed some behavioural change, which could be partly attributed to the agreement, Ms. Palmer said.
Adrian Stewart, a Grade 10 student, agrees.
"It lets me settle down more in my work. It was clearly stated that if you break the agreement, you would have to stay back after school and your parents will come to the school. I don't want my parents (especially his father who is strict about his education) to come to the school," he said Friday. "Most of the boys would idle but now I am seeing only one or two because of tripartite," he said.
This is welcome news for Mr. Gregory, the executive director of HEART Trust/NTA, who is a past student of Kingston Technical. He believes the agreement will transform the school and help to reduce some of the "rotten problems going on all over the education system", including poor attendance, discipline problems and poor or absentee parenting.
"It's about breaking people out of the mentality of failure, of being second rate. From thinking I'm ghetto, I have no future, nothing nah gwaan to come to where you understand that your future is in your hands," Mr. Gregory said.
"You enhance the possibility of success in your life with a good education. That can be achieved by going through this process in this way. This is what your parents and guardians can do, this is what you can do and this is what the school can do and if you do these things, there is a high probability that you will succeed," he said.
