Final Version May 5 07

188
the various levels of the organizational structure, previous board and staff relationships
have been tenuous. Conflicts over wages and working conditions led to unionization and
increasingly difficult relations between staff and management. Rose and a few other
teachers eventually organized a vote to deunionize. Since that time, with a new
management team, relations have improved dramatically.
The organization has since expanded its services, focusing on philanthropic work
with northern native communities. Bi-annual clothing and toy drives have resulted in
media recognition, awards, and grants. Rose believes that these initiatives have
contributed to a “community feel” to the organization. This, along with a commitment to
an emergent curriculum, has inspired teachers, children and families.
Approximately, four years prior to the time of my visit, the centre’s s recognized
Rose’s strengths and need for a challenge. The motivation for expansion of satellite
school age programs was due, in part, to the centre’s desire to give Rose additional
responsibilities within the organization. The school age program that Rose supervises is
housed in a recently constructed school in a growing middle class community of new
homes a few kilometres to the north.
While the space utilized for the program is shared by the school’s kindergarten
classes during regular school hours, the walls of both rooms represent the kindergarten
teacher’s curriculum. This can be construed as a visual message as to whose classroom
this is. The front entrance of the double classrooms and the common foyer leading to the
outside playground in the rear is where the snake project documentation becomes visible.
The walls are covered with brightly coloured representations that are both two-