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PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
Students at Alookie School in Pangnirtung will return to their own classrooms Feb. 6, government experts told parents at a Jan. 14 community meeting, Qikiqtani School Operations (QSO) superintendent Paul Mooney said Jan. 18.

According to Mooney, technicians now say the hydrocarbon odour that closed the school Oct. 20 was caused by the air handling system, which returned some of the boiler heater exhaust into the school air.

"It seems the burners in the school are not functioning at their proper level, and the smoke going up the chimney is not rising fast enough. Some of it is being sucked back in through the air handling system. That is something you can smell, and something that some people would find irritating," Mooney said.

Alookie has been sharing space with Attagoyuk high school since Oct. 28 after the odour was detected. Staff originally thought the Sept. 20 fuel oil spill in the boiler room caused the smell. Although the Department of Community and Government Services will also replace the plywood floor where the oil spilled, recent analysis ruled out the spill as the cause of the problem that will have kept the school closed for four months.

"There are two ways the building gets heated," Mooney said. "One is through the (hot water) radiators around the edges of the classrooms. The other way is by coils in the air handling system. Any air handling system brings in some outside air, usually about 15 per cent, to refresh the air. Strangely enough, it was having the opposite effect at certain times. It depends on the wind direction and the indoor/outdoor temperature difference. They were able to find it (the Jan. 13) weekend."

The technicians said the burners, but not the boilers, would need to be replaced. The burners are about 25 years old, Mooney said.

The school's air circulation system will be brought back to the standards for a new school before it reopens.

"Feb. 6 is the date the team presented to the staff and the community," he said. "I'm hoping they're right. We'll keep the community informed if there's any change. But the solution will be there before we go in. We won't go in and say, I still smell something."

Contrary to reports, Mooney says both student bodies have missed a significant amount of class time, but reiterated that there are no plans to make up for lost time in the summer or on weekends.

"It's just not something that we've done and it's not in the plans now," he said.

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