Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, January 30, 2008

RANKIN INLET - Kivalliq teachers have a bit of making up to do after the recent blizzard that closed schools in most of the region for seven days.

Leo Ussak elementary school co-principal Sarah Ayaruak of Rankin Inlet said she has complete confidence in her teachers' ability to catch up with their curriculum following the storm.

Grade 1 student Caitlin White gets a few pointers from teacher Kim Faulkner as she works on her word list at Leo Ussak elementary school in Rankin Inlet this past week. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

She said each grade is in a different situation and the teachers will decide how much, if any, extra work is required to catch up.

"There's no set policy that dictates action if a specific number of days are missed due to bad weather," said Ayaruak.

"We live in the Arctic, so we have to work through whatever the weather throws at us."

Things can be a bit more complicated in the senior grades, and Maani Ulujuk high school principal Brian Taylor said his teachers may have as much homework as the students to start the second semester.

He said the timing of the blizzard wasn't the greatest because students will also miss time in March due to the Arctic Winter Games (AWG).

"Because the second semester is broken up a bit due to the AWG, the blizzard does put a little pressure on teachers and students to finish the curriculum," said Taylor.

"But, we do have some latitude built into the curriculum because this sort of thing happens every year to some degree.

"The weather has made it a bit difficult for us to build momentum in the second semester with all these delays."

Taylor, who has been in the teaching profession for more than 30 years, said significant periods of time away from school are harder on students who struggle to maintain a passing grade.

But, he said, he's also seen students miss almost a month of school in one year and still achieve good grades.

"It's amazing how adaptable students can be, as long as they don't use the time away from school as an excuse.

"You hope they look at it as having a job to do and putting in the time to do it.

"We're still fairly well off with our teacher-to-student ratio, so we can accommodate any student who may need a little extra time to catch up.

"It's more difficult to help the students who look for any excuse to give up and not give a full effort."