Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 13/99) - Yellowknife's Catholic school board is busy preparing for possible computer problems due to the Y2K bug, a potential flaw in computers that could cause serious difficulties when the year changes to 2000.

A working committee, consisting of six staff members and the board's technology support staff, has been meeting weekly in order to have the board's systems ready for Jan. 1, 2000.

"Included in our work was a search of applications that will systematically assess the state of our district's hardware, software and data to determine the extent of the potential impact of the Y2K bug on our operations," a report by the committee, reviewed by school board members last month, states.

"...While some feel that the alarm is overstated, our insurance company has confirmed that our carriers will not cover any loss associated with a Y2K problem. This is standard across the industry."

The committee is currently reviewing a proposal by an international company to have a full assessment of district needs completed.

The committee's target is have all the board's critical systems assessed, remedied and tested by June, 1999.

Should these time-lines prove successful, this will provide the board with a six-month leeway should any further action be required, staff said in their report.