Puvirnituq’s Iguarsivik school keeps its eye on the goal
“We’re going to do it step by step”

This huge carving by Peter Boy Ittukallak, with its message about the importance of education, stands in front of Puvirnituq’s Iguarsivik school. (FILE PHOTO)

Puvirnituq’s Iguarsivik School, shown here, is starting the school year with a new crop of experienced teachers and a positive attitude, says principal Judith Renaud. (FILE PHOTO)

Levi Amarualik, Iguarsivik’s center director, its principal Judy Renaud and vice-principal Maata Putugu want 2010 to be a great year— for the school and the community of Puvirnituq. (PHOTO COURTESY OF IGUARSIVIK)
When a new teacher at Iguarsivik School in Puvirnituq met with his students and their parents on Aug. 20 for the first time, he told them about his dream: for 20 years he’d been wanting to come to the North, and now, finally, he was there.
“When he finished speaking, the parents applauded— and he was so surprised,” school principal Judy Renaud said in a recent interview.
That warm welcome and sense of togetherness are what Renaud plans to build on as the school year gets underway at Iguarsivik.
Last spring Pierre-Luc Bélisle, a first-year teacher at Iguarsivik, went to newspapers in Quebec with allegations of violence against teachers within the school and complaints about receiving no support from school administrators in dealing with this problem.
Bélisle and three others ended up leaving the school before the end of the year.
Iguarsivik now has nearly an entire new crop of teachers for its students who study in French— a total of nine teachers out of 32, Renaud said.
While last year’s French sector teachers had little experience, she said, this year’s include some teachers with more than 20 years of experience, a level of experience that people in the community told Renaud they wanted to see.
“The challenges in any school remain the same— kids testing the limits, having bad days, and you’re needing to have to find ways to help everyone learn when they’re at different levels, but you might have some tricks up your sleeves if you’ve encountered this before,” said Renaud, who has been with the Kativik School Board in Puvirnituq for nine years.
Iguarsivik’s new teachers arrived in Puvirnituq on Aug. 14, a beautiful sunny day. Since then, it’s been raining nearly non-stop, but, as soon as the weather permits, a community picnic is planned as a way of bringing students, parents, teachers and staff together, Renaud said.
“We’re putting the emphasis on building links, between students, teachers, staff and the community, developing support, because there is a wealth of experience here,” she said.
Other moves to start the year off on the right foot include plans for more contacts between teachers at the high school and elementary schools.
“If everybody is sharing whatever they have to share it makes it that much more easier and pleasant for everyone,” she said.
For students, there are special events and activities ahead, such as a career fair in September and more support for participation in Joé Juneau’s youth hockey development program.
Renaud plans to put a new focus on school spirit, with each class having its own animal mascot— and on doing homework, a daily routine which used to be strong at the school, known for a high standard of excellence.
“We’re going to do it step by step and sometimes it’s with the small things,” she said.
Aldo known for the stability of its staff school, Igiuarsivik has suffered in recent years several losses, including the departure of principal to the newly-built Ikaarvik elementary school, the retirement of its vice-principal and the death of another long-time teacher.
Iguarsivik went from a school with a majority of local teachers to one where Qallunaat outnumber Inuit, Renaud said.
Her focus will now remain on the year ahead, which is how Renaud said she also got through last year, a difficult one from nearly the start to the finish.
She likened her job then to being the captain of a ship caught in the middle of a storm.
There were times she wanted to throw in the towel, she said, with weekends full of “total emotional, physical exhaustion” and weeks when she said she tried to stand tall in the middle of negative energy.
During the summer Renaud and her husband, who teaches the “independent pathways of learning” at Iguarasivik, a program for students who may be experiencing trouble at school, hosted his students to their summer home in the Laurentians, so they could learn how to use the kayaks they had built in warm weather.
This year, Renaud and her assistant principal Maata Putugu hope to see calm waters ahead, along with the continued “unwavering support” from people in the community.
Elsewhere in Nunavik, the Kativik School Board has made a special effort to ensure its schools, 17 in all, have the best possible grouping of principals and teachers, said Gordon Cobain, its director of school operations.
“If we have a strong principals and the teachers are collaborating with the principal, you can get a lot done,” he said. “I still remember my first year of teaching in Inukjuak, I would have been completely lost without the guidance of experienced teachers and the principal.”
This year, four communities, Akulivik, Ivujivik, Aupaluk and Kuujjuaq, have new principals, compared to previous years when there might have been up to 10 newcomers.
“We are fortunate this year in that the four new principals all have prior experience as teachers or administrators in our schools,” Cobain said.
As for teachers, all but a handful of replacement positions have been filled, he said.
Of the KSB’s 368 teachers in Nunavik, 67 were new hires in 2010.
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