Open Letter to Education Minister Scott Kent — Urgent Request for Additional Staffing at Robert Service School

July 7, 2026

Dear Minister Kent,

I am writing to you as the MLA for Klondike on behalf of the students, families, and community of Dawson City. I am making this letter public because the people of the Klondike deserve to know what is happening at Robert Service School (RSS) — and what your government is being asked to do about it.

The Problem, in Brief

RSS — a school co-governed in formal partnership with Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (TH) — has lost as many as six teaching positions in recent years, including a 2.0 FTE cut last year and a further 0.5 FTE this year, leaving a 20.5 FTE allocation that is no longer sufficient. The effects are direct:

•  RSS’s decades-long trades program is at risk of disappearing entirely. The retiring trades teacher’s position can only be replaced at 0.5 FTE, and a qualified candidate already turned it down. Without a full-time posting, RSS will have no trades teacher in 2026–2027.

•  Learning Assistance Teacher (LAT) time — support for students with Student Support Plans (SSPs) and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) — has been cut to an unfilled half-time TEMP posting.

•  There is no dedicated Resource Room Teacher, despite growing need for individualized and specialized instruction.

•  With the principal and vice-principal now regularly filling classroom roles, there is no administrative redundancy left to cover an absent teacher.

RSS and the Dawson community should not be forced to choose between classroom supports and a successful, decades-old trades program. Both are needed, and neither should be sacrificed for the other.

Full detail on these impacts, and on how this situation measures against the Yukon Party government’s own election commitments, is provided in the Appendix.

What I Am Asking For

• I am formally requesting that the Department of Education provide RSS with territorial contingency staffing as follows:
• 0.5 FTE top-up for the trades teacher position, restoring it to a full 1.0 FTE so the program can be staffed and recruitment made competitive;
• 0.5 FTE top-up for the Learning Assistance Teacher (LAT) position, restoring it to a full 1.0 FTE so students with SSPs and IEPs receive consistent support;
• 1.0 FTE for a new Resource Room Teacher position, with special education qualifications, to support students with the highest needs; and
• Written confirmation of these allocations to RSS administration and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in without delay, so recruitment can begin immediately for the 2026–2027 school year.

Combined, this is 2.0 additional FTE — a modest cost against the territorial education budget, and far smaller than the cuts RSS has already absorbed.

Closing

The cost of these positions — 2.0 FTE in total — is small. The cost of inaction is not: a lost trades program, students without the learning supports they are entitled to, and a community that loses one more reason for families to stay. I am asking you to act before the 2026–2027 school year begins.

The community of Dawson City is watching, Minister Kent.

Yours sincerely,

Brent McDonald