Hello NTA,
It is hard to believe that we are already into spring and that the 2021-2022 school year is on the downward slope. It has been another challenging year to date for our NTA family. Perhaps the most difficult since the pandemic has started. At this point in the year almost every community in Nunavut has had to face Covid-19 head on with some communities still dealing with large numbers in their community. It does appear though that there is light at the end of this long tunnel, and we are hopeful that as things begin to return to a sense of normalcy, that this trend will continue to the end of this school year so our students can grasp some sense of normalcy before the summer break.
Thank you to all the teachers that are working so hard to ensure that their students are getting as much out of this year as they can. I know it hasn’t been easy for you and your efforts and dedication to education are certainly recognized by us here at the NTA Office.
It is my hope that everybody had a productive and useful Professional Development week. We have heard of a lot of great activities that our teachers were doing and saw some great applications for PD activities that came through the office. It was amazing to see the effort that so many of you were putting into bettering your practice.
Here at the office, we have been hard at work advocating for you over the past few months. We were in constant contact with the Department of Education trying to ensure that you received the proper PPE and testing in your schools in order to make you feel safe. We were quite displeased, and let the Department know, about how long this took to happen.
There has also been talks with the department about an exciting opportunity here at the NTA office. While we are not ready to announce anything yet, there are plans put in place for an exciting opportunity we hope we are able to collaborate with the department on and announce to you in the very near future. Stay tuned for any updates on this.
We are trying to build a strong relationship with the Department of Education. There is a lot of areas that, as President, I want to improve for you, our members. This will be much easier if we as an office work in collaboration with the Dept. to try to achieve some of our goals for you. Over the last couple of months, we have had some promising talks with the Minister of Education and the Assistant Deputy Minister of Education around curriculum and assessment. As this is my first year as your NTA President, I am learning very quickly how slowly the wheels of government move, but I am hopeful that we can build on the conversations that we have started in an effort to improve things for you.
The NTA AMCC will be taking place in the very near future where your Regional Representative will be coming to Iqaluit. I encourage all of you to be active NTA members and if there is something you feel as though your Regional Executive should bring to the table for discussion at our upcoming meetings, I would encourage you to reach out to them and inform them of your concerns. In the spirit of being an active NTA member, I would also like to remind you that NTA Regional elections will be happening in the very near future. If you have every wanted to become more involved in the NTA I highly encourage you to consider putting your name forward to be a Regional Elected Representative. If this is something that may interest you, make sure you reach out to your school Communication Liaison who could provide you with more information.
For many of our communities Spring Break will be happening soon. From all of us here at the office I just wanted to wish you all a safe and relaxing break. You have all most definitely earned it. If you are travelling, while restrictions are easing across the country, still be mindful and careful on your travels. For those staying close to home and enjoying the warmer weather and longer days out on the land, be safe and enjoy your time.
Thank you again for all the work you are putting in for the students of Nunavut. All the best to you and yours.
Cheers,
Justin Matchett
President,
Nunavut Teachers’ Association
867-222-9520 (mobile)
867-979-0750 ext. 221 (office)
jmatchett@ntanu.ca