Range Lake, N.J. Macpherson off the table in school swap
J.H. Sissons students could go to Mildred Hall instead should trustees close school
Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 5, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Students from J.H. Sissons and Mildred Hall schools may be swinging side by side in the schoolyard playground next year, according to a new plan proposed by the public school board.
Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) circulated four scenarios yesterday outlining potential school configurations for its students, including one new option that would involve closing J.H. Sissons School and moving the French immersion program into part of Mildred Hall School, which currently has a 50 per cent utilization rate.
That new shared-school proposal would also eliminate the middle school grades from Mildred Hall and Range Lake North School, moving all the district's students from grades 6 to 8 into William McDonald School, which has a utilization rate of 35 per cent.
All four scenarios are up for discussion at 7 p.m. tomorrow night at Range Lake North, when Yk1 trustees and administration are scheduled to gather with the public for the last time before the board makes its decision about the future of the district's elementary schools on Dec. 9.
The board is exploring the use of the district's facilities because the GNWT asked Yk1 to examine the feasibility of handing over one of its school buildings in response to a June 2012 NWT Supreme Court decision in favour of Commission scolaire francophone.
The ruling demanded the government provide the francophone school board with sufficient space for classrooms, a gymnasium, science labs, and career and technology space for Yellowknife secondary students at an estimated construction cost of $15 million. The GNWT appealed and a decision has yet to be issued.
It's unclear what the territorial government would or could do with the empty school should Yk1 offer to transfer ownership of one to the GNWT. The francophone school board has repeatedly rejected a school swap as most Yk1 facilities are decades old and haven't been renovated.
Last year, Yk1 trustees told the government they were willing to explore the idea of transferring a school to the government, but not before taking time to consult with parents.
A facilities committee was struck in February, which consisted of trustees, parents, school staff and district administration. The 13-member committee organized a 10-question survey in May that yielded 399 responses. It also hosted two public forums to solicit input from parents and guardians this past spring.
In June the committee presented three of the four scenarios to be discussed tomorrow evening as part of a 42-page report for the Yk1 board.
These scenarios include: maintaining the status quo; moving Range Lake North students in grades 6 to 8 to William McDonald; and closing Sissons and moving the French immersion program into William McDonald.
The board is targeting J.H. Sissons for potential closure because the 40-year-old school is in need of more than $20 million in renovations. The school's utilization rate is 64 per cent and climbing gradually.
Another scenario developed by the committee, which would have seen students in N.J. Macpherson or Range Lake North moved to make way for French immersion students from Sissons has been scrapped after it was deemed too disruptive.
"As a board we had no support for the scenario that would require changing the use of N.J. Macpherson or Range Lake North," said John Stephenson, Yk1 board chair. "The feedback we got from parents on that proposed recommendation from the committee was significant."
The Sissons and Mildred Hall school-sharing scenario announced yesterday was developed through subsequent correspondence with parents and guardians, added Stephenson.
"We've received numerous comments and suggestions in person and by e-mail about how to do things and that was one that we thought we would put forward to share with the community," he said.
"You would lose the 100 per cent French immersion experience that we currently have at Sissons, but it would accomplish maintaining some of our key priorities, which are maintaining French immersion, maintaining the middle school and gaining efficiencies."
Yk1 owns the buildings that house the district's four elementary schools and one middle school, while the GNWT owns the building that houses Sir John Franklin High School.
"Once we make a decision, it becomes a responsibility of the administration to determine how to organize and deliver and facilitate those changes," said Stephenson.
The board has not made a decision about the potential school configurations and will not make a final decision until Dec. 9, he emphasized.
"The approach we've taken is we want to talk to parents and teachers in Yk1 first about what is best for Yk1 and then we'll go and have a more detailed conversation with the government," said Stephenson. "We would be interested in having a discussion with the government to determine if there would be any financial benefit to transferring a school and turning over that land and it's our expectation that there would be some financial benefit to that."
The GNWT previously asked Yk1 to transfer Sissons in 2007 after a fire displaced students at St. Joseph Catholic School, but the public board offered to share space instead. In 2010, the government asked if Yk1 would consider giving up William McDonald to make way for an expansion of the Aurora College Campus, but negotiations fizzled before they began, according to Stephenson.
If transferring a school to the government does not satisfy the GNWT's legal obligation to the francophone board, Stephenson said it is still possible a Yk1 school could be given up, depending on the board's decision next month.
"Yk1 could decide that there were benefits to having one less school and putting all our kids in four instead of five elementary schools and then we would have a conversation with the government and say 'we'd like to transfer a school' or 'do you have an interest in leasing it for some other education purposes,'" he said.
"So I have no idea where that would go. It would be up to the government to decide whether they had other purposes," he said. "The potential benefits would influence the final resolution. We might decide to transfer a school and the government says, 'We don't want it.' So, that would kind of end that deal."
Representatives with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment declined to comment on school configuration scenarios prior to the board's Dec. 9 decision.
Potential future scenarios for Yk1 schools
Five schools - option 1
- Status quo: All five elementary schools remain the same and no changes are made to programming.
Five schools - option 2
- All five schools remain, with changes: Grades 6, 7 and 8 from Range Lake North School would move to William McDonald Middle School by 2016/2017.
- Intensive French and post-intensive French programs would be consolidated at William McDonald.
- J.H. Sissons School would continue to house a French immersion program.
- N. J. Macpherson School and Range Lake North School would operate as kindergarten to Grade 5 schools.
Four schools - option 1
- J.H. Sissons School is closed and French immersion is moved into William McDonald Middle School. William McDonald would operate as a kindergarten to Grade 8 French immersion school.
- N.J. Macpherson would potentially transform into a kindergarten to Grade 8 school.
- Range Lake North School and Mildred Hall School remain kindergarten to Grade 8 schools.
Four schools - option 2
- J. H Sissons is closed and French immersion moves into Mildred Hall School. Mildred Hall would be operated as a kindergarten to Grade 5 dual track school with French immersion and English instruction.
- Range Lake North School and N.J. Macpherson School would be operated as kindergarten to Grade 5 schools; and all Grade 6, 7, and 8 students from Range Lake North School, N.J. Macpherson School and Mildred Hall School would attend William McDonald Middle School, which would remain a dual track school.
Current Yk1 elementary schools and middle school
- Range Lake North: kindergarten to Grade 8
- Mildred Hall: kindergarten to Grade 8
- J.H. Sissons: kindergarten to Grade 5 (French immersion)
- N.J. Macpherson: kindergarten to Grade 5 (and Montessori program)
- William McDonald Middle School: Grades 6 to 8 (English, French immersion and intensive French program)
Source: Yellowknife Education District No. 1
