Yellowknife (May 12/06) - One school board for all Yellowknife children.

That's the solution parents who attended a city hall meeting with Yk Education District No. 1 (Yk 1) trustees Wednesday evening picked to solve overcrowding at Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS).

Paul Curren is one of the many parents hoping to find a solution to the facilities dispute between the Yk Education District No. 1 and the Yellowknife Catholic. - Jessica Gray/NNSL photo

Yk 1 presented parents with two recommendations it made to a committee struck up to study the state of education facilities in the city. That committee has already filed a report with the minister of education based on ideas gathered from both school boards.

The facilities committee is made up of city hall representatives and members of the francophone school board, Aurora College, Yk 1 and YCS. It was created to discuss all educational facilities in the city.

Most parents at the forum said they were pleased to have the opportunity to speak, but weren't happy the discussions at the facilities committee were confidential.

"We have a right to know what's going on," said Paul Curren who has a child at William McDonald and one at Sir John Franklin.

The meeting, the second for Yk 1 since February, was held at William McDonald school with more than 70 parents and faculty members on hand.

The first solution, described as a "win-win" situation, was sharing space with YCS.

"It allows us to keep a school we have now," said Yk 1 trustee Duff Spence, also a member of the facilities committee.

In the presentation to the parents, trustees said the committee was unable to reach a resolution about overcrowding because YCS wouldn't settle for sharing facilities - the only solution Yk 1 decided was feasible for its board.

Yk 1 said they do not want to transfer a school to YCS because it will mean the board will have to cut teaching jobs and special programming.

But parents seemed more interested in the second solution the board proposed: to amalgamate the two boards.

"Yellowknife is a small enough community that (one school board) would work," said parent Lenore West.

"It would open up programs (at different schools) and make them available for all children," she said.

"We should encourage the boards to work towards becoming one school board," said parent and Ecole J.H. Sissons parent advisory committee chairperson Dot Van Vliet.

But YCS board chair Shannon Gullberg said having one board for all of Yellowknife could never work. "We have a different mandate than Yk 1. Everything is in a faith-based environment," she said. "We would never agree to be amalgamated."

Parents said they were tired of the politicking and competition they see the two boards engaging in.

Having only one board would mean the money from the GNWT and taxpayers would benefit all children in Yellowknife and reduce the layers of administration, they said.

Parents said they wanted a "speedy resolution" to this issue and to focus on what is best for their children.

"The longer this goes on, the more it will affect teaching staff and the more it will affect us parents," said parent Tanya Krueger. "We just want a solution."

Yk 1 chair Reanna Erasmus said the date the board was aiming for a solution was September 2007. The three YCS schools - Ecole St. Joseph, Weledeh school, and St. Patrick high school - are all at 99 per cent capacity, according to the 10-Year Yellowknife Facilities Plan commissioned by the territorial government.

However, because of the more than 900 empty seats in Yk 1 schools, and the prediction of a decline in school enrolment over the next 10 years, YCS was denied a new school by Education Minister Charles Dent.

The plan also outlined the needs of all of Yellowknife's educational facilities, including the retro-fitting needed at Ecole St. Joseph and Ecole J.H. Sissons and a new facility for the Yellowknife campus of Aurora College.

Both boards are now waiting for Dent to make a decision based on the recommendations that came from the facilities committee.

Neither board would comment whether a separate proposal was submitted by YCS because of the failure to reach a consensus to solve overcrowding in YCS schools.

Both boards have said they are in touch with legal counsel.