Lisa Scott
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 28/04) - A new school is on the horizon for Yellowknife but one school district is pushing the city to choose a site before time and available options run out.

"This is a priority. Land needs to be set aside," Yellowknife Catholic School District board chair Shannon Gullberg, told city council Tuesday.

The site will be chosen by the territorial government, the city and Yellowknife school districts.

"It's not a matter of laying blame. People need to work together to make this a reality," she says.

All districts involved

The GNWT included a new school in its draft budget starting April 1, 2004, with the process slated to begin in 2005/2006. Which district will get the school is still up in the air.

Yellowknifer has reported YCS's and the Commission Scolaire Francophone de Division's requests for a new school, while Yellowknife No.1 has said they are not in line at this point.

All three districts have been in talks with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment on the issue.

Enrolment at YCS and the Francophone Commission is currently on the rise, while numbers are down at the public district. ECE uses enrolment numbers to determine the need for a new facility.

One hundred new students joined YCS's three schools in September 2003. Gullberg admits that a new school is needed right now and that district should be the recipient.

"We believe that the statistics all around support a Catholic school being the next school," says Gullberg.

Mayor Gordon Van Tighem says the city is already addressing the issue, setting aside three possible sites in their general plan, which is currently being ratified.

He hopes to have a site chosen by the fall.

"In order to move forward somebody needs to have money and that's only just been put aside in the GNWT budget," he says.

The city plan lists Con Mine, the old Yellowknife Correctional Centre site and phase eight of the Niven Lake development as possible school locations, though the YCC site has since been ruled out. The city also set aside two possible sites for a college campus across from the Co-op and by the Bristol Monument. Van Tighem says four groups are involved in the process right now; Yellowknife No. 1, YCS, the Francophone Commission and Aurora College.

Coun. Bob Brooks called the YCS presentation "timely" as the general plan moves into place.

Work to be done

"There is a lot of work to be done with ECE and the other districts," he says.

"I think it could be done within a year. It really depends on the impetus of the GNWT and how much they feel a school is warranted," he says.

The new school still has to go through the legislative assembly.