Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 28/04) - As Samuel Hearne secondary school staff and students returned to class Tuesday at what remains of SHSS, the territorial government says a dollar figure on the extent of the damage at the school is weeks away.

And that means no word yet as to whether the high school facility will be repaired or replaced.

On May 5, the school's foyer roof collapsed and 12 days later a fire ripped through the gymnasium. Because of these events, the facility had been closed for nearly three weeks and classes were diverted to several locations around town.

Last week, members of the Department of Finance visited the school to take stock of the damage. However, its report will not be ready for another six to eight weeks.

Education, Culture and Employment Minister Charles Dent said until the report is complete there will be no decision made as to whether SHSS will be repaired or replaced.

"I can't answer that right now," he said Tuesday. "First we need an estimate and my guess is we're talking about repairs (before replacement)."

With $50 million budgeted in 2003 for the GNWT's five-year Capital Plan, Dent said there's not enough money to advance both of Inuvik's schools.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie school, the town's Kindergarten to Grade 6 facility, was scheduled for replacement in 2005/2006.

"Obviously with what's happened, this will have to be re-evaluated."

Not in budget

Dent says that to replace SHSS would cost approximately $25 million.

Finance Minister and Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Floyd Roland said that previous to the two disasters at SHSS, the upgrades to the school or its outright replacement was not budgeted into the Capital Plan.

"Even if we were to decide to replace the school, it wouldn't happen for several years," said Roland of the lengthy consultation and building planning processes that would be followed by actual construction.

While ECE and the Department of Finance would not speculate on repair costs, Public Works and Services regional superintendent Brian Lemax estimates the foyer will cost a minimum of $500,000 to replace and he expects the gym to be in the "$5 million range."

As the GNWT's deductible on its insurable properties is $10 million, any costs involved in dealing with SHSS will have to come from the territories' general revenue vis-a-vis the Capital Plan. The territories' deductible used to be $1 million, but in the GNWT's attempts to cut spending, this figure was raised tenfold.