Aqsarniit Middle School parents, administrators debate teacher cuts

There was a heated meeting in Iqaluit last night where Aqsarniit Middle School administrators and about 20 parents faced off over the loss of a full-time gym teacher, and what it is that makes kids stay in school.

Aqsarniit will not have a dedicated phys-ed teacher next year. The school's full-time teaching positions have been reduced by one. Nobody is losing their job, but responsibilities are changing.

"I think the generalist teachers we have hired here will do a more than adequate job delivering physical education," said principal Don Peters.

The administration came prepared with a drawn-out presentation outlining their successes and priorities. Their top concerns are literacy and numeracy.

The fall-out to the loss of one position also means the school will have to cut its literacy intervention program in half, reduce Inuktitut instruction to every second day and cut its life skills program by 30 per cent.

But some parents are worried the phys ed program also plays an important role in keeping kids in school, including Micheline Kilabuk-Côté, who wondered if it was a factor in the school's relatively high attendance rate — about 81 per cent.

Shouting, aggression

Late in the meeting, Aqsarniit teacher James Rankin had finally had enough, snapping at Kilabuk-Côté that "kids drop out of school because they can't read not because they don't have phys ed."

Rankin's aggression was quickly matched by the crowd and the meeting descended into shouting for a good two minutes.

A tearful Kilabuk-Côté responded to his comments by recounting her own experience dropping out of school, an action she said was born of bad decisions not a lack of literacy.

Rankin sullenly apologized

Several parents expressed concern, to each other, at a man with such a short temper teaching their kids.

Principal Peters downplayed the outburst simply saying that people were very emotional.

Plan stays

In the end, the administration committed to no changes in its planned program.

But Peters is hopeful that the school will continue to have a strong phys ed program.

"The minimum requirement for physical education in Nunavut is 100  minutes [a week]. With what we do with our intramural programs, our after school programs, we are near 1,000 minutes a week."

Sophie Dubeau, a former studen who's now in Grade 9 at Inuksuk High School, was also at the meeting.

"I am really mad and sad about it," she said. "Because he was a great teacher and is a great teacher for gym. A lot of Grade 9s and 10s and a lot of people at the high school are really disappointed."