DEA goes broke, can’t buy cleaning supplies to ward off swine flu outbreak
GN bails out Sanikiluaq school, investigates financial mystery
When school started up at Nuiyak School in Sanikiluaq last month, the Sanikiluaq District Education Authority had no money to pay for basic cleaning supplies, a situation that casts doubt on the school's readiness to prevent and deal with a swine flu outbreak. It's not clear what happened to the DEA's money. (FILE PHOTO)
Students at Nuiyak School in Sanikiluaq were earlier this month “washing their hands with Sunlight,” a popular dishwashing detergent, because the local school committee ran out of money, a concerned Sanikiluaq resident told Nunatsiaq News in an email this week.
At the same time, a financial cloud now hangs over the Sanikiluaq District Education Authority, after the Government of Nunavut came to its rescue with a $38,000 bailout.
All this came to light at the beginning of the school year, when the school ended up with no money to buy basic supplies, including sanitizing liquids and paper towels, and money to pay for substitute teachers.
After one teacher got sick, students were sent home because the DEA, which hires replacement staff, turned out to have no money.
Parents were told that any time a teacher was absent, the teacher’s students would be sent home.
Tim Hoyt, the new principal of Nuiyak School, and Elijah Sala, the chairperson of the DEA, who is also the hamlet mayor, didn’t want to talk about the DEA’s woes when contacted by Nunatsiaq News.
But the impact on Nuiyak students is common knowledge in the community, Hudson Bay MLA Alan Rumboldt confirmed.
And the local district education authority does have “financial difficulties,” Peter Geikie, an assistant deputy minister of education, admitted in a Sept. 23 interview.
“As to why they are in this situation, we’re not sure,” he said.
The department of education will investigate how and why the DEA’s money disappeared, Geikie said.
To ease the crisis, the GN gave Sanikiluaq’s DEA $38,000 earlier this month, a portion of the regular funding handed to the group.
The education department also plans to help Nuiyak and other Nunavut schools get ready for a possible swine flu outbreak by sending hand sanitizers and anti-septic wipes if necessary, Geikie said.
Nunavut schools are now supposed to be taking extra measures to prevent and control the spread of swine flu, by “upping the [cleaning] routine,” he said.
But until recently, the school in Sanikiluaq had no cleaning supplies and no money to buy them.
The shortfall comes at a time when Nunavut schools are supposed to do more to increase cleanliness and develop action plans to deal with absenteeism caused by sickness among staff and students.
This additional cleaning is supposed to include more checks on washrooms, more frequent emptying of wastebaskets, and increased cleaning of all surfaces and drinking fountains.
Proper handwashing techniques are also part of the prevention plan, Geikie said.
The GN plans to focus on these measures to curb swine flu transmission and precent outbreaks.
“It’s not our intent to close our schools” to stop the spread of swine flu, Geikie said.
“The recommendation is out there that that’s not where we want to go,” he said.
Nunavut does not plan to take pregnant teachers off the job or make pregnant students leave school.
Quebec public health officials have recommended that pregnant women who work in child care centres, schools and hospitals take advantage of the government’s early maternity leave program to reduce the risk of catching the H1N1 swine flu virus.
Although pregnant women do not catch swine flu more easily, pregnant women run a greater risk of developing complications after an infection.
In Quebec, the law on occupational health and safety allows pregnant workers to be assigned, where possible, “to tasks presenting no danger to them or their unborn child or to be withdrawn from the workplace with financial compensation.”
But the GN has no similar measures in place.
Geikie said if school staff and students feel a flu coming on, they should stay home, contact their local health centre and take care of themselves.
“Their health is a priority,” he said.
The education department plans to keep tabs on school attendance in the territory to track the evolution of swine flu outbreaks.
“Our intent is if possible is to keep out schools open and operating,” he said.
Schools may consider deferring classes if about 30 per cent of students and staff are off sick, in consultation with local public health officials, say Canada’s public health officials.
To prevent swine flu, the Public Health Agency of Canada suggests staff and students in schools should:
• Stay home when sick;
• Wash hands often for at least 15 seconds with soap and water;
• Use hand sanitizer if you can’t wash;
• Avoid touching your face;
• Sneeze and cough into your upper sleeve, not your hands;
• Keep cleaning supplies and dispensers well stocked;
• Wash surfaces like keyboards, doorknobs and toys twice a day; and,
• Isolate students who develop flu symptoms.
(14) Comments:
As a community member who keeps their eyes and ears open I can tell you that the Sanikiluaq DEA is… [Potentially defamatory material removed by moderator] This has resulted in the school having no money for anything—cleaning supplies is the least if the problems. What about the effect on our kids education? This DEA has no idea how to budget and they [Potentially defamatory material removed by moderator] What is the government doing to get rid of this DEA—it should not be in power. That $38,000 is just going to get… [Potentially defamatory material removed by moderator] Theres no glue in my kids classroom. My boy told me that soon they won’t have any pencils. What about things like a cultural program?—no money for that this year I guess. IS the RCMP investigating where all the money went? They Should!
[Moderator’s note: It’s with some reluctance that we decided to delete material from this comment, because this material did appear to contain the writer’s honestly held beliefs. However, our business cannot afford the cost of a lengthy libel action in which we would carry the burden of proof while the other party is not required to prove anything. But the apparent disappearance of the Sanikiluaq DEA’s money raises many disturbing issues. We recommend that concerned residents of Sanikiluaq bombard the Government of Nunavut and the RCMP with questions until these issues are resolved. Based on our experience, it’s a certainty that the GN will ignore the situation unless residents aggressively pursue answers to questions about why so much public money vanished.]
I hope this is not swept under the rug. I hope that someone gets to the bottom of this and I hope that the people responsible for this are brought to justice. This ABUSE of public funds has to stop, the community is suffering because of it.
Wwlell done Nunatsiaq to do moderation with a scalpel and not a sledgehammer.
AinNU
There should be a FULL INVESTIGATION. The new Ed.Act gives DEAs a lot of power and where there is great power there should also be great, meticulous, accountability. DEAs should all be held liable and if a crime was committed, it should not be swept under the carpet but charges should be laid.
There should definitely be a full investigation. I agree completely with the last post. ,When people in positions of power,as the DEA are, there has to accountability especially where public funds are involved. The students, staff and community are greatly affected by this; the education they receive and the environment in which they learn is very negatively impacted. This community including the staff and students of the school should pull together and demand a thorough investigation. This is the least that should be done.
Some person must be soo angry at a person. Don’t have to say things when you don’t know whats going on! You guys dont know whats happening right now..so keep things to yourselves for now, you will say things after you know all the answers to it…..
i myself can not trust any Nuiyak School workers.
i blame the teachers & other Nuiyak School staff.
most of the DEA memebers are elders and one of em is not.
so dont blame the elders, they do not know anything about it.
hmm..
Qikittamiuk is wrong. Teachers don’t control the money. They didn’t spend it all. Where all the money? My teacher bought us chicken wings with her own money. And she made jello for her other class. bet school didn’t pay for that. i’m glad i got teacher that cares. you so wrong to be blamer on teachers.
“they do not know anything about it” - thats why. it’s there job to know. i like my elders to but they trusting the wrong people.
Before everybody calls for the heads of the DEA it might be a good idea to find out why they have no money. It may be that policies from above have caused the problem.
Taking an example from another region in Nunavut. The regional school operations gives each DEA a set sum of money to work with, broken down into various categories. One of these is to hire substitutes whenever a teacher is off work for any reason. If the teacher is off for more than 5 days then school operations will reimburse the DEA. However, if less than 5 then the DEA pays from its budget. If, as happened last year, teachers are off a lot but for less than five days then the DEA can end up spending tens of thousands of dollars over and above the original budget. Do that for a couple of years and the DEA will soon go broke.
The school doesn’t get all its money at one time … it gets chunks at different times of the year. In the summer they get one piece of this money – why blame teachers for financial problems at school when they weren’t even working at the time. Teachers cant touch the money anyway –DEA is the only one that can sign the checks. Spending too much on supply teachers is one thing (there will be a record of that), BUT Money is missing –that is what people have to remember —where does the paper trail go back to? I got to wonder how much money actually goes to DEA people –honorariums and DEA office managers salary. How much are these honorariums and the office managers salary? It would be interesting to see over the last school year how much of the total school monies ended up going to DEA members – the % I mean. When will there be an investigation??? Why doesn’t the DEA resign?
part2
What an excuse to say that DEA elders don’t know anything about the missing money and that no one should blame them!!! Thats crazy – its their job to know what is going on –they were elected to the DEA. They have a responsibility to know! It doesn’t matter if you are an elder or not —you cant go around saying ‘we are elders we don’t know anything, don’t ask us’ —if that is their excuse then they are showing a good example of why it might not be a good idea for elders to be part of the DEA any more. Too many people just look at being on DEA as a way to make $$$ first and most importantly –the positions come with real responsibilities you know!
You go by the school on any Sunday afternoon or evening and there will be Hondas or skidoos outside –those are the teachers machines and they are inside working for many hours getting things ready for their students. They work long and extra hours and they do volunteer stuff with the kids too. We are lucky that teachers care about our kids. When was the last time you saw a DEA member volunteering their time at the school –no such thing as a DEA volunteer –they always want to get a check. I know that teachers are bringing in lots of their own stuffs from home to use with their students.
Teachers absolutely do NOT have access to the school budget. The Principal has very little control of the budget as all expenditures must be approved through the DEA’s finance officer.
As a teacher, I buy the following supplies out of my pocket: markers, geometry boxes, books for the class library, food for morning and lunch snacks for kids who don’t get breakfast or lunch, pencils when the school runs out, treats for montly birthday parties, movie rentals for class treats, stickers…pizza parties,sofas & other furniture( at yard sales but still out of pocket), coloured baskets for organizing, labels, classroom scissors, posters, encyclopedia….
DEA members in school volunteering? That is more touble than it is worth frankly because they are there for the stipend not because they care. Quite a few are posers. Have a frank (no consequences) conversation with school staff and LISTEN to their truth on that subject.
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