Yellowknife (Oct 24/03) - There is a school plan - then there is the North, several principals say.

Concerns from holding onto staff to adapting to Northern communities, several principals indicated working in remote areas is not always an easy task.

Principals from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut gathered in Yellowknife for a two-day educational conference this week.

"This is my second year in the North," said Allan Pitcher, principal of Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk.

"For most of the new people coming in, the challenge is to adapt to respective cultures of the various communities that we're in," Pitcher said.

From a school perspective, making an education curriculum applicable to students in a remote school is a hurdle for principals.

Times have changed, but not always for the better, Northern principals say.

It is more difficult now than several years ago, says Don Morrison, a former principal in Clyde River and Whale Cove.

"Learning about the community you are living in and learning about what is important to folks about education is a big barrier to get over," Morrison said.

While he is not in what is considered a northern isolated community, working in such a multi-faceted job is quite a challenge, said Hay River's Greg Storey of Diamond Jenness School.

"You come in with a plan, but I've never actually completed the plan I've come in with in a day. There's always something else -- crisis management or something that's happened that wasn't planned," Storey said.

Teacher turnover was a concern for Simon Gatto at Mackenzie Mountain School in Norman Wells.

"We have to make an environment that's enjoyable for teachers where they feel that they fit in so that they want to come back for another year," Gatto said.

The need for psychological services in Fort Good Hope is a challenge for first-year principal Graham Wood.

"We have a large need for counselling services for students dealing with a variety of issues," he said.