Fraser Academy

Fraser Academy
Fraser Academy in May 2017
Address
2294 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada
Coordinates 49°15′46″N 123°09′27″W / 49.2628°N 123.1574°W / 49.2628; -123.1574
Information
School type Private
Established 1982
Grades 1-12
Campus Urban
Colour(s) Blue and Yellow         
Mascot Mustangs

Fraser Academy, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is a private, non-profit, co-educational, non-faith, non-residential school that serves children from grades 1 to 12 with language-based learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Its teaching methods are based on those found at the Kildonan School in New York, using the Orton-Gillingham approach. Besides daily individual tutoring for language, students take the same courses as other students in the province, in which courses a multisensory approach is also used.

Founded in 1982 in Langley, British Columbia, the school moved into its present building in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver in September 1986. The school has Smart Boards to assist and enhance the learning capabilities of senior students.

Campus

The urban campus is located in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver.

Annual events

The school hosts three Open Houses per year, a Chair's Dinner, two Middle School Science Fairs, Senior Art Show, Drama Production biannually, Grad Dinner and Dance, and Recognition Ceremonies, as well as a Community Education Series with presentations pertinent to parents.

Additional programs

Fraser Academy offers after school tutoring program, called After3 Tutoring at Fraser Academy and Summer Boost Camp, an academic, yet fun, summer camp that gives children a "boost" in their learning.

Professional development

In addition to the independent day school, tutoring, and summer programs, Fraser Academy offers professional development courses for educators: the 70 hour AOGPE-certified Orton-Gillingham Tutor Training course, as well as Orton-Gillingham Tutor follow-up "practice sessions." Faculty from Fraser Academy have presented at conferences across North America on topics such as Executive Functioning (EF), NILD Educational Therapy, 3C (critical, creative, collaborative) Thinking and technology. Some of these conferences include the ISABC Pro-D Annual Conference, IDA Annual Conference, ResearchILD Annual Conference, CAIS, CueBC, Career Educator Society Conference.

Accreditation and membership

Fraser Academy is a member of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), Independent Schools Association of BC (ISABC), Federation of Independent School Association (FISABC), Learning Disability Association Vancouver, and the International Dyslexia Foundation (IDA).

Governance

The Board of Directors of the Fraser Academy Association consists of Brenda Jones Kinsella, Chair; Rod Johnston, Vice Chair; David Sacks, Secretary/Treasurer; Jeff Hornell; Wendy Reifel; Mark Hammer and Debby Jenkins.[1]

The board is responsible to hire and review the performance of the Head of School and to entrust the day-to-day operation of the school to that individual. The school’s current Head is Maureen Steltman.[2]

Controversy

The school made international news in an article by Christie Blatchford in the National Post on December 7, 2016, that revealed a popular teacher had been fired for "triggering" a student with the wrong opinion on abortion.[3]

A subsequent article on December 9, 2016, revealed staff and students had been placed under a gag order.[4] This article revealed four other ex-employees of the small school had come forward to describe school administration as querulous, autocratic and unpredictable.[4] Allan Klassen, who spent almost sixteen years at Fraser in a variety of teaching and administrative roles until he left in the fall of 2015, told Postmedia "Maureen Steltman loves to fight and she doesn’t have to pay her court costs."[4] Another of the former staffers, Renee Michaud, had to battle seven months to clear her name after she was abruptly terminated and reported to the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch.[4] According to Michaud, she was "one of three teachers fired that year". Another ex-staffer, who was at Fraser for almost 15 years, says he fell out of favour after he didn’t go to the school Christmas party and went out to eat on his own after the post-parent-teacher night pizza party. "I was asked to leave," he told Postmedia.[4]

Events revealed in the December 7 and 9 2016 National Post articles led to a protest by free speech activists outside the school on December 13, 2016.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://fraseracademy.ca/content/uploads/2016/09/Parent-Handbook_2016-17_.pdf
  2. ↑ "Meet the Team - Fraser Academy". Fraser Academy. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  3. ↑ "Christie Blatchford: B.C. teacher fired for having the wrong opinion". National Post. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Christie Blatchford: Posh Vancouver school places staff under gag order after teacher fired". National Post. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  5. ↑ "Student "triggered", teacher fired: Is Fraser Academy enabling "snowflake" mentality?". The Rebel. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
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