The University of Regina's first School^PLUS Congress - Nov. 4-6 at the Regina Inn - will provide participants and their communities with a window on where Saskatchewan communities are going with educating, caring for and raising their children.

Margaret McKinnon, dean of the Faculty of Education, says the Congress will feature three days of one-hour to three-hour presentations by 75 groups and presenters, to an audience totaling about 350 people. The presenters are from groups working on real projects in dozens of communities across the province.

"The projects we will hear about on these three days - projects that come from the hearts and minds of Saskatchewan communities and their leaders - will surely say something about where the communities are going and how they intend to get there," McKinnon says.

The sessions will report on projects ranging from building healthy school and community landscapes to ancestral research; to instructional strategies with adult learners; to peace building and conflict resolution. One ambitious program, called Families and Schools Together, is an early intervention and prevention program that builds on the strengths of elementary school children and their families. 

The School^PLUS concept has been around since before the final report of the Task Force on the Role of the School was tabled in the provincial legislature in 2001. Endorsed by the provincial government in 2002 it has since worked its way into the fabric of communities across the province. 

"This is the first time that everyone involved - researchers, policy makers and those putting it into practice - will get together and share with each other what they are doing," says McKinnon. 

The Congress will start with a reception at 7 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 4, at the Regina Inn. Andrew Thomson, minister of learning, will welcome participants on behalf of the Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert. The book W.O. Mitchell Country will be presented to senior representatives of six provincial government departments supporting School^PLUS - Justice; Culture, Youth and Recreation; Community Resources and Employment; First Nations and Métis Relations; Learning; and Health.

The first keynote speaker for day two of the Congress will be David Barnard, president of the University of Regina, at 9 a.m. - again at the Regina Inn. Judge David Arnot, treaty commissioner for the Province of Saskatchewan, will deliver the second keynote address of the day at about 8:15 p.m. following the banquet. 

On Saturday at 11 a.m. Courtney Milne, well known Saskatchewan author and photographer, will give a multi-media presentation, outlining the top 10 reasons why School^PLUS will succeed in Saskatchewan. 

Among the 75 presentations:

§ Examining the Intersection of School^PLUS and Child Welfare Redesign: Implications for University Educators. The conjunction of two major initiatives - School^PLUS and Child Welfare Redesign - sets the stage for fundamental change in the fields of education and services to children, youth and their families. The session will look at what needs to be done from an education perspective, through the eyes of a school administrator, a teacher, a social worker, and a community participant. Fri., 9:45-10:45 a.m.

§ Spirit Builders: A community response to Gang Recruitment. An after-school activity program gives students a feeling of accomplishment, teaching skills and leading to healthy lifestyles. Spirit Builders is an interagency group with members from Balcarres, Abernethy, Star Blanket Cree Nation, Little Black Bear's Band, Okanese First Nation and Peepeekeesis First Nation. It also includes members from Aspen Grove School Division, RCMP, Youth Justice, Balcarres School, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and the File Hills Tribal Council. Fri., 11 a.m.-Noon.

§ Teaching to School^PLUS: Implications from an Action Research Project for Teacher Education and Special Education. Presentations about an action research project with two goals - training teachers to use visual strategies for autistic children, and to collaborate with professionals and community people. Fri., 2-4 p.m.

Michael Tymchak, director of the University's Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit, says: "This is not an ordinary congress or conference; it's part of the change process. One of the initial understandings of School^PLUS was that people would have opportunities to talk about what they're doing, and they're anxious to do that. We expect that other groups and communities will adopt and adapt ideas that are shared during this Congress."

For more information, or to arrange for interviews with speakers and presenters, call Barbara Young at (306) 539-4081. For complete information about the Congress program, see the website at http://education.uregina.ca/SIDRU/congress/index.html .