Inuksuk High School students head back to class

School will use compressed schedule to make up lost time

By DEAN MORRISON

Iqaluit’s Inuksuk High School returned to regularly scheduled classes Jan. 19 after the school closed for a week due to frozen water pipes.

The school shut down Jan.11 when a furnace stopped working, causing water pipes to freeze.

A Government of Nunavut contractor and city crews worked on the problem until about 11:30 p.m. Jan. 12 and went home believing the problem was solved.

But just after midnight on Jan. 13, a water main burst sending millions of litres of water rushing towards Frobisher Bay– virtually emptying the city’s treated water tanks.

Soon after, the city asked Iqaluit residents doing non-essential work to stay home and for all residents to conserve water.

The GN and a private contractor are responsible for fixing water problems at the school.

Crews worked around the clock, and teachers and students were left waiting for updates on social media sites like Facebook to find out when their school might re-open.

The school closure coincided with the week when Grade 12 students were to write departmental English exams.

But school officials made arrangements for the exams to be written at Aqsarniit Middle School on Jan. 16, said Paul Mooney, superintendent of schools in the Qikiqtani region.

Teachers also held pre-exam classes at Aqsarniit for Grade 12 students preparing to write math exams next week.

The Iqaluit District Education Authority is not expecting that they’ll need extend the school year to make up for the lost time, as the district adds an extra 20 hours to its yearly calendar to allow for unexpected closures, Mooney said.

There is a minimum of 1,000 hours of instruction required to make up a regular high school year.

The principal of Inuksuk High School will work with the IDEA and Qikiqtani School Operations to ensure that students receive any additional instructional time required to cover course material.

“Some shuffling will have to be done but we are certain that the requirements will be met for this year,” Mooney said. “ But adding time on to the day or adding extra days has not been an option that has been used in the past.”

The Inuksuk High School Heritage Fair, originally scheduled for Friday Jan. 20, will be postponed and held later in the school year.

Two more days of regular instruction time in the classroom will be returned to the students by compressing the upcoming regular exam schedule, Mooney said.

And while it might be assumed the students would have no problem with an unexpected holiday, Mooney says it has been a disruptive situation for all of them.

“Any time a school is closed, after the first morning what I hear from the kids is when can we go back,” Mooney said. “Because they really want to be there.”

The reason for the water main break has not been determined at this time.

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