Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Sep 05/05) - Mattie McNeill is making Fort Smith history as the first aboriginal person to be principal of a school in the community.

The Salt River First Nation member is on temporary assignment to Joseph Burr Tyrrell elementary school for the 2005-2006 school year.

As principal, McNeill, 59, hopes to be a role model for aboriginal students.

They have seen aboriginal teachers before, but "it is very powerful" for students to see they can grow up to become principal, she said.

McNeill is also the first person - aboriginal or non-aboriginal - from Fort Smith to lead one of the community's two schools.

The former student council president at Tyrrell school is a temporary replacement for Craig Walsh, who has taken a year's leave of absence.

When the school opened in 1958, McNeill was a student in Grade 9, and Tyrrell was Fort Smith's only school, combining all grades.

She is looking forward to returning for a year as principal. "It's kind of exciting because so many things are the same and so many things are different."

Among the things that haven't changed are the school colours, which she helped choose, and Pennies for UNICEF, which she helped start.

McNeill has a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in education administration and leadership.

She has worked at various schools and colleges in the NWT and southern Canada.

In the 1990s, she was principal of Chief Sunrise Education Centre on the Hay River Reserve and taught at Deninu School in Fort Resolution.

Since 2000, she has been a senior instructor in Aurora College's teacher education program in Yellowknife.

It is good for education instructors to occasionally return to the real world of teaching children, McNeill said.

"We want to make sure we're imparting information that's current," she said.

McNeill plans to make some changes during her year as principal, and wants to focus on aboriginal languages and programming.

The school offers a good culture camp, she said, but "I think the missing ingredient is the language."

McNeill understands, but does not speak Chipewyan.

She is also looking forward to working with the community.

"The school is only as strong as the linkages between the school, the parents and the students," she said.