Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 28, 2008

IQALUIT - A funny smell has kept some Iqaluit students from classes at Nakasuk elementary school for a number of days this month.

The closure is expected to continue this week.

Nakasuk school teacher Annie Petaulassie works in the Anglican Parish Hall in Iqaluit. Nakasuk teachers made the best of this makeshift office last week while the school was closed due to a bad smell. - Karen Mackenzie/NNSL photo

Children and staff at the school have complained of headaches, nausea and sore throats since mid-January.

The problem is probably due to a sewage main which froze and backed up in a crawlspace beneath the building around Christmas, according to Minister of Education Ed Picco.

Community and Government Services workers found stagnant water and mould in the area, and threw down sand and lime and removed a couple of wall panels.

The issue persisted and the Workers' Compensation Board ordered the school closed last Wednesday until the odour is resolved.

The Government of Nunavut flew in an air quality tester from Ottawa and hired a contractor to fix the problem, according to Picco.

Although teachers were able to make the best of a makeshift office at the Anglican Parish Hall last week, working parents were left scrambling for other arrangements.

"For parents, it's tough. They have to find alternatives, and I honestly don't now what they're doing," said Tina Balfour, director of the daycare at Nakasuk.

Balfour said she didn't notice a significant change in her young charges, although her own oldest child did complain of a headache. "It's frustrating. I'll be anxious to get back to work," she said.

Students lost Jan. 7 to weather, about a day to frozen pipes, two days to Professional Development courses and the equivalent of at least four to the smell, which amounts to about half their school time this month.

Students and staff will likely work out of different buildings this week as long as Nakasuk is closed.

According to Picco, the Department of Education is working on the logistics of a fall-back plan in case the school remained closed for much longer.

"There is some concern on how many days the students would miss from school and how you keep the academics up and so on, but every DEA in Nunavut, and Iqaluit's no different, always budgets extra days for storm days and we haven't had very many in Iqaluit this year," Picco said Thursday. "Even if we had to put it off we could go to Tuesday or Wednesday. We want to ensure that there is a safe environment for students and faculty to go to class in the school."