Development officer to visit hamlet in January
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Chesterfield Inlet (Dec 20/00) - Kivalliq School Services finally received direction from Nunavut's Department of Education on how to proceed with the Chesterfield Inlet situation.
No candidates came forward in Chester to seek the seven District Education Authority (DEA) seats available in the Dec. 11 election.
Superintendent of schools for the Kivalliq region, Chris Dasilva, says the community told the Department of Education it doesn't want trustees to be appointed by the government.
"In light of that, the department told us to send our DEA development officer, Rebecca Kudloo, to Chester in January," says Dasilva.
"I met with Rebecca (Kudloo) this past Thursday to map the situation out with her."
Kudloo will probably be in Chester early next month.
Dasilva says Kudloo will hold a community meeting to explain what DEAs represent, why they're important and what their role is in the community.
"I asked her to make it her first trip of the year, so it will probably be in the vicinity of the week of Jan. 8.
"Hopefully she will be able to drum up some interest in the DEA board."
If Kudloo does manage to "drum up some interest in the DEA board," Dasilva says she will then speak to hamlet council about holding a byelection to select a new DEA.
He says three people have come forward to express an interest in the DEA since the nomination deadline for the Dec. 11 election passed.
"That shows us the DEA is not totally dead in Chesterfield.
"We have at least three individuals who are interested and, after our development officer's meeting, I think chances are good for a full slate to run in a byelection.
"We're going to go to Chester to try and support the community into understanding why it's important to have a DEA board," said Dasilva.
"We're going to give it a good, honest effort and see where it goes from there."
