Lisa Scott
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 11/05) - Landscape architect Karen LeGresley Hamre's vision of the Mildred Hall School Community Park includes two playgrounds, a reflection area, a grassy field with indigenous plants and shrubs.

Park committee member Pam Schlosser showed off the plans to board members Tuesday night.

The committee wants the board to approve the design and help them lobby the city for support, possibly from Northern Strategy funds.

The district has committed $100,000 to the proposed park, which is estimated to cost $300,000. The park would serve as a playground for Mildred Hall students and possibly as a community park after hours.

Erasmus retains chair

Reanna Erasmus will guide the Yellowknife public school board through the last year of its three-year term.

Erasmus was acclaimed as chairperson at a meeting Tuesday. She thanked trustees for their support.

Dale Thomson was voted in as vice-chair.

This will be the last year for the current board of trustees before the next municipal election in the fall of 2006.

Core French doesn't work

Students taking core French throughout their school careers do not learn the language.

"If you are not immersed in a language, you do not retain it," said Jean-Marie Mariez, supervisor of French instruction for the district.

Mariez lauded the benefits of a pilot project for intensive core French to trustees.

The project will increase French instruction from 90 minutes to 300 minutes a week for Yk No. 1 students.

The Intensive French model is part of the overhaul of French programming at the school. It's the next step after adding French immersion in kindergarten at J.H. Sissons school.

The district hopes that 50 per cent of high school students will be bilingual graduates, double the present rate.

Where are the students going?

Enrolment in Yellowknife Education District No. 1 schools continues its downward spiral.

The district lost 117 students from October 2004 to October 2005.

In September 2002, the district had 2,151 students. This year there are just 1,936 students.

A 10-year facility plan by the department of Education, Culture and Employment projects no growth of students in Yellowknife.

Despite the dwindling numbers in Yk 1, Yellowknife Catholic schools continue to add students, gaining 20 to 30 a year.