First school board election in 7 years could spell new era for Northland schools

The race for school board trustees in northern Alberta is underway for the first time in seven years.

Voters whose children go to schools in the Northland School Division are now able to choose which candidates will sit on their school board in the Oct. 16 election.

The election comes after the province passed the Northland School Division Act in May. The act changed the school board division over to a ward system.

Each school in the division used to have an elected committee of up to five people who would select a chair to sit on the corporate board.

Alberta Education Minister David Eggen said he's thrilled at the turnout for this "historic" election and is proud of the government for "restoring a democratically elected school board."

The board was dissolved in 2010 after then education minister Dave Hancock reviewed Northland and found low performance on provincial test scores and poor student attendance.

Lois Byers was appointed as an official trustee to oversee the board's decisions last year. She said the change to the ward system will make it easier for parents to have a say.

"The biggest change is the school councils where it's very open to the entire community to have a voice and a say in their kids' ... education, which we know it's so important," she said.

The board is divided into 11 wards with trustees representing between one and four schools.

Three wards did not have candidates after Monday's nomination day, so the board was forced to extend the deadline until Wednesday.

The Northland School Division serves 2,700 students in 23 individual northern Alberta schools. Ninety-five per cent of Northland students identify as First Nation or Metis.

The school board covers a geographical area the size of Germany, the school board's press release said. The transition to a ward system is supposed to cut operating costs from $300 per student to the $30-$100 per student common in other districts.

Student attendance, performance down in Northland schools

Byers said some of the issues trustees have to address in the next four years include student attendance and test scores.

"If students aren't at school, it makes it hard for them to learn the curriculum," she said.

Student attendance is measured by each individual school in the Northland School Division. Some schools reported more than half of their students attended nearly all of their classes, while others had up to 30 per cent attending fewer classes in 2017.

Frank Peters moved from Ireland to teach for the Northland school board when it was created in 1961. Now, he is an education expert and professor emeritus at the University of Alberta.

Northland faces different challenges than city school boards, he said, including how communities value education.

"There isn't a strong history of support for public schooling in many of these communities," Peters said.

Silas Yellowknee ran uncontested to represent the community of Desmarais-Sandy Lake on the board. He said he was encouraged by friends and family to put his name forward to resolve some of the issues within the school system.

"Northland has always been shot down by so many people and I want to find out why, what's going on," he told CBC News. "I want to find out where we're headed with our education in our community."

Every year, the Fraser Institute ranks all the province's schools based on academic performance. Yellowknee said the schools in his community, including St. Teresa School and Mistassiniy School are some of the lowest-rated schools in the province.

On the ranking of the province's 790 elementary schools in the 2015-2016 school year, most Northland schools were in the bottom 30 schools. The Fraser Institute did not evaluate the high schools in the district.

Test scores in Northland schools are still low overall, according to the board's education report for the 2015-2016 year.

Less than half of all students received a passing grade in every subject except Grade 6 English language arts, where 51 per cent of all students met the provincial standard.

The report said student participation in some of the standardized tests was low because of the wildfires last year.

Byers asked trustees to advocate for better technology in the schools to bring their programming "into the 21st century" and get their students interested in coming to class and increasing performance on provincial tests.

Byers said the trustees can make positive changes since the province has committed extra funding to Northland schools over the next five years.

• Edmonton Votes 2017: Learn about all 12 wards here

Anna.desmarais@cbc.ca

@anna_desmarais