School swap still possible: GNWT
Government comments on facilities proposal a surprise to French school board
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, April 4, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territorial government's appeal date to offer a school swap as an alternative to an expensive expansion of two French schools has passed, but a school swap might still be on the table, government officials say.
During an interview with Yellowknifer on Monday, Gabriela Eggenhofer, deputy minister for the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment said if Yellowknife Education District No. 1 offers a school swap the department will gladly accept.
A facilities proposal was made to Yk1 last fall as the government searched for ways to accommodate a June 2012 Supreme Court ruling to provide amenities to francophone students at both Ecole Allain St-Cyr in Yellowknife and Ecole Boreale in Hay River. The court order called for a $28-million expansion of the schools - a decision which the GNWT appealed in August 2012 before coming up with the facilities proposal.
News that a school swap could still be possible
was a surprise to Suzette Montreuil, director of the Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires Nord-Quest, which operates Ecole Allain St-Cyr as well as Ecole Boreale in Hay River.
"We were operating under the impression that that part was over," Montreuil told Yellowknifer Wednesday.
"In terms of Yellowknife, to this date there has been no actual offer from Yk1."
"What we've said to Yk1 is that they can be proactive and advise us of any kind of school swaps that they would think would be helpful in terms of making better use of their facilities," Eggenhofer said.
"The facilities in Yellowknife are not used to the best possible extent. For Yk1 and the commission alone we have six schools with the capacity of 2,273 students, and we actually only have 1,297 students based on 2013 enrolment. What that means in English is that we only use our family of schools
in Yellowknife to a 57 per cent utilization rate."
Eggenhofer said statistics matter because taxpayers provide utility costs. The GNWT provides 82.5 per cent of the estimated operation and maintenance costs for all Yk1 schools, which was $2.3 million in the 2013/2014 school year alone.
"So if the parents of Yk1 and the board come to the conclusion that they are actually willing to offer one of their schools then we'd certainly propose a school swap again to the commission," Eggenhofer said.
Yk1 has formed a committee to consider the future of the district's facilities which is made up of trustees, staff, parents and district office staff. John Stephenson, chair of the Yk1 board of trustees, said the plan is to hold meetings with parents and staff to talk about the facilities in general and make a long-term plan.
"One of those plans might meet the interest of the GNWT but we have not made a decision one way or another as a board," Stephenson said.
Montreuil said if a proposal for a school swap did come through it would depend on the school in question as to whether or not the commission would accept.
"Certainly some of the schools are much older. Sissons, for example, is the oldest school in town and it's not likely (they'd accept) on that one because it's due for renovations anyway," Montreuil said.
"I don't presume to know what the outcome of their consultations will be, but I am doubtful that it would ever come to that."
Although having to ship students to the Multiplex or Yk1 schools for gym class is probably the most readily noticeable task Ecole Allain St-Cyr staff must face as they wait for an expansion, there are other issues as well that the GNWT was ordered to solve through the court order.
"It's important to note that the court case wasn't just about the gym," Montreuil said. "The way we'd like to describe the court process is that they built us elementary schools, and we're looking to accommodate higher (grades) and also have more specialized classes to accommodate the different types of things you have in high school."
The schools were built for a smaller francophone population - Allain St-Cyr in 2000 and Ecole Boreale in 2005 - and Montreuil said there was always a question of whether the board wanted to go to a high school level.
"It's in your teenage years where you really struggle, where you think about where you are going to go, where you see yourself and where you feel at home," said Montreuil.
"So having a high school is really important in terms of mastering the language and the identity of being francophone."
Montreuil has several reasons why an expansion is important to Yellowknife as a whole, and not just to the commission.
"People often before they decide to move here will look to see if there's a French school, and if there is, that can influence their decision to come or not," Montreuil said.
"I don't want to shy away from saying I think the
students that are there now merit having these facilities, it's not just about what would happen (in the future) but who is there now as well.
"There's who it might attract, the francophone community that exists in the school and the larger community, strengthening that community (with their own facility) and of course the students that are there now."
