A local student who’s heading into grade 11 in the fall at Chippewa is pleased the International Baccalaureate program is continuing.

Earlier this week the board rescinded an earlier motion to cancel the program.

Alistair McPherson says the Board wasn’t getting the complete picture on the impact of the program.

In fact, he says there was some misinformation on the cost and the number of students who were benefiting.

“The board had been told there was a cost of $900,000 and graduated just six students. It’s graduated a lot more than six students. Especially in the number of kids who didn’t do full IB and who did parts of the course. There’s a lot more than six graduates,” he says.

McPherson says the program is very engaging and challenges students to stay motivated, but it also helps prepare them for the challenges of post secondary education while they’re in high school.

“This means when I go off to university I’ll have the kind of credits and education that will help me compete with other students to get into the kind of programs I want,” he says.

Board officials say once they got the full picture they learned the program is more than sustainable and reversed their decision.

(File photo by station staff)

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