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Friday, May 21, 2004
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A+ for school board

Yellowknife Education District 1 must be the envy of financial administrators everywhere. Three years after running its deficit to $1.1 million, the district has a surplus of almost $900,000.

As superintendent Judith Knapp said, the latest school board budget is "good news." Over-hiring built the debt, staff cuts and sharper money management erased it.

As then board-chair Dan Schofield said in 2001, "we staffed better than we can afford." The district had 131 teachers in 2001 and money for 121. Since then, teacher hirings have been more closely tied to enrolment. Last year, it was 136.5 teachers for 2,152 students.

This year, the district approved a staff of 128.5 for 2,080 students. The net change in the district's financial picture adds up to $2 million, an average of almost $700,000 a year in reduced spending.

If administrators can sustain that performance, taxpayers will be laughing all the way to the bank.

And imagine what the district's finances might look like if the penny-pinching had started sooner.


Diamond-quality heroes

Loud cheers must go to De Beers for stepping up to play a $15,000 tune for each of the next three years to support Folk on the Rocks.

This is the kind of major player support for which we've been agitating.

Our own city council couldn't get the blinkers off long enough to take on the challenge.

As for Diavik, it responded to our story about the stolen Seniors Society raffle tickets by opening its wallet the next day to cover the $400 amount that would've been raised by ticket sales.

Cheers to you both. You make Yellowknife proud to have you in our community.


Bad screen leaves door open for future problems

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News


Most people have heard the saying about not throwing stones if you live in a glass house.

More often than not, the adage is a warning about chastising others when you, yourself, may have similar problems.

About two months ago, a number of Nunavut's top political personalities were shaking their heads in disgust over the news that a Yellowknife doctor, who was fired from a family practice in the city, had been licensed in the NWT despite knowledge of previous problems in the United States.

It seems the good doctor had a habit of writing himself prescriptions for various narcotic medications.

The doctor had been disciplined in the State of Montana, but the NWT's medical registration board was prevented by law from informing his new employers of the past problems.

The doctor was fired earlier this year amid allegations he breached patient confidentiality.

Nunavut at risk

The potential for the same type of situation is all too real with Nunavut's teaching community.

In far too many cases, Nunavut teacher certification checks are being done after a new educator is hired instead of before.

It will be interesting to see if Minister Ed Picco moves to strengthen Education's screening process, or remains content to simply roll the bones of chance and maintain the status quo.

Should Picco decide to take a closer look at his department's hiring practice, he may decide to act quickly.

Once he begins looking into the situation, it shouldn't take the minister all that long to discover the Department of Education has known for quite some time that the possibility of a 'bad hire' is all too real in Nunavut.

Of course, the Nunavut government is well known for its silence among the ranks -- an understandable development when one considers the constant gag orders passed down to the rank and file from their ruling ministers -- so the information gathering process could take longer than usual (see O'Brien saga for current example).

Warning already given

However, with a deputy minister having already been warned by a former registrar of teachers about the lack of background checks being undertaken on new teachers, we're sure Picco will recognize a more thorough approach to applicant screening soon has to be put in place in our territory.

If not, it's just a matter of time before that 'bad hire' becomes somebody's nightmare.


Is a curfew finally necessary?

Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum


With a 15-year-old taken into custody and released in connection with the fire at Samuel Hearne secondary school Monday morning, perhaps it is time to look at implementing a curfew in town.

While a curfew could never wholly prevent events such as what happened at SHSS, had there been one in place and enforced perhaps the high school's second tragedy in little more than a week could have been avoided.

Disgust probably best sums up the sentiment at the fire hall regarding the injury of a volunteer firefighter, who lost part of a finger while helping to put out the fire.

It is one thing for a member to be injured in the line of duty taking on an accidental fire, but the fact that this blaze appears to have been intentionally set means that our brave volunteer firefighters were put in harm's way on what would seem a thoughtless whim.

In a previous editorial, I argued against setting a curfew for Inuvik's youth, taking the line that police and the municipality are not -- and should not -- be put into the role of surrogate parent. However, if parents are not willing to step up to the plate and public property and human lives are at risk from the behaviour of the wayward youth, then perhaps it's time to rethink things.

The collapse of SHSS's foyer roof brought out a lot of positive response from the community.

For example, teachers put in extra hours making sure students had homework material and the enthusiasm of our town's conscientious student population eager to get their hands on those resources was refreshing.

However, the flip side was that for a chunk of SHSS's student body, their school's unexpected closure didn't really matter as many in that lot had skipped more than half the year anyways. To make matters worse, now a student at the school has been charged with setting the fire.

High truancy rates, coupled with ongoing vandalism concerns -- that most recently burned up the high school gym -- indicate that there is a real discipline problem with much of the town's youth.

As there doesn't seem to be any way to shake parents responsible for these problematic kids out of their neglectful slumbers, then keeping the little rascals off the street looks to be the only course of action.

And while we're at it, something needs to be done to address the uninspiring attendance records at the high school. Perhaps a school-hour curfew during the weekdays -- whereby all youth would be expected inside the walls of our public education institutions during class time -- should be implemented as well.

All too often much time and energy is expended looking at ways to cater to the needs of our youth and it's about time the community addressed its own well-being and future prosperity. Allowing kids to attend school when they feel like it and run rampant through town at all hours does nothing in this regard.

Unless, of course, Inuvik is willing to put its future in the hands of a generation of lazy, irresponsible and criminal-minded youth being fostered here under our very noses.


Grimacing at the pumps

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum


Motorists across North America are up in arms over gasoline prices.

Because the recent spike at the pumps comes in advance of a federal election, the cost of gasoline has become a campaign issue. The Conservatives have pledged to remove the GST on the federal excise tax, in other words get rid of the "tax on a tax." That sounds great, but it will only translate into a savings of about one cent per litre. Big deal! Is that the best our politicians can do?

Underlying this outrage is North American consumers' false notion that we are entitled to relatively cheap gasoline. Where is that written in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Other than the U.S., most industrialized nations pay considerably more for fuel than Canadians.

I can't help but recall the words of a university professor who pointed out that we go into a store and pay more than a dollar for a litre of bottled water or pop and think nothing of it. But when we are expected to pay that amount for gasoline we're resentful.

Feeling gouged by gas prices, everyone wants to point the finger of blame. Over the years, the provincial and federal governments have held a number of inquiries into allegations of price fixing by oil companies. Did any of those inquiries ever find a guilty party?

Oil is a precious commodity in limited supply. Market demand continues to grow, and nobody seems to be able to dictate production rates to Middle Eastern producers (OPEC).

So it looks like we'll all have to swallow hard when we pull up to the pump. Just remember not to take it out on the poor cashiers. They have no control over the world forces at work, they're just trying to make a living.

Cans, bottles, wrappers and bags were the most common pieces of refuse left in the spring wasteland of Fort Simpson prior to Saturday. That was the day that dozens of residents came together for a community clean up.

It's a scene that plays out in most if not all Deh Cho communities this time of year.

Of course people are responsible for much of the rubbish but, as one astute picker-upper noted on Saturday, ravens (and dogs) are also contributors because they rip garbage bags open in search of food.

Regardless of who's to blame, it's frustrating to not only have to pick up wrappers, chip bags and bottles, but to find each in tiny pieces adds to the aggravation.

What possesses some people to think of the world as their trash can? Although more receptacles around the community would be helpful, there are many instances where people toss junk onto the street or sidewalk in full view of a garbage can.

If there's any upside to the thoughtless littering, it's that the oodles of debris unite neighbours in a common cause to get rid of it. There really is a sense of community to the event.

On the downside, the empty lots and fields -- some scoured twice in thorough efforts on Saturday morning -- were showing signs of fresh litter by late in the afternoon.

Same time, same place next year, everybody. There will be plenty more work to do.