Hard choices and passionate opinions at Iqaluit school meeting

Grade 9 student, and former Aqsarniit Middle Schooler, Sophie Dubeau, asked why students weren’t consulted in the decision to axe the school’s dedicated phys ed program. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)

Aqsarniit Middle School Principal Don Peters stands before a group of parents, teachers and education officials in Iqaluit to explain why he had to reassign gym teacher Rob Strutz to a classroom for next year. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)

There were shouts and even a few tears at a parents meeting at Aqsarniit Middle School June 4 and here’s why: education in Nunavut is passionate business.

Which is why some parents felt hurt and undermined when they found out recently that the middle school in Iqaluit would lose its dedicated physical education teacher — a program they say encourages kids to get out of bed in the morning.

“I don’t think it’s in the best interest of our children,” said parent Chris West.

But here are a few facts that get lost when passions flare up.

Because of enrolment formulas established by Nunavut’s education department, Aqsarniit was going to lose a teaching position for the 2015-16 year.

So, said principal Don Peters, it was either keep Rob Strutz teaching gym full time and increase class sizes — up to 28 or 29 students instead of the current 20 to 25 — or put Strutz in a classroom and create a co-operative program where homeroom teachers co-ordinate phys ed instruction for kids.

It’s not ideal, said Peters — the man responsible for installing the phys ed program six years ago and a strong believer in keeping adolescents active — but it was either that or have kids suffer in reading, writing, math and languages.

“We looked at every possibility and this is the least painful of all,” said Peters, sounding like a veteran administrator who’s been through this before.

Because he has. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

The June 4 meeting to explain the phys ed decision drew about two dozen parents, along with a few teachers and representatives of Qikiqtani School Operations and the Iqaluit District Education Council.

Peters began with an overview of school demographics.

There are 182 kids currently attending Grades 6, 7 and 8 in the big green school on the hill and as of the end of May, they had an impressive 81 per cent attendance rate.

But the truth is, more than half the kids coming into Grade 6 are reading below the Grade 3 level, he said, and it’s Aqsarniit’s job to get those kids ready for the bigger academic challenges of high school.

If they don’t, they’ll fall further behind, a sure-fire recipe for dropping out.

So you turn them around with literacy coaches and tutoring and creative, one-on-one instruction from teachers, Peters said; overcrowded classrooms of adolescents don’t work.

But, parents interjected, lots of kids love playing sports. It gives them confidence and self-esteem. It’s good for mental health and for combatting obesity.

Strutz was a great gym teacher, they said, and some kids went to school just so they could take his class.

Peters said the school will continue to provide phys ed classes, special programs and sports during lunch and after school and he’s confident his teachers — all generalists — are capable of coaching and teaching gym.

He pointed out that Strutz himself was a generalist teacher with no special training in phys ed.

Sophie Dubeau, a former Aqsarniit student now in Grade 9 at Inuksuk High School, spoke boldly, and often, for her young years.

She said most students looked forward to getting a break from their homeroom teacher and going to Strutz’s gym class. Over the years at Aqsarniit, students developed a real bond with him, she added, and that’s crucial mentoring for kids that age.

Peters thanked her for her comments and agreed. But his hands were tied, he said.

At one point near the end of the meeting, as people started repeating things others had already said with Peters nodding and gesturing to the next raised hand in the audience, teacher James Rankin seemed unable to contain himself.

“We’re all heartbroken that we’re losing this program. We know it’s valuable,” he said, red-faced, voice raised. “But the reality is, kids drop out of school because they can’t read!”

“That’s bullshit,” West called out from the back of the room.

Another man, said there are plenty of reasons kids drop out and it’s not just because they can’t read. He said kids in Grade 10 consider themselves adults here and some just don’t want to go to school anymore.

Micheline Kilabuk-Côté explained, through tears, how she dropped out when she was in Grade 8 and then had a baby at 17 and it wasn’t because she couldn’t read.

“It’s insulting when I hear that,” she said.

“I apologize,” Rankin said. He was silent for the rest of the meeting.

“It’s just too bad,” said Marianne Dubeau, Sophie’s mother, also wiping tears, “because a lot of kids respect [Strutz] more than other teachers. Rob is considered a big thing.”

The meeting lasted about an hour-and-a-half and parents seemed resigned in the end to the fact that changes were coming and that Peters would try to make the best of it.

Gray Zurheide, also a parent, was disappointed with the decision saying obesity is becoming a real problem in the North.

“No offence, but look around the room,” Zurheide said. A couple of people snorted. “It’s a reality of life.”

He encouraged parents to direct their discontent toward MLAs and to lobby for changes to the Education Act so that the formula for funding teachers is not based simply on crude numbers.

“We need to go after MLAs and MPs and say provide more goddamned money for education,” Zurheide said.

Peters agreed the current funding formula is inadequate and inflexible.

Middle and high school-aged youth are changing physically and emotionally, he said, and they need programs like shop class and cooking, hip hop dance and sports, to help them grow, figure out what they like, what they’re good at, and stay engaged in school.

But you can’t offer those programs when teacher allotment is based strictly on enrolment, he said, because there’s no one left to teach them.