Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

KUGLUKTUK - At Kugluktuk high school, students and staff are greeted each day by boarded-up windows, holes in the walls, damaged floors and a dark green and blue painted interior.

Holes puncture the wall beneath the trophy case at Kugluktuk high school. A fire marshal's report released on Sept. 25 listed 37 deficiencies in the school, one being the holes, which allow a fire to spread more easily. - photo courtesy of Gary Kennedy

A fire marshal's inspection report from Sept. 25 lists 37 deficiencies in the building that had to either be fixed immediately or by Nov. 30 to meet the standards of the Nunavut Fire Prevention Act.

Some items on the list are minor and can be fixed by the school, but others, such as holes in the walls, require more time and attention from outside agencies.

Principal Gary Kennedy said he is doubtful all of the recommendations will be accomplished by the end of the month.

"The only problems that get addressed in our school are when they are a direct hazard to the students or staff, and I think that's unacceptable. I think the students deserve more," Kennedy said.

Between 100 and 110 students use the high school every day.

It is Kennedy's third year at the school and for the past two summers the teachers have been told to take everything off their walls and move the desks to the middle of the rooms. A paint job and new flooring were promised, but two years in a row, nothing happened.

"It's not the way I picture the school being," Kennedy said of the building's current state. "I picture a bright, lively, vibrant atmosphere. Not one where the windows are boarded up."

If the school's appearance were improved, students and staff would feel more pride and respect for the place in which they learn and work, Kennedy said. Unfortunately, he said, it's not those with a vested interest in the school that are doing the damage.

Kugluktuk's MLA, Joe Allen Evyagotailak, tabled a document of photos in the legislative assembly during its recent sitting, showing the squalid conditions at the facility.

Levi Barnabas, MLA for Quttiktuq, did the same for Inuujaq school in Arctic Bay while MLA James Arreak submitted letters from students at Qikiqtarjuaq's Inuksuit school, asking for renovations to their 17 year-old building.

The situation is less dire in Qikiqtarjuaq, but the 148 students there find themselves squeezed for space.

The Inuktitut class is taught in the library and the kitchen is used as a classroom, meaning both can't always be used for their original purposes. The gym's two change rooms have been converted into storage space and sealift material is stored in the crawl space beneath the school, making it largely inaccessible.

"Learning environments would be improved and enhanced if we had more space to teach children," principal Ian Gordon said. "Better programs would be offered to students if the amount of space in the school was increased."

Yet, Gordon was quick to add that scheduled classes continue despite the space limitations of the building.

In the recent sitting of the legislative assembly, $200,000 was approved for renovating Qikiqtarjuaq's school. Work is expected to begin in 2009.

No major funds for Kugluktuk high school or Inuujaq school were written into the Community and Government Services (CGS) capital plan for the coming year, however.

Such a recommendation needs to come from the Department of Education, said Brent Boddy, assistant deputy minister of capital planning and technical services with CGS said.

"It's very normal for some of these high-use buildings to always have a list of things that need to be done," he said.

The Department of Education referred inquiries to CGS.