Student turnover at Sir John Franklin in Yellowknife is over 100 per cent, as stated in a public school board study.

That means the majority of students starting in September remain until June.

But there is an equal number of students who attend for a short period of time and then leave before year end. Other students replace them and then they leave. Sometimes students leave and return two or three times a year. The same situation exists to a degree in all city schools.

Why does this happen and what are the implications?

Yellowknife is a "magnet" community. It attracts most of the people moving into the NWT from southern provinces for work. The city also attracts families from small Northern communities. They may come for temporary employment, medical purposes or to get some relief from troubled situations.

For families who intend to stay, the schools simply absorb the new students without much problem. For short-term students, especially those whose families are experiencing domestic difficulties, it's a different story, as it is for those students coming from schools that cannot provide an education standard as high as Yellowknife schools.

These students need considerable teacher time and behaviour problems may affect the stable students. The extra effort costs time and money. The money end is important because the territorial government funds city schools based upon September enrolment figures and the revolving students are missed. That means hidden costs.

The public school board is wisely revealing these costs. They recognize the students aren't the problem but the unbudgeted drain on resources could hurt the quality of education.

The school board should approach the territorial government for funding to cover the students.

It's in the interests of the people of the NWT, especially in the communities, that their children get the best education should they be forced to move to the capital for any reason.

Old Town Yellowknife has become the tourism epicentre of our city and the success is well-deserved.

Businesspeople seem to have recognized as much. By enhancing the history and unique characteristics of the city's oldest quarter, they are creating a big drawing card for visitors.

The majority of those who travel to Yellowknife for a holiday head to Old Town, as opposed to the suburbs.

This is why almost 30 businesses are thriving in the historic location. How else would you explain the success of Tom Faess' Pilot's Roost, a cappuccino, ice cream and convenience store? Faess opened the establishment in June and it is already paying for itself.

It's an Old Town with a new face and it's looking good!

What defines a homeless person? A person in need of home is probably what springs to the minds of many.

But it's not that simple.

In February, Chris Green, an employee at the Yellowknife Home for the Homeless, was stabbed at the facility. The NWT Housing Corp., which provided the majority of funding, ordered the home shut, stating most of the occupants did not meet their guidelines. Many occupants had already been asked to leave other shelters and had nowhere else to go.

So Ernie Glowach, former shelter supervisor, along with Green, gathered money and supplies and opened a bush camp for the homeless outside Yellowknife. Four of six who have been using the shelter have already moved on after finding jobs.

Glowach and Green have long-term plans for the site, which include a young offenders camp and an alcohol and drug treatment centre. If the pair's plan succeeds, the federal housing minister may be looking North for a solution to the nation's homeless problems.

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Marble Island.

The day before the Tuesday trip I considered cancelling. I thought a day of work that included an hour boat ride on the Hudson Bay, touring around a beautiful and historically rich island and watching wildlife was not really work.

But knowing it would be silly to cancel, I got over my reluctance, packed a lunch and my camera and ended up having one of my best days at work ever.

Simon Kowmak was the boat captain. After an hour of watching the constant spray of salt water jet off the sides of the silver boat, Marble Island appeared out of nowhere.

The rocks were smooth and glistening white against the clear blue sky and calm waters, my breath was taken away.

As Simon navigated our boat into a small and pristine lagoon the host of our trip explained that we were floating over the area where two ships captained by explorer James Knight sank.

Sunken ships, sandy beaches and that glistening white rock -- I was really enjoying my new office space.

The trip was more or less a small sneak peek of what will happen when a cruise ship makes three trips to the island this summer. The first of which will be tomorrow (Thursday).

On each trip, 90 people who have a penchant for history and beauty will be shuttled from their liner by Zodiac to the island.

Once on shore they will get down and crawl their initial steps so as not to upset the lady who legend says turned the island from ice to stone.

We were told that if we failed to crawl we would either be plagued with bad hunting or death within the year.

Who would dare to ignore the warnings?

Last week we were the only ones on the island, but tomorrow, in honour of the guests, all the stops will be pulled out in order to tell the history of the island and to show them traditional work.

Drum dancers, story tellers, bannock baking and carvings will all be set up on the island for the people.

They will spend the day, like we did, wandering from island shore to island shore thinking about the people who lived and died there.

And, if they're lucky, on their way home they'll see belugas, a polar bear and seals, like we did.