Alberta education minister aims to restore elected Northlands school board in 2017
Michelle Bellefontaine | CBC News | Posted: December 27, 2015 12:00 PM | Last Updated: December 27, 2015
David Eggen says he hopes problem-plagued district will have its first elected board since 2010
Education Minister David Eggen wants to hold elections in the Northlands School Division in 2017, which will give the northern school district its first elected board of trustees since 2010.
The division has been run by an official trustee since former education minister Dave Hancock fired all 23 members of the Northlands board in January 2010.
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Hancock made the move over concerns about low student achievement and a high turnover of staff. A majority of students in the district are indigenous.
In a year-end interview with CBC, Eggen says he is aiming for the district to have elections in the 2017 municipal elections.
"It''s what people want to do up there, of course. Again, we want to work together on equal footing," he said.
"It's a real sore spot that they've been under suspension for five years and there's so many things we can do to improve student outcomes there if we really try."
In spring 2015, Auditor General Merwan Saher called school attendance rates in the district "unacceptably low. " One-third of students had chronic problems with school absences.
The education department is working on solutions with the departments of human services and aboriginal affairs.
In October, officials from the education department and Northlands School Division told MLAs on the public accounts committee a new attendance improvement initiative is showing results.
Fifteen of 24 schools saw improvements and overall attendance in schools increased by two per cent in the last school year.
Eggen also wants to work with the federal government on ways to improve educational outcomes for Alberta indigenous students, whether they live on or off a reserve.
Although education is a provincial responsibility, schools on reserves are funded by the federal government. However, on-reserve students only receive half the funding of their provincial counterparts. Eggen wants that to change.
"Lots of students will live on reserve and go to off-reserve school," he said. "If artificial boundaries are getting in the way of quality education and completion rates for students, then yeah, there's something I can do about it."