Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Nov 23/05) - Mysterious fumes led to the cancellation of morning classes at Leo Ussak elementary school in Rankin Inlet this past week under a cloud of controversy.

Rankin Inlet District Education Authority chairperson Darrin Nichol said reports on the school's closure were blown out of proportion.

He said there were no students in the school when the decision was made to defer morning classes.

"I was contacted shortly after 7 a.m. by the school principal and we did our best to get on the radio and advise the community of the situation," said Nichol.

"The decision not to open the school was made by 7:30 a.m., so I'm not sure where some of these reports of kids being shuffled outside into the cold originated from.

"We didn't know what these odours were related to, so we made the decision to err on the side of caution.

"Classes hadn't even begun for the day, so there were no children sent packing out into the cold."

Principal Harold Goobie said the vast majority of the community knew about the school's closure by 8 a.m.

He said 99 per cent of the student body never arrived at the school.

"We had officials from Community and Government Services come to the school, and we determined there was no problem inside the building," said Goobie.

"We're not sure where the fumes came from.

"There was an early flight that morning with the wind blowing from the airport to the school, and we also had snow removal going on.

"Somehow, fumes got sucked into the school and that matter is being looked into.

"Early radio reports left the impression kids were in school at the time and had to be ushered out into the cold and that was not the case."

Nichol said he's comfortable with the existing protocol for addressing this type of situation.

He said every available resource is utilized to inform families of the school's almost 300 students anytime an unforeseen situation arises.

"Classes had not started in this particular case, but, if a situation did arise while school was in session, the kids would be taken across to Maani Ulujuk High until the parents could be notified to come pick up their children.

"We would not consider any process that left kids exposed to possible harm while we tried to determine if there was any danger.

"The safety of our kids in an unknown situation is always the No. 1 priority."