Nunavik school board looks at tighter policies following gun incident

The Kativik School Board is looking at ways to improve safety in its schools, after a student entered Iguarsivik school in Puvirnituq with a loaded rifle last spring. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavik’s Kativik School Board says it has drafted a list of school lockdown procedures in response to an incident earlier this year in which a student walked into a school with a loaded rifle.

The draft policy, presented to school commissioners in August, has not yet been made public as schools consult with their staff and the wider community.

But the objective is to ensure Nunavik schools are safe by clarifying emergency procedures, the KSB said Sept. 9.

On June 5, a student carrying a loaded rifle walked into Iguarsivik school in Puvirnituq, on Nunavik’s Hudson coast, reportedly looking for another student.

No one was harmed during the incident at the school, which serves about 260 students in the upper primary and secondary levels.

A female student, who can’t be identified, faces five charges, including careless use of a firearm and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.

In the days following the incident, the KSB closed the school for a half day and sent in a psychologist to provide support for staff and students.

Since then, video surveillance equipment, including high-resolution cameras, has been installed in all Nunavik schools, the KSB said.

And this year, in addition to regular fire drills, emergency procedure drills will be scheduled by each school in the region.

Iguarsivik also requested that a buzzer be installed at the entrance of the school, so that doors can be unlocked only after visitors have been identified.

But while the school board has a key role to play in making its spaces safe for students and staff, the KSB said issues of violence must be addressed at both the community and regional level.

“The school board wishes to stress that while incidents such as this one have serious repercussions on our schools and their operation, they are also symptomatic of broader issues affecting Nunavik,” the KSB said in a Sept. 9 statement.

“These broader issues cannot be addressed by the school board in isolation. They can only be successfully addressed through a strong regional partnership amongst the organizations providing services to Nunavimmiut.”

The KSB also notes the impact of bullying, trauma and stress can have on school communities.

For that reason, Iguarsivik will join the KSB’s compassionate schools project this year, which focuses on how trauma affects behaviour and the ability to learn.

As part of an expanding pilot project, the program offers classroom management coaching to participating schools, which the school board says has resulted in a decrease in the number of students expelled from the classroom.