Iqaluit DEA wants to stress safety, student mental health

Members of the Iqaluit District Education Authority listen to questions from a few parents during their annual meeting May 6. (PHOTO BY SAMANTHA DAWSON)

Members of the Iqaluit District Education Authority say they want to boost the safety of Iqaluit schools and deal with mental heath issues among students.

“Our main job is safety of students,” said Andrew Tagak Sr., the board’s chair.

The board, which held its annual general meeting May 6, plans to ask the Government of Nunavut’s education department to require that every Nunavut teacher take the ASIST suicide-prevention program.

“We’re hoping that whoever wants to take that course can take it,” Tagak Sr. said.

DEA board member Jack Anawak said he agreed that mental health issues should be the focus in schools.

But “we have to understand that teachers are not social workers,” he said.

Nunavut’s suicide prevention strategy action plan — a document signed off by the GN, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the RCMP, also needs to be implemented, he said.

“[We have to] make sure the implementation process is going as planned, even if it is lacking right now,” Anawak said.

Troubled students also need to be assessed for trauma and not immediately labelled as a “problem child” that can’t be helped, he said.

On another safety issues, DEA member Sabrina Sherman said the Iqaluit DEA has worked with the City of Iqaluit for a few years on getting regular crosswalks and crossing guards at Joamie and Nakasuk elementary schools.

“People driving don’t slow down,” she said.

The DEA is also working to equip schools with better security measures needed to reduce theft and vandalism and the presence of more transients in town, Sherman said.

One parent, who has a child attending Aqsarniit Middle School, said she’s was also worrying after hearing about allegations of sexual interference against a teacher from the school.

“We have an 11-year old son who goes to Tae Kwon Do… I don’t think that’s right. Am I wrong?” she asked the DEA board.

“He shouldn’t be anywhere near schools even after hours,” she said.

The charges against the teacher, who cannot be named because of a special publication ban, have not been proven in court.

On May 6, his lawyer entered not guilty pleas on his behalf and asked the court for an early resolution of the matter.

At the meeting, board members told this parent they would follow up with her concerns.

But they said anything they knew about this teacher, who will appear again in court June 3, they had learned through the media.

Another parent is worried about bullying among younger kids.

“It starts in like Grade 3,” she said, citing verbal abuse, exclusion, and manipulation — not just the physical side of bullying.

“There are no preventative steps being taken,” she said.

The AGM lasted about an hour, with DEA board members also going over what they worked on during the past year, and what the board plans to work in the coming year.

Fewer than 10 members of the public showed up at Nakasuk school for the AGM.