Taylor re-elected Catholic board chair
Non-Catholic incumbent goes unchallenged
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, November 20, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Yellowknife Catholic school board re-elected Simon Taylor, a self-described non-Catholic, as their chairman Wednesday night.
Simon Taylor, chair of Yellowknife Catholic Schools, was re-elected chairman without challenge during Wednesday's meeting of the board – the first since last month's municipal election. Miles Welsh, vice-chair, also won back his seat uncontested. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo |
Trustee Miles Welsh rejoins him as vice-chair. Taylor, who has chaired the board since 2012, said he wasn't surprised he went unchallenged for the position. Catholic trustees' acceptance of Taylor as their leader heralds an apparent sea change from the board's past position on non-Catholics in leadership roles.
As late as 2009, Yellowknife Catholic Schools was trying to convince the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its case for barring non-Catholics from running for the board. The court refused to hear its appeal.
A failed attempt to remove longtime employees - superintendent Claudia Parker and Johnnie Bowden, one of two assistant superintendents - in 2012 created further tension but school board matters have been largely non-controversial since board elections later that fall.
"I don't want to disparage the former board because I think everyone there, they wanted the best for the district," said Taylor.
"This board wants to work with the administration that we have to ensure the best for the district. I think the former board, they considered alternate options, that's all."
During Wednesday's meeting, Parker asked trustees if any of them were interested in putting their name in for the chair. After a brief pause, Taylor nominated himself. Parker asked if there were any other nominations and there were none. Moments later the process was repeated and Welsh claimed the vice-chair's seat.
On Thursday, Taylor said their first task is to get new trustees - Tina Schauerte and Revi Lau-a - up to speed on board processes.
"We'll be providing the new board members new information, going through the policies, what it means to be a board member," said Taylor.
The district has ongoing concerns with classroom space. Although enrolment is slightly lower than last year, the district still faces a space crunch at St. Joseph School, which was nearing 90 per cent capacity at the end of last year.
Taylor said staff are working with a new data management tool that will allow them to identify areas that require improvement. Overall, however, district resources are stretched and students are still scoring below Alberta students in curriculum tests.
"We want to see our school system provide education levels that the public expects and the data is showing that's proving difficult," he said, adding more funding from the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment (ECE) would help.
"I don't know that the argument is with ECE," he said. "It's always portrayed that ECE and the board are at loggerheads with each other and I don't think that's the case. The department's expectation is the same as ours, they want to see good education. Really, it's the government as a whole that has to maintain education as a priority. We should be at least on par with education elsewhere in the country."
