SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Duff Spence, chair of the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 school board, has announced that he will not be seeking re-election as head of the board.

"It is my responsibility now to participate in the succession of a new chair and vice-chair," said Spence.

"I feel a deep satisfaction and gratitude from being the spokesperson for a group of people that truly have the interests of children at heart and a group that will work collectively for the success of our children."

Spence has been elected chair of the board for the last three years. The chair and vice-chair are elected by the trustees for a one-year term.

"I believe we are all working for a common goal of the betterment of our children and that is truly gratifying," said Spence. "As I have said in the past, this is the best job in the world because you get to acknowledge peoples success and have the opportunity to say thank you."

Spence said he will continue to participate as trustee over the next year.

The board of trustees will meet in November to elect a chair and vice chair and to select members of committees.

Virtual desktop demonstration

Martin Male, manager of information technology services for Yk1, made a presentation about virtual desktop software that has been introduced in Mildred Hall School this year.

"Virtual desktop is a image of desktop that sits on a server that can be accessed by lots and lots and lots of machines," said Male. "There are lots of benefits to it with very few drawbacks."

Rather than using a computer tower, the virtual desktop uses a small unit called a client which costs around $350, according to Male.

"You don't need any fancy computers anymore," said assistant superintendent Mel Pardy. "All that you need is a little box that allows you to access the server."

The cost to set up the system at Mildred Hall School was approximately $85,000.

"There is the cost up front but in the long run we save money on licensing (and) we save money on support," said Male. "We do not have to replace lab machines every four years."

Athletic program success

Darren Wicks, physical education teacher at William McDonald Middle School, made a presentation on the success of the district's athletic excellence program.

The program is free for students and allows them to participate in their choice of hockey, soccer, speed skating, figure skating or a gymnastics/Arctic sports academy.

"We have 280 kids taking part in all of the academies," said Wicks. "We still have to add in the soccer academy so that's probably ... another 280, plus another 140 to 160 kids and it's free."

Aside from teacher salary, Wicks said the program operates at no cost. The program has a joint user agreement with the city to use its facilities at no cost and in the spring during Super Soccer teachers manage to raise $2,000 from fundraisers for the program.

"There would be a lot of kids that basically would not be able to afford to go to anything, even afford anything in the city - they wouldn't have the cash," said assistant superintendent Mel Pardy.

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