Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Nov 24/99) - A disaster nearly befell Baker Lake earlier this month, says Jonah Amitnaaq secondary school principal Gerald Kelly.

A light fixture fell from the ceiling in one of the school's classrooms, crashing across a desk occupied by a young student only moments before.

"We had dismissed the kids for lunch hour and 10 minutes later it fell," says Kelly.

"Had students been in the room, one particular kid would have been hit.

"When you consider the physical impact and that live wires would have been hitting him on the head, we could have had a fatality."

An electrical supervisor was sent by the department of public works (DPW) to fix the lights, but Kelly says that's no more than a Band-Aid solution.

Students will be returning to the junior wing of the school this week, which the local District Education Authority shut down on Nov. 10.

The move was recommended by Kelly who, as principal, is responsible for the safety of all personnel and students in the school.

"I could not ensure the safety of the kids because of the condition of the strip lighting," says Kelly.

The shutdown necessitated moving junior high students into the school's senior wing, as well as portable classrooms adjacent to the school.

The school has 163 students in grades 7 through 12 and Kelly says he's seen enough of these problems.

"Back on Aug. 3, the first time we had a collapse, we gave specific instructions to DPW that some of the lighting was secured to the hardboard of the ceiling -- literally drywall -- they had to remove it from there and secure it to the joist.

"They came back to us two days later and indicated they had secured all the lighting.

"They didn't do that in all rooms. Some were left screwed into the hardwood and that was the section which fell this month."

The oldest section of the school was built in 1957, the remainder in the '60s.

Kelly says the school is decrepid and needs to be replaced.

Two weeks ago its furnace wasn't working and Kelly says there's concern over air quality in winter because the air circulation equipment doesn't work.

"It's just an old building which has outlived its usefulness," he says.

In 1996, the DPW commissioned a report on the building in which numerous faults were found, including the possible presence of asbestos.

A recent testing of the air concluded it presented no health risk, but Kelly says the recent steps are only delaying the inevitable.

"These are temporary measures which are only going to hold for a certain length of time.

"It's an old, old building that's going to continue to crumble and we need a commitment to a new school."