Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 29/98) - Come September of 1999, Iqaluit children in grades 6 to 8 will head off to a new middle school near Tundra Valley -- one of the fastest growing sections of town.

What remains to be seen however, is exactly how many classrooms they will fill.

At the moment, with the tender to build the institution about to be awarded, the contract accounts for only seven classrooms.

But according to John Thomas, chair of the Iqaluit District Education Authority, when the full extent of expected population growth is considered, there is no option but to build a school with 11 classrooms.

"We've minimized the costs as much as possible and we hope to have 11 classrooms. Seven is just not enough to hold all the 6, 7, and 8s and it's cheaper to do it now than two years down the road," says Thomas.

Lorne Levy, assistant director and co-ordinator of capital projects for the Baffin Divisional Board of Education, also recognizes the need, but doesn't know if enough money is available.

He says four more rooms will cost $2 million beyond the $6 million now earmarked for the project.

"It's something that's an issue with IDEA ... but we're still trying to negotiate to get the extra four classrooms," says Levy.

To try and raise the cash, Levy hopes to redirect money from an expansion project for Joamie school toward the middle school.

"Joamie is the optimum size. It makes sense to add on to the middle school," says Levy.

Levy notes, however, that adding on the four rooms at a later date will not pose any construction problems and as soon as the environmental assessment is complete, building will begin.

Once the doors open, students in grades 7 and 8 currently attending Inuksuk high school will join the Grade 6 students from the town's three elementary schools to make up the population of the middle school.

It is hoped that some of the crunch on space will then be alleviated.

In the meantime, with Iqaluit's rapidly growing population -- estimates put the increase between 75 to 125 per cent over the next 20 years -- students will face badly overcrowded rooms.