30 of 32 participants complete Transition to Work Program, 28 with high school diplomas

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At age 16 John Adams found himself on his own with nothing but a car to his name.

RON WARD/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

At age 16, John Adams found himself on his own with nothing but a car to his name. He now has an Adult High School Diploma and a job at Malley Industries where he did his placement. Here, John sorts parts for a new ambulance.

He finished Grade 9 with an 89 per cent average, but at 18, he had failed to graduate with his class in June 2007 and was starting his fifth year of high school with just two credits to his name.

"I went back to school and I was there for three weeks and I was really hating it, having a hard time, so I went to the guidance counsellors, told them this, asked them if they could help and Debbie called me," he says.

"Debbie" is Debbie Brine, a career education consultant and the co-ordinator of District 2's Transition to Work Program.

"I met her and she offered this and it seemed amazing, so I tried it out and it's been great," says Adams, who began the program last September.

He now has an Adult High School Diploma and a job at Malley Industries where he did his placement.

"I had to get something. That is why I went back to school. I knew I needed something," Adams says. "I tried, I went back to school for three weeks, I didn't miss one day, didn't miss one class. I wanted to do it. When she came to me with that it was great because I wasn't going to last."

Students have to be at least 18 to be considered for the Transition to Work Program, which is designed for students who otherwise may not ever graduate.

"Most said they had really lost hope of graduating. They had challenges that weren't going to allow them to stay in school five days a week," Brine says.

The majority of the students complete an Adult High School Diploma, which requires nine credits for graduation instead of the usual 17.

"It is something that is attainable for these students," Brine says. "It is important to give these students a reason to hope."

Most students entering the program have only two or three credits, meaning they have at least 1 1/2 to two years of school ahead of them, when all are past graduation age.

Angella Nadeau, 19, was absolutely determined to graduate with her class this year.

Nadeau fell ill, was put on bed rest and couldn't go to school. She wanted to graduate so badly she contacted the district to ask if she could do eight on-line courses at one time in order to get the credits she needed.

Instead, her principal referred her to Brine, who got her into the Transition to Work Program and a job working in the office at the Moncton Northeast Construction Association.

"It is a wonderful environment, my boss is awesome, I'm treated like an employee and not as a student," she says. "The women that I work with are wonderful teachers. They've taught me accounting, which I've never done before... It is amazing. There is no other word."

Nadeau was told in October she wouldn't be able to graduate this year because she only had nine credits. The only way to make up the course work would have been to take a regular course load this semester plus two additional on-line credits.

"I said 'I can do it', no problem, I wanted to graduate," she says.

The program saved her from that near-impossible workload.

Students put in three unpaid days of work at a host business and classes are held at their workplace or nearby workplace so groups of them can be gathered together. Each student works at their own pace to complete the courses they need.

"Somehow there is some magic in this approach," Brine says. "They are all in the same boat, they are all mature. In a regular classroom it is harder to raise your hand and say, 'I don't understand that.'"

Adams and Nadeau credit their instructor, Gordie Kline, for making the academic portion of the program work.

"I never had a teacher like Gordie," Adams says. "I never met someone who cares so much about people he just met."

Kline says to call the opportunity to work with these students a pleasure would be an understatement.

He says he grew up in a middle class family and never realized some of the hurdles these students have had to overcome existed.

"If I had been in that situation at that age, would I have survived?" he asks. "I couldn't say yes."

Kline says he's been teacher, counsellor, and administrator all rolled into one throughout the year.

His major focus has been finding ways of making what the students are learning relevant to them.

"It wasn't book stuff, it was life," Adams says. "It was here is what happens in life and these are things to help you. It was insurance rates and interest rates and compound, things you've got to know."

Kline had students who struggled with reading and one who came in with 85 per cent in physics.

"The first thing you see is they are scared to death thinking this is going to be another same old boring class," he says. "My job is to make them understand quickly that is not the case and I am going to make their learning interesting and fun."

The students work at a much faster pace than they would in a regular classroom, aided by the fact that most of the teaching is one-on-one.

The program is designed to get students through the academic requirements for a diploma, but equally importantly to prepare them for the work world.

"These students are going to go to work, so if we can set them up with a knowledge base and a skill set that is relevant, they will be successful," Brine says.

But there are some challenges to overcome. The students have to learn that their place of employment is going to hold them to a higher work ethic than their schools. If you are sick for several days in a row, your employer is going to need more than a note. At one workplace, the hours are from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a half-hour lunch break.

Many had also hopped from job to job. If the employer asked them to do something they didn't like, they just left.

Adams says that was his situation.

"I'm one of the students who held 12 jobs in a year," he says.

"I've never been fired."

He's now been working at Malley Industries for seven months -- five months longer than any job he'd held before.

Nadeau says work placement leaves them with valuable experience.

"When you apply for a job or are looking for a job you will not see one job that will not require experience," she says. "Experience is always an asset and with this program you gain that experience in a field that you would like to work with. Even if it is not in the same field, you are taught things that you could use at another job."

Nadeau is now planning to do upgrading so she can either take early childhood education at NBCC and open her own daycare one day or study education.

Brine says each student in the program comes with their own story and their own challenges. Some might have done well in vocational programs, but the fact is very few are currently available in New Brunswick schools. Others are single parents, some are living on their own and having to work to pay for rent and food.

Most students go through three of four schools during their school career. The 32 students in the Transition to Work program this year attended an average of seven.

"That means some were at 12 or 13," says high school supervisor Norval McConnell. "That is like moving house 12 or 13 times."

By Grade 4 the students were missing an average of 24 days a year, or one out of every six, by Grade 9 they were missing 41. Most of them were at least two years behind in their studies.

But of the 32 who began, 30 finished the program, 26 with an adult diploma, two with a regular diploma. One has returned to school and the other has not yet completed their academic work.

This is the first full year of the program.

The district felt it was so important that it went ahead and hired Brine without any extra funding from the Department of Education.

Superintendent Karen Branscombe announced Wednesday night at the District Education Council meeting that the district just received word the program has been approved for a $100,000 grant through the province's Innovative Learning Fund, the largest grant available.

Branscombe says that means they can now fund the program for another year.