The Commission Scolaire Francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest (CSFTNO) SA国际影视传媒� the NWT's french education body SA国际影视传媒� will commence the new school year with major construction needs at both of its schools in the territory.
In Hay River, Ecole Boreale is still without a gymnasium, or classrooms for its high school students SA国际影视传媒� glaring issues that have persisted for years. In Yellowknife, Ecole Allain St. Cyr is at maximum capacity, with no additional classrooms to accommodate a growing student body.
"Of course it's a concern," said Yvonne Careen, CSFTNOSA国际影视传媒檚 superintendent since 2014. "Our schools are incomplete.
"In Hay River, there's still no gymnasium, still no high school specialty areas, or even classrooms for the high school," she added. "They're still in portables 15 years later, when it was supposed to be a temporary solution... Then at Ecole Allain St. Cyr in Yellowknife, we have zero classrooms left, and our numbers are increasing this year. We should be 200 or more students, plus the daycare that is downstairs on the first floor.
"We're out of classrooms. If I have to create a second classroom, I am not sure at this point where I would put it."
Careen said she will continue to engage the GNWT Department of Education about her schools' construction needs "over the next few years." However, the department has recently gone through budget cuts that have affected CSFTNOSA国际影视传媒檚 schools SA国际影视传媒� as well as all others in the territory SA国际影视传媒� so it may be a slow process.
"The worries are stemming from the cuts that the GNWT announced earlier this year," Careen said. "It's impacted the Department of Education, and then it has a trickle-down effect on each education body. The cuts to certain areas are definitely a concern, and going forward, we're being told that there will be more [cuts] to expect."
Careen is also concerned to see that other schools in the territory SA国际影视传媒� specifically other French schools operated by the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 board SA国际影视传媒� seem to be receiving support much more quickly than the schools she oversees.
"Compared to Ecole Sir John Franklin High School and Ecole St. Patrick High School SA国际影视传媒� who just announced an aviation program, plus construction, welding, cosmetology, et cetera SA国际影视传媒� we have nothing," she said. "We have no spaces at all like that to offer our students, so we will definitely be looking for equity."
Despite the challenges ahead, Careen said CSFTNO staff are well prepared for the coming academic year, which kicks off on Aug. 30.
"All staff are in, all staff are getting prepared," she said. "[The week of Aug. 26] is preparation week SA国际影视传媒� so, staff meetings, cultural orientation day, professional development day, and then two days of in-service. Then finally the last day [of the week], the teachers have the chance to be in their classrooms to get the last preparations done before the arrival of the students."
CSFTNO also has many causes for celebration amid the ongoing concerns.
In a report released earlier this summer, the GNWT revealed that attendance rates were down in 2022-23. The attendance rate for the whole territory was 73.3 per cent, which means that, on average, students missed more than one day of school per week.
While CSFTNO's schools are not immune to attendance issues, they do seem to have bucked the trend.
Careen was "very proud" to reveal that the 2022-23 attendance rate for Yellowknife's Ecole Allain St. Cyr was 94 per cent, and that the attendance rate for Hay River's Ecole Boreale was also "in the nineties."
"We do not necessarily have an issue where attendance is concerned," the superintendent said. "We're very happy with attendance right now. We have parents that are very supportive of the education system and of our schools and of their children."
Staffing is also a long-standing issue in North schools, but Careen asserted that CSFTNO's schools are facing few personnel issues.
"We are completely staffed on the teaching end of things," she said. "We have just a couple of positions that we're working on [filling], but they're for early childhood educators, relief positions, and for an evening and weekend custodian. For the teaching, we are all staffed."
Both of CSFTNO's schools will also have new principals this year, Careen said, which she believes will "bring a new dynamic," to proceedings.
While the school board will continue to face major infrastructural and fiscal challenges, the superintendent is optimistic there is another great academic year ahead for the approximately 260 students that will fill the classrooms of Ecole Allain St. Cyr and Ecole Boreale.
"We are going to make the most of what we do have," she said.
