SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yk1 school district has been dealing with a number of sewer line freeze-ups this winter, due to low snowfall which causes the frost to sink deeper into the ground.

The cost of steaming pipes comes to about $150 per hour of work, according to Dave Johnson, director of facilities maintenance for the district.

Although unsure of an actual number, he said the freeze-ups have occurred "more than a few times" this season at Sir John Franklin High School.

Assistant superintendent Mel Pardy said the district hopes it can come to an agreement with the GNWT about the dollar value and who is responsible for it.

"Obviously we hope we can come to an agreement because this has happened more than once. It's something that's inherent in the fact that the pipes were there a long, long time ago and this is continually happening," said Pardy.

The sewer line at Sir John Franklin runs about 120 metres from the school to the main pipe system, said trustee Terry

Brookes at the district's board meeting last week.

"Because these schools are in a big yard, there's a long distance from one building to where it gets to the main sewer line. There's a lot of chance for the freeze-up to come in there."

Superintendent Metro Huculak said the high school is "the worst" of all the district's buildings for the winter headaches.

"Something has to hopefully get done this summer. We spend a lot of money having to steam out the lines and get it going," he said.

School to help students quit smoking

Trustee Reanna Erasmus told the Yk1 board on March 8 that where Sir John Franklin High School students are allowed to smoke is an issue brought up time and again at the school's Parent Advisory Committee meetings.

"Some parents have concerns and the administration has concerns because they don't want the students to be smoking too far from the school because drug dealers seem to come around," she said.

Erasmus said the school will be setting up a smoke cessation program with a volunteer from the Department of Health and Social Services.

"(The school) is going to invite all of the smokers that they see out there to the smoke cessation program and seeing if they can help them to quit smoking," she said.

The school will be putting up no-smoking signs, meeting with students to discuss where they can smoke and where they will be safe and in sight of the school, according to the Feb. 15 Parent Advisory Committee meeting minutes.

Trustees voice concerns about Food First program's cancellation

Trustee Reanna Erasmus asked the Yk1 board if they could meet with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment concerning the cancellation of the Food First program, which ran in NWT schools over the past year.

The program, which received $400,000 from the GNWT last year to buy healthy food and snacks for children, was left out of this year's budget.

"The program helped children in poverty to have some food in their stomachs. We know from the different staff that presented to us how settled the children were after they had something to eat," said Erasmus.

Trustee Duff Spence agreed, stating the department has now created a "reliance and dependence" in the schools providing healthy food to the students.

"We've learned over the years in terms of budgeting, you don't budget a program for one year. That's silly. You have no basis in terms of why you're going to cut it because you have no basis for success or failure," he said.

Trustee Terry Brookes said the board should lobby for the program to continue, stating that having the food program also relates to attendance in schools.

"Without it, we're not back at square one; we're less than square one."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.