SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Board Chair Mary Vane read out a letter at last Wednesday's school board meeting stating the resignation of school trustee Francis Chang from the board.

She said his resignation is effective immediately because Chang's work schedule forces him to be out of town on a regular basis.

"I'd like to thank Francis for the time put into the board and appreciate his contribution," said Vane.

She said the board will not be having an election to replace him.

"If we ever had an election, we'd have to pay for it ourselves. The board hasn't decided how to fill it yet. We haven't met yet," she told Yellowknifer yesterday.

Chang was elected to the Catholic school board in the municipal election held Oct. 21 2009 with 528 votes - good enough for second place out of nine candidates running for the seven-member board. He had also run for city council in that election but fell 200 votes short of the 1,422 votes needed to claim the eighth and final seat. His resignation is the second this term for the Catholic school board. Jennifer Debogorski - the top vote getter in 2009 - stepped down last October.

Music in the air

Seven Weledeh students entertained the Yellowknife Catholic school board during its monthly meeting Wednesday to show off the new fiddle program at the school.

The new lunch hour fiddle program began in December and has upwards of 50 students participating in it twice a week. It is run in partnership with the district's culture programming and the NWT Kole Crook Fiddle Association, which helped foot the bill for fiddles and instructors.

Instructor Andrea Bettger led the group of students in playing a few pieces.

"The students learn basic fiddle tunes and work their way to things that are a little more complicated ... All the students playing tonight are beginners; they have never played before the program started," she said.

Principal Simone Gessler said fiddle instructors from all over the country will be stopping into the school about four times throughout the year as part of the program to spend the day instructing students in small groups to further reinforce their skills.

"They will be teaching our kids for the entire day in different groups to infuse and pump up the experience," she said.

Board checks for cancellation insurance

Securing funds in case of cancellation was a concern as the board motioned to approve St. Patrick High School's April 2012 international trip to Israel at last Wednesday's trustee meeting.

Trustee Simon Taylor said although the trip is a great opportunity for the students, the Middle East is a volatile destination for the high school trip.

"That part of the world is slightly in turmoil. I think the trip is an excellent idea, but we should have some guarantee that a safe-guard is in place in case of unforeseen circumstances," he said.

Superintendent Claudia Parker said district procedures are set up the same for any trip whereby if there are any risk factors, the school board can stop the trip up until the day before departure.

"We'd have to take a look at safety issues and make sure everything is covered before the trip goes. It would have to be made very clear to parents and students in the beginning that this trip could be cancelled at any point in time up to a day before," she said.

Vice-chair Rose-Marie Jackson wanted clarification on the nature of the insurance for the trip.

"We need reassurance that the insurance will help protect all the fundraising they'll do around the trip in the event that if we had to have them not go, they won't be losing an opportunity to go on another trip," she said.

Parker said she would get the details of the insurance but said she is confident the trip's organizer, the educational travel and student tour company Explorica, has proper insurance in place.

"We would definitely want to have something in writing about what would happen because they would not want to take young people anywhere that's not safe either."

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