Education consultation gets mixed reviews in Baker Lake

SARA MINOGUE

High winds didn’t prevent Manitok Thompson from making it to Baker Lake, Chesterfied Inlet and Rankin Inlet for consultations on the made-in-Nunavut Education Act last week.

Bill Olsen, the principal at Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School for the past seven years, said he was impressed by the department of education’s consulting team, led by Thompson, a legislative specialist for the Government of Nunavut’s education department.

“She went through and pointed out all the issues… there was a lot of good dialogue between the teachers and the crew she had with her, and it was good to see everything was being recorded,” Olsen said.

But he also noted that the community had little notice of the consultation. Olsen said he heard about the consultation on Friday, Feb. 24 that the consultation would take place on Wednesday, Mar. 1. And on that same date, the local district education authority chair, Simeon Mikkingwak, was out of town.

“He’s the person that usually gets the message out to the public on things like this,” Olsen said.

Teachers at the Jonah Amitnaaq School met about an hour before Thompson and her crew arrived for a two-hour meeting, where Olsen said all of their issues were raised — though none of these were specific to Baker Lake, but rather generally about Nunavut.

After that meeting, Thompson went on to a two-hour meeting with the local DEA, and then on to a public meeting at 7 p.m.

Olsen said that around 50 people came to that meeting.

But David K. Nanauq, a clerk/typist at the high school who has a son in Grade 3, estimated the turnout was lower, with only about 25 or 30.

“As a parent I am disappointed with the low turnout,” he said.

Nanauq was also disappointed with the discussion.

“From what I gathered, they were only there for themselves, not for the public or the community at large,” Nanauq said. “They were just voicing their own opinion and what they’d experienced and what they would like to see. What I heard was the personal needs for their family.”

Parents at the meeting generally spoke about their own children or grandchildren’s experiences in school, Nanauq said, or they talked about why religion is no longer a part of the school curriculum.

Nanauq said he supports religion in school, but says that the discussion was unproductive: “as far as the Education Act, religion is no longer a part of education.”

In Nanauq’s view, there’s nothing you can do if other community events are more popular than a consultations meeting, but he said that he would have liked to see more parents and community members get involved.

“I’m thinking as far as I’ve gathered, I don’t know if the consultation team really got anything out of Baker Lake for the Education Act.”

Thompson said her team heard about issues from social promotion to parents who don’t send their kids to school during the three community visits.

“Social promotion” is when children are passed in order to stay with their age group, rather than depending on how much they have learned.

On one hand, passing kids who don’t have the proper skills to move to the next grade can put them in a tough situation when it comes to writing Alberta exams in Grade 10, where many students currently drop out.

But Thompson heard the other side of the story when a 15- or 16-year-old boy took the microphone at the public consultation in Baker Lake and explained that he was failed and had to stay behind. As a result, he was the biggest kid in the class.

“He said ‘it was embarrassing so I had to quit,’” Thompson said.

Often, children who are failed bully smaller kids in their new class. The subject of bullying came up in all three communities, Thompson said, with some parents requesting video cameras to monitor playgrounds after school.

She also heard about suspensions. Parents generally agree that there needs to be an alternative way to punish kids who see suspension as a holiday from school.

Another topic raised is how to deal with parents who don’t send their kids to school.

Most people agree that the $100 fine in the current Education Act — which is similar to other Education Acts in Canada — has no impact on parents whose children chronically miss school.

One parent in Rankin Inlet noted that in the past, parents could have their family allowance withheld if their children are not in school.

Other parents suggested a system of rewards rather than punishments for parents.

Thompson was traveling with former Nanulik MLA and education minister James Arvaluk, who led a second consultation team to Grise Fiord, Resolute Bay and Pond Inlet this week.

With both consultation teams now on the move, Thompson expects community visits to be complete by the end of March. After that, she will meet with the Education Act steering committee to discuss how to proceed in drafting the new bill.