Leaders delay school board merger for the present

DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ A proposed merger of Nunavut’s three regional school boards won’t be looked at until after a Nunavut deputy minister of education is recruited.

The three parties to the Nunavut Political Accord agreed this week in Iqaluit to retain Nunavut’s three divisional boards of education for now, in what Nunavut Tunngavik President Jose Kusugak conceded was a compromise.

The Office of the Interim Commissioner had also proposed to maintain the three existing regional school boards, at least until after division of the territories in 1999.

The creation of a single Nunavut Education Board was a recommendation contained in the Nunavut Implementation Commission’s Footprints 2 report.

Health boards will stay for time being

Nunavut leaders agreed to other modifications to the Footprints model, as well, including maintaining Nunavut’s three regional health boards.

The NIC suggested that administration costs could be trimmed by shrinking the number of education boards in Nunavut from three to one, with 10 to 12 elected board members from across the territory.

The reorganization of health and education boards in Nunavut will be reviewed upon the appointment of deputy ministers.

Boards worried about uncertainty

District education authorities have recently deplored the lack of certainty about the future organization of school boards in the new territory and requested, in vain, a chance to express their concern in person at this week’s leaders’ meeting in Iqaluit.

“It really has to be discussed, but I don’t know if it’s going to be on the agenda,” Joe Attagutaluk, the chairman of the Baffin Divisional Education Council, said earlier this week.

Under the Footprints 2 model, regional education councils would have been merged into a single territorial board, with headquarters in Rankin Inlet and regional offices in Pangnirtung, Baker Lake and Kugluktuk.

In a comprehensive implementation plan delivered to Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jane Stewart this week, the Office of the Interim Commissioner recommended against amalgamating three existing regional education boards.

Chairpersons from the Kivalliq, Baffin and Kitikmeot education boards have noted that with just 15 months to go before the new territory is created, any major reorganization of school boards would likely further delay crucial planning decisions.

“Can we afford to wait until we get the Nunavut government in order for them to decide what kind of education board we’re going to have?” Attagutaluk asked prior to this week’s leaders’ meeting.

Concerns about class sizes, morale

As division of the NWT draws nearer, regional school authorities are increasingly concerned about such issues as classroom size, curriculum development, education funding and staff morale.

Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo said he met recently with Attagutaluk and will continue to meet with district education authorities to keep them apprised of the GNWT’s plans.

Lazarus Arreak, the president of the Qiqiktani Inuit Association, has also begun working with school boards to develop a Nunavut education strategy.