A6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 24, 1996 Nass teachers fear job losses Union calls Nisga’a treaty provisions ‘unclear’ By CRIS LEYKAUF TEACHERS IN THE Nass Valley are concerned about § their future. They’re worried § about job security, and about fj what form education might § lake once the agreement-in- § principle is made into a § trealy, The AIP provided a skeleton of whal government in the Nass might be like, and now thal skeleton needs to be fleshed oul, says Ravi Gill, head of the teacher’s - union in the Nass Valley. Alvin Currently the school district in the Nass is run very much like other districts around the province. However, it is unique in that the vast majority. of students are native. In terms of the number of students it serves, School District 92 is probably one of the smallest in the province. - There has been speculation among leachers and parents in the Nass that the school district will dissolve once the AIP is ratified. “‘T don’t think it will be dissolved,”’ said superintendent Alvin McKay. ‘‘It will be absorbed into the operation. The powers vested in the schaol act will be vested in the Nisga’a government.’? ‘Right now major issues are never resolved until the Ministry of Education hierarchy has dealt with them,’’ he ex- plained. ‘‘Under the new regime, every- thing in the Nass will be kept in the Nass Valley. It'll cut down on bureaiicracy time to make decisions.’* “We've had 22 years of joint manage- ment of education. We want to do away with it.” The reason why that disturbs teachers in the Nass is because they haven't been told if they will have the right to unionize, under the new ‘regime’ or if they’ll be entitled to a pension plan. They also don’t know how secure their jobs are. Teachers aren’t the only oncs with con- cems. There are 18-20 non-native students from Nass Camp attending Nisga’a Elementary Secondary School, and Gill is worried about what type of education these students will be entitled to, ‘There is no other school nearby,’ he explained. McKay says any changes to the schooling system: in me the Nass Valley will be geared towards mecting the B nceds of Nisga’a youth, “If our young people are not fitting into traditional in- structional programs, then we'll set up ancillary pro- grams,’’ said McKay. McKay But he did add that no mat- ter whal, his objective was to secure quality education for students, “Our educators must be equipped and the best trained.”’ That could be a problem, as traditionally it has been hard to attract teachers to the Nass. “Is. very hard to get teachers here and retain them here,’’ said Gill, ‘The turn- over is very high. And if there is no pen- sion, no union here, who will come?”’ Currently there are about 40 teachers in the Nass, plus six substitutes. That number doesn’t include principals. Most of the teaching staff is non-native. McKay said that allhough there will definitely be an emphasis on hiring more Nisga’a teachers in the future, the most im- portant criteria will be hiring teachers who are well-trained and open-minded. “I'm not against any qualified Nisga’a teacher being given preference,”’ said Gill. But realistically, there are not enough qualified Nisga’a teachers around right now. Gill and McKay agree it would be at least five to ten years before that happens, Tn the meantime Gill is concerned that the material taught in the Nass mirrors that taught elsewhere in the province, so stu- dents from the Nass will be able to meet university entrance requirements, **The people of this valley don’t want to live in isolation,”’ said Gill. He plans to lobby the school district to al- low the teacher’s union to become involved in fleshing out the skeleton of the AIP. the best 1996 Fabricland Sewing Club Memberships PATTERNS All instore stock BUY 1 GET