Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Monday, May 21, 2007

FORT LIARD - The chair of the Fort Liard District Education Authority (DEA) says that the incident at the Echo Dene school could have been avoided if community concerns had been addressed earlier.

Teachers Paul Brown and Mabel Colson-Brown left both the school and the community after threats were made at the school on April 25.

Joanne Deneron, the chair of the Fort Liard DEA said during the school year multiple community members approached the DEA to voice their concerns about Paul Brown.

In light of numerous complaints from community members, the DEA made requests to both the school principal and to Nolan Swartzentruber, the superintendent of the Dehcho Divisional Education Council, to have Paul Brown removed from the school.

"Nothing was ever done," said Deneron.

According to Deneron, members of the school staff also wrote to the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association to comment on Brown. Approximately two months ago staff from the association came to Fort Liard to meet with Brown, the principal and Swartzentruber, said Deneron. The DEA was not informed of the outcome of the meeting, she said.

"If anything, the DEA is upset that the NWTTA waited so long for one drastic issue to be resolved," she said.

Deneron said the threat on April 25 was an act of desperation by a mother who was alarmed by an incident involving Brown.

At one point, earlier in the year, some community members even sent a petition to the Dehcho Divisional Education Council office asking for Brown to be removed.

"I would have been the first one to sign that piece of paper," said Deneron.

While community members had complaints about Paul Brown, Deneron noted that no complaints were raised about Mabel Colson-Brown.

Because officials took no actions and the situation escalated to a threat, Deneron said the community of Fort Liard has suffered from bad publicity.

"It's a bad taste in our mouth," said Deneron.

Nolan Swartzentruber confirmed that the Fort Liard DEA made some comments about Paul Brown during the school year.

Swartzentruber said, however, that the DEA's role isn't to supervise teachers. The school's principal is responsible for supervising staff.

The council office also received a fax with a few names on it, said Swartzentruber referring to the petition. The petition, however, had nothing to do with any decisions that were made about the Browns, he said.

Swartzentruber noted that any action to remediate any situation with regards to staff wouldn't be discussed with the DEA because they don't have a supervisory role.

If community members do have issues with a school staff member, Swartzentruber said steps of natural justice should be taken. The staff in question should be approached, followed by the staff's supervisor.

"There has to a balance between someone's opinion or like or dislike of a person and actual behaviour at the work site. That always has to be taken into account," he said.

The NWTTA didn't receive any letters from teachers about Paul Brown, said Amanda Mallon, the president of the association.

The NWTTA has a code of ethics that tells members how to deal with conflicts, said Mallon. Members have to talk with their colleague about the problem. If that doesn't work they write a letter to their colleague. Following that they can bring the matter to the association.

"The association believes very strongly that there is a process of communication that can solve most problems," said Mallon.

The association also encourages parents, if they have a problem with the school, to address it in an orderly fashion, she said.

Mallon did visit Fort Liard in March. This was her second visit in the past two years to the school. During a visit to schools, Mallon said she does talk with members of the association.

Mallon declined to say if her visit in March was linked to the Browns