by Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 01/97) - School-year starts span a month across the NWT as school boards tailor their calendars to meet the unique needs of their Northern students. The tactic seems to be working.

"What we've seen is that students who spend time on the land do reasonably well," Kitikmeot District Education Council director Tom Stewart said.

Many students who participate in traditional practises show higher self-esteem and are broadening their knowledge base, he said.

"In my opinion students don't get all their education in the classroom. The opportunity to develop land skills is valuable."

Students who are involved in traditional activities are absent, not truant, he pointed out.

"Many of our communities like to take advantage of spring (for traditional activities)."

In the past, when school years were derived from conventional, September-to-June calendars of the South, many students found themselves pulled out of classes by their parents, who wanted their children involved in traditional, hunting-related activities.

Classes went on without them, and they ended up missing too much of the curriculum to properly complete a full grade. Pressure to pass all students was high, however, putting teachers and principals in a difficult position.

Traditional hunting practices, or time out on the land, are now part of most territorial school calendars.

"We have some communities that schedule the year around hunting activities, like Trout Lake," Deh Cho Divisional Educational Council director Nolan Swartzentruber said.

"Part of our program is to promote learning traditional land skills."

Unlike many southern jurisdictions, there isn't a consistent school calendar, but there are legislated hours of instruction, he said.

Education councils set their calendars in spring for the coming school year.

But when the school year ends earlier, it challenges Grade 12 students writing year-end exams, Stewart added.

"The bigger the gap between school-year-end and June exams, the more difficult it is for students to have successful exams."

Students write final exams set by the province of Alberta.

Principal Donald Clark said his Rankin Inlet school, part of the Keewatin DEC, starts in the first or second week of August. This year, classes started unusually early, on Aug. 6.

But they have started as late as Aug. 14, Clark said.

An earlier start means an earlier finish and many people go out on the land in spring, he said.

It's not always easy to accommodate the demands of both aboriginal culture and academic requirements of students hoping to head to post-secondary students, however.

A late August start, for example, would help Grade 12 students writing final exams, said Clark.

During territorial trials for the Arctic Winter Games in January, the school will close Friday and Monday Clark said.

It won't, however, close for the March games, which are being held in the territorial capital.

Yellowknife Education District No.1 superintendent Ken Woodley and Yellowknife Roman Catholic School District No. 2 said their calenders are similar to last year's.