Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Arviat (Apr 17/02) - A state-of-the-art media centre is in the works for Arviat's new high school.

Nunavut's Department of Education has been consulting with the local District Education Authority and headquarters staff to incorporate the centre into the school.

The school will combine junior and senior high, housing grades 7 through 12.

The department's capital planning manager, Lorne Levy, says the media centre will give students the chance to explore a wider variety of educational experiences.

"That's already occurring," says Levy.

"At times, our headquarters has students involved with some of this type of production. But this would be much more in-depth."

An architect will be hired to design the school, as budgeted in the 2002-03 fiscal year.

Construction is slated to take place during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 fiscal years.

The department is hoping the building will be ready for occupancy in 2005.

The Nunavut government has approved $11.5 million for the project in the main estimates.

"Part of the design process is to come up with a Class A estimate, so it's really an ever-refining process of estimation. When we go forward with the next capital submission in 2003-04, we'll assess the project again to ensure we have an adequate budget," says Levy.

"The media centre is part of the project brief and includes a space about 200-square metres."

Levy says the Education headquarters building in Arviat wasn't designed for a media centre, which requires ventilation and electrical standards.

He says the centre will allow students to develop additional skills within a hands-on environment.

"Basically, with a media centre, you're looking at the production of educational material aimed at the student body and other various resources.

That will include print production, CD-ROMs, computer generated resources, booklets, pamphlets and posters."