SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Eight people are running to fill seven positions on the public school board. They are:
Allan Shortt
Age: Not disclosed
Occupation: Construction superintendent with Clark Builders for the past five years
Experience: Has served on the Yk1 board of trustees for the past two terms, and has served as chair of the board since 2009; served as vice-president of the Yellowknife Elks Club for five years.
Goals: To secure adequate funding for special needs programs and to get J. H. Sissons School renovation plans in order and the project underway.
"It's one place where we need to start doing a better job," said Shortt, about supporting teachers and other employees who work with special needs children. "Also, as a board we need to focus on providing all kids with a quality education."
Terry Brookes
Age: 58
Occupation: professional engineer
Experience: Incumbent has been on the board for 18 years, or six terms.
Goals: Being able to identify and anticipate educational challenges, based on what the public wants, so that the next generation can have a better education than the previous one. Examples noted are continuing to make Route 51 more adaptable for students, addressing teenage obesity, promoting lifelong learning and continuing to engage with the public.
"Trustees should not be problem solvers, they should be problem seekers. We pay people to solve the problems. We have to look at what the issues are now and what should education be like five years from now. Technology and philosophy is constantly changing."
Jay Butler
Age: 48
Occupation: Computer systems analyst for the GNWT
Experience: Butler served on Yk1 three years ago and has frequently filled "helping" roles in other organizations, particularly in the arts, and around the community.
Goals: If elected, Butler intends to continue developing a well-managed and competent school board. His goals are to improve available programing for gifted education by providing new opportunities and building on existing programs. He said the variety of programming available in athletics, academics, and arts are unique to Yellowknife and it is a variety he is determined to protect.
Blake Lyons
Age: 71
Occupation: Was executive director of the NWT Teachers' Association before retirement and has extensive professional experience in labour relations.
Experience: If elected this will be Lyons' second term on the Yk1 board of trustees. During his professional career Lyons has worked on several boards both national and territorial in scale. He says this experience has taught him an important lesson: if you listen you will learn a lot.
Goals: Lyons' number one goal if elected for another term is to generate more parent involvement at Mildred Hall School. He said there are a lot of great things happening at the school and he would like to take on the challenge of getting more parents involved. Ensuring continued support for Route 51, a program which gives support and helps build confidence in students who struggle to stay in school, will also be a priority.
Heather Clarke
Age: 40
Occupation: Administrative assistant at the Northern Territories Federation of Labour; previously a French immersion and primary education teacher in B. C.
Experience: Clarke is the current secretary and a past chair of the NJ Macpherson PAC group and was involved in the organizing committee for the Let Them Be Kids accessible playground build. Clarke also served one term on the Military Family Resource Centre Board.
Goals: A safe, caring and inclusive learning environment for all students is Clarke's number one goal. She intends to reach that goal by providing appropriate resources, training, and support to teachers and support staff which directly impacts student success. She has also identified the need to re-instate the $90,000 the GNWT cut from inclusive education and lobby for an increase to funding in that area. Clarke said she will also make public consultation a priority through additional town hall meetings and information sessions on specific topics, such as last year's session on bullying and homophobia.
Mira Hall
Age: 33
Occupation: Program developer for the Centre for Northern Families and coffee roaster for Javaroma
Experience: Hall has completed one term as a Yk1 trustee. She has also served on governance boards with the Aurora Arts Society, Canada Without Poverty, and the Feminist Alliance for International Action. Other local groups Hall is a part of include the Great Slave Cruising Club, the Coalition Against Family Violence, Alternatives North and the Yellowknife Roller Girls.
Goals: Hall's goals if elected are to improve services to special needs students, standardize best practices between Yk1 schools, improve communication between the board and the community, improve support for programs which foster academic achievement, and ensure the district provides a compassionate environment for marginalized students.
John Stephenson
Age: 59
Occupation: Retired civil servant with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for 30 years; current Yk1 school board trustee; volunteer vice-president of the Yellowknife Ski Club
Experience: Has served one three-year term on the Yk1 board of trustees; previous experience on school parent advisory committees (PACs), including serving as chair for J.H. Sissons School's PAC; previous experience as president of Canadian Parents for French, Yellowknife.
Goals: If he is re-elected, Stephenson is planning on "continuing to pursue the strategic initiatives of the school board, which have to do with academic achievement, healthy living, aboriginal education and special needs."
"I'm going to be taking a particular interest in healthy living of our students, the health of our students, the nutrition of our students," said Stephenson.
Mildred Wilke
Age: 69
Occupation: Retired journalist
Experience: 20 years experience as queen mother of the Red Hat Society in Yellowknife; served two previous terms as a trustee on the Yk1 board; organizational experience as editor of newspaper in Lynn Lake, Man.
Goals: "My goal is to just do the best you can with everyone combined. That would be the teachers and the staff," said Wilke. She would also like to focus on keeping up parent engagement.
