Education Briefs
Trustee credited with freeze-up vigilance
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Warm weather this year has helped public schools to avoid the freeze-ups experienced last year, according to the district chairperson.
Yellowknife Education District No. 1 chair John Stephenson presented trustee Terry Brookes with a bottle of anti-freeze he said he found in his truck in recognition of his many years of frozen-pipe vigilance.
Brookes has raised the issue of frozen pipes frequently at trustee meetings asking facilities and maintenance manager Elvis Beaudoin to report on the status of district water pipes.
Yellowknife education district spokesperson Sarah Bradfield said there are no freeze-ups or pipe problems to report this year but staff are monitoring pipes at several of the district's schools.
Staff walk to Tuk
John Stephenson, chairperson for the public district, said Yellowknife Education District's No. 1 staff have already walked to Tuktoyaktuk and back as part of the Walk to Tuk. The annual event put on by the NWT Recreation and Parks Association has participants walk - either individually or in groups - the distance equivalent to the more than 1,600-kilometre journey from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk.
In 2014, a total of 73 teams made the journey logging a total of 207,808 km.
Stephenson said participants vote online to determine the colour of the Walk to Tuk T-shirts distributed to them.
This year, he said the chosen colour was red.
Dominion donates books by the pack load
Public district prekindergarten students will receive backpacks full of books from Dominion Diamonds this year, according to a representative from the mining company.
Rebecca Plotner visited Yellowknife Education District No. 1's trustee meeting on March 8 to receive a plaque recognizing the company's increased donation this year from chairperson John Stephenson.
Yk1 spokesperson Sarah Bradfield said the company has donated bags for district kindergarten students for three years but this year the gifts will also be given to prekindergarteners after they return from March break.
