by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 12/97) - Andrew Vaughan went from attending school to running it last Friday.

The Grade 6 Ecole St. Joseph student found himself superintendent for the day after winning third place in an in-school contest in which all students' names were entered.

The second prize was a day serving as superintendent of schools; the first prize was a flight to the High Arctic.

The greatest difficulty, he discovered almost immediately, was placating vocal special-interest groups.

"All the teachers were asking for raises," he said prior to a lunch-hour meeting with Wildlife Minister Stephen Kakfwi and after a sit-down with Yellowknife Mayor Dave Lovell.

"And all the students were asking me to fire this teacher or that teacher."

Andrew, though, took a tough line against unrestrained spending and resisted demands to reduce the workforce during his day in power.

Superintendent Loretta Foley, who accompanied Andrew after ceding her role to him, said the contest was a way of showing students how much was done behind the scenes to keep the schools open.

"The hope is that they will see a little bit of what really happens when you are in charge of a school district," she said.

This is the second year that the Yellowknife Catholic school system has run the superintendent-for-a-day contest, she said, and the day is packed with business.

Besides meeting with civic and school officials, the two did a walk-through of local schools, dealt with school district business in a series of meetings and kept up with happenings back at the office by cell phone, which was Andrew's responsibility.

He said he had no idea how much educational business goes on behind the scenes that students on their way to school never see.

"I was surprised at how big it is," he said of the infrastructure.