"I am very fortunate to be the first Learning Alternatives staff member to greet new students and their families. At our intake meetings, I take great pride in being able to share all that our school has to offer, mainly focusing on our school's student-centered approach. At our school, parents are encouraged to take leadership roles in their child's education and we promote positive, consistent communication between the student, family and school staff. We have found that by addressing student needs through collaboration with families promotes a higher level of overall academic success and a stronger feeling of optimism about school."

"I believe in fostering solid relationships with parents through regular communication with home. Based on our student demographic, reporting out student positives to parents is often a something that they are less familiar with and I have found that emphasizing positives in each student helps develop a further level of trust in the teacher and the school. Through positive communication with home, many students, who may have demonstrated poor behaviour at school previously, establish a sense of pride in their accomplishments and continue to return to school for guidance. I am proud of my students and remind them that success in education is a team approach."

"I welcome parents to interact with our class and to share personal experiences or skills with students. On one occasion, a student's family demonstrated proper technique for filleting and smoking salmon in large quantities. The class was engaged throughout the activity and improvement in the student's behaviour was evident from the onset. Social interactions among students became more natural and classroom curiosity about fish biology, cooking, and other indigenous cultural teachings were more natural and abundant. I believe that family involvement in school plays a huge role in the outcome of students' education and I continue to promote it in as many ways as possible."