Faulty furnace, air handling plagues Pangnirtung’s Alookie School

Technicians working in Alookie school now believe the source of noxious fumes may flow from a faulty furnace, rather than complications from a September fuel spill at the Pangnirtung school. Officials hope to re-open the school Feb. 6. (FILE PHOTO)

Officials at the Qikiqtani school operation say they’re now faced with new challenges in re-opening Alookie School in Pangnirtung.

The Pangnirtung elementary school has been closed since September, after complications from a fuel oil spill from the building’s furnace.

Administrators tried to re-open the school on different occasions but were forced to close the building after staff complained of noxious fumes.

Now technicians believe the problem stems from the school’s air handling system, which is supposed to bring fresh air into the school and through the building’s heating system.

“What they found was that there is no evidence that the September fuel spill is causing problems anymore,” said Paul Mooney, superintendent of schools in the Qikiqtani region. “Technicians found a problem with the school’s furnace and the smoke going out of the chimney is getting sucked back into the building.”

Mooney believes the chimney smoke may be what’s caused complaints about air quality in the school since the fall.

With the new problem identified, Mooney said the school operation has tentatively scheduled Alookie to re-open on Feb. 6 – with the hope that technicians can sort out the school’s furnace problem by then.

The school operation held meetings with school staff and the community last weekend to bring them up to date on the situation, Mooney said.

Since late October, Pangnirtung’s roughly 200 elementary students have been sharing the community’s secondary school facilities.

Attagoyuk Ilisavik High School has been hosting Pangnirtung’s elementary students each morning, while secondary classes are scheduled from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Mooney said the school calendar is padded with extra days to make up for missed classes.

The community’s 250 high school students have yet to miss any class time since they began sharing their classroom facilities, Mooney said, although elementary students will require extra days to catch up.

Despite the inconvenience, Mooney said teachers and administrators have done a great job of coordinating the two school groups.

“I’ve been in the school a number of times in the past couple of months, and I’ve always been impressed,” he said. “What they’re doing is really a model for sharing and cooperation.”

“But we sure want to get the school open again,” he added.