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Yk1 School Board briefs
$94,000 for new teacher
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, June 19, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
More than $94,000 has been added to the proposed 2013/2014 budget for Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) to hire a new French immersion teacher.
Finance chair Terry Brookes brought the motion forward to hire the teacher to the board of trustees on June 11. The trustees approved the motion unanimously but not without some concerns raised by Mira Hall about the apparent extravagance of hiring an extra French immersion teacher while the district's budget remains in the red.
The proposed $31.7 million budget for the 2013/2014 school year comes with a deficit of more than $290,000. The school board recently proposed joining the Catholic school district for a 0.23 mill rate increase for the next school year but backed out of that plan because it didn't have sufficient time to consult with city ratepayers.
"We have to make sure we're covering the things we need instead of just paying for nice things to do," said Hall. "We need to consider, 'Is this something we want, or something we need.'"
It wasn't indicated at the meeting to which school the French immersion teacher will be assigned.
Sir John sewer woes to be fixed
City officials are working to reroute a sewer line running to Sir John Franklin High School from the old Akaitcho Hall lot after years of backed up pipes and sewage headaches, according to Metro Huculak, superintendent of Yk1.
The sewer line freezes during the winter and has been causing the school problems for nearly eight years.
Huculak informed trustees at the June 11 board meeting that plans were in place to reroute the line this summer. He said the frozen pipe doesn't interrupt classes or disrupt students in anyway but the cost of thawing out the pipe has been coming out of Yk1's maintenance budget. These costs weren't immediately available at press time.
"We're looking for the (Department of Education, Culture and Employment) to reimburse us," he said.
More French immersion
There are 390 students currently enrolled in Yk1's French immersion programs, said Yk1 vice-chair John Stephenson at last week's school board meeting. Stephenson commended the ongoing initiative to promote French in Yk1's schools and announced changes to the Grade 5 core French program.
"More hours of French studying will be added to ensure the students are ready for immersion in Grade 6," he said.
Yk1 schools have an intensive Grade 6 immersion program in which most courses are taught in French. Most students that go into this program continue French immersion through high school, said Stephenson.
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