Yellowknife (Feb 22/06) - Public school board trustee Terry Brookes is worried that Territories funding promised to Yellowknife schools will vanish in the wake of Aurora College's needs.

Stephen Cumming talked to parents and public school board trustees about the 10-Year Education Facilities Report that came out in December. In it, renovations to J.H. Sissons school are expected to begin in 2009-10. - Jessica Gray/NNSL photo

"I'm concerned J.H. Sissons school money could be out there, but the demand (of Aurora College) will suck all the education capital dry because of prioritization," he said.

"I've been involved in capital planning for 15 to 20 years and I know how plans can change so quickly," Brookes said.

He was referring to the recently-released 10-Year Education Facilities Report that, while acknowledging J.H Sissons (public) and St. Joseph (Catholic) schools need renovations, the college has only 60 per cent of the space needed to run its programs.

Trustee Duff Spence countered by saying meetings he's been in with Education Minister Charles Dent have gone well.

"We're hopeful that things are moving along," Spence said, noting that Yk 1 chair Reanna Erasmus sits on the facilities committee.

The comments came at a meeting at J.H. Sissons school, Feb. 16, hosted by the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) of that school for parents, administrators, and Yk No. 1 school board trustees.

Part of the meeting was discovering that it's what goes inside the school - not the physical state of the school - that matters most to parents.

That summary came from consultant Steven Cumming during at presentation on the 10-Year Education Facilities Report.

"We found parents choose their children's schools for the teaching and programs offered, not the buildings," said Cumming, a managing architect for FSC Architects and Engineers.

Parents were curious when the renovations for Sissons would begin. Trustees responded that the school board is renegotiating the renovation schedule with the minister of education to make it parallel with construction on St. Joseph.

J.H. Sissons school is 31 years old. St. Joseph school is 28.

Renovations for J.H. Sissons aren't scheduled to get under way until the 2009-10 school year.

Though all PACs and school parents were invited to the meeting, few showed up. Sissons PAC chair Dot Van Vleet says she wasn't surprised by the lack of parents in attendance.

"A lot of people don't know about the facilities plan and it's hard to get excited when nothing's happening yet."