Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Feb 16/01) - Alex Illasiak is the new chairperson of the Beaufort Delta Education Council.
A new executive was chosen during the regular council meeting.
Illasiak stressed that representation is crucial to the council.
"I'm going to plug that continually," he said. "Too often, boards operate in isolation."
Mel Pretty, of Holman, was elected vice-chairperson. He said co-operation is the key as well as understanding and adapting to aboriginal cultures.
"A lot of our systems, there's nothing wrong with them," Pretty said.
"They fit in the south, but when you bring them up here, you have to do some adjustment."
Elected member-at-large is Liz Hansen, who represents the Gwich'in Tribal Council.
The elections were held Saturday morning. The evening before, outgoing chairperson Bob Simpson delivered his report.
Simpson said it took a strike to bring about the first increase in the overall education budget since he became chairperson.
"Eventually you're going to have to take control over your own education," said Simpson.
He added that while 95 per cent of BDEC employees are working really hard, the board is dealing with a lot of grievances.
"I see that as probably a growing trend, and it's a shame. I agree sooner or later we're going to have to get into better ways in which we can do performance evaluations."
Simpson said he's noticed a lot of improvements despite a lot of cuts.
"We've improved the quality of education in the region fairly, fairly dramatically."
