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Catholic school Board briefs Civil unrest in Greece changes trip Laura Busch Northern News Services Published Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Students and chaperones will now visit Italy, Germany and Switzerland during their 10-day excursion to Europe from June 28 to July 11, 2013. The change was made because of the current civil unrest in Greece, said superintendent Claudia Parker. The trip will include visits to Rome and the Vatican as originally planned, and now an excursion is planned for them to see a former concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. The Catholic school board also granted the St. Pat's Hot Cuisine Club a deferral to March 2013 for its San Francisco trip. The group was originally planning the trip for this coming March, but could not raise enough money over the last five or six months. "I think that when we approved this trip, we questioned whether they would be able to come up with the funds on time," said board chair Mary Vane. "But that was something we felt they had to learn for themselves. Yellowknife Catholic Schools has an agreement that there will be only three major trips per year so as not to put too much pressure on the community with fundraising events, said superintendent Claudia Parker. Holocaust survivor coming to Yk St. Patrick's High School will host Ben Lesser on Thursday, April 19, one day following the Jewish holiday of Yom HaShoah, known in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins at sundown on April 18. Ben Lesser, who turned 83 in October, is one of the few remaining holocaust survivors, said superintendent Claudia Parker. As a child, Lesser spent time in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and the Durnhau labour camp during Second World War. The only other member of his family to survive the holocaust was his sister, Lola. Sir John High School students will also attend the presentation and students will travel from Chief Jimmy Bruneau High School in Behchoko to hear Lesser speak. Behchoko instructor Michael Botermans is responsible for organizing the event, said Parker. The early dismissal day that week will be changed to Wednesday, said Parker, so that the three-hour presentation can be held Thursday afternoon. Dates set for 2012-13 school year The school calendar for 2012-13 was set during Wednesday's board meeting. The first day of Catholic school classes will be Wednesday, Aug. 29 for students in kindergarten to Grade 8. This is also scheduled to be registration day at the high school. St. Pat's students have their first day of classes scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 30. Christmas break is scheduled from Dec. 22 to Jan. 6, while March break will take place from March 16 to April 11. Through an agreement between the Catholic board and the Yellowknife Education District No. 1, dates for Christmas and March breaks will be the same across both boards, said Parker. The last day of school for students in kindergarten to Grade 8 is scheduled for Tuesday, June 25, 2013. High school exams are to conclude June 26. Kimberlite centre enrolment up After a dismal showing at the start of the school year, student enrolment is starting to rise at the Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre. There are 161 high school students enrolled for the spring semester, said Larry Conolly, co-ordinator for KCTC, which is as high as he's seen enrolment during his years at the centre. Last December, the trades centre had 137 high school students for the first semester, a drop of 18 per cent from the previous year. The centre is also hosting cosmetology courses for francophone students from Ecole Allain St-Cyr for the first time this semester. KCTC also offers construction and mechanics programs to francophone students, said Connolly. "We're doing really well," said Conolly.
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