Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Sep 30/05) - If repair work at Samuel Hearne secondary school goes according to the contractor's plan, students could be back in the building by the end of October.

"We hope the classrooms and foyer will be opened by the end of the third week in October," said Sam Kassam of Northern Management, project manager on the $240,000 job. "And the gym should be ready for the end of November or early December."

Michael Kilpatrick of Millennium Construction explained what was actually being done at the school.

"Steel pipes from each of the (school's) four corners will connect to these four pilings," he said. "It will stiffen the building and keep it from swaying in a high wind."

Department of Public Works closed the building just prior to the start of classes this fall, after an engineering report could not guarantee the building's structural integrity in the event of an earthquake or high winds.

"If the pilings were to fail, it would be because of movement on the horizontal axis," said Kilpatrick, adding that rotten pilings underneath the building would be addressed in a two-phase approach with the worst ones being fixed this fall and repairs to the remaining pilings to be completed this summer.

While it is good news for staff and students, department of Public Works regional superintendent Brian Lemax remains cautious.

"That's good if the contractors are saying that, but we'll stick with the same schedule for now," he said.

"Work was started about a week and a half ago and we're still projecting a December completion date."

This is in keeping with what was outlined by DPW minister Floyd Roland at his Boot Lake constituency meeting in town last week. He said the school should be ready for occupancy by Dec. 4. Lemax added, the department is looking at other buildings in town and said piling inspections at Sir Alexander Mackenzie school have revealed it's foundation to be in decent shape.

"SAMS was considered good but some piles needed repairs," he said.

"Those pilings should be repaired by now and hopefully there will be no problems between now and the time (the school) is replaced."

A replacement for SAMS is expected to open in time for the 2007/2008 school year.

Recent inspections there identified 35 pilings in need of repair.