Students in fire-stricken Nunavut hamlet to start school later this year

A suggested floor plan for the main level of a new school for Kugaaruk. The school is being constructed by Kudlik Construction Inc., with completion projected for 2019. (COURTESY OF THE CGS DEPARTMENT)

Students in Kugaaruk usually head back to school in August, but their start date for school this year will depend on how fast the Government of Nunavut can install six new modular classrooms.

The deadline for completing that work is Oct. 15, the Department of Education confirmed to Nunatsiaq News, because the units aren’t set to arrive in the community until the September sealift.

The GN budgeted $6 million for the purchase and installation of the six modular classrooms, with a link to the former hamlet office, a Department of Education spokesperson said in an email.

The community’s only school was left in ruins following an overnight fire this past Feb 28. Police have since charged a 13-year-old youth with arson.

The installation work will include building a link that would attach the new classrooms to the community’s old hamlet complex, which Kudlik Construction Ltd. is currently renovating into an interim school.

“Opening is going to depend on that work being completed,” said Kugaaruk’s acting senior administrative officer, Gord Dinney.

After the school burned, the ongoing construction of a new hamlet complex was fast tracked so that the old building could be converted to a school.

Hamlet employees have moved into the new building, which Dinney said should be finished in six to eight weeks.

Besides setting up an interim school, Kudlik was also awarded the contract, June 18, for building a new school in the community.

The project began Aug. 2, with the completion date set for August 2019.

“They’ve done all the demolition and removal [of debris] and are working on preparing the site. Construction materials will be arriving on the sealift by the end of August as well,” Dinney said.

And, a request for proposals for the design and construction of the new school promises a new, state-of-the-art facility for the hamlet of about 900 people, which uses the school as a primary community space, as well as for education.

The school will include:

• a 24-child daycare;

• home studies classroom with kitchen stations;

• trades classroom for teaching woodworking, engine repair and all-terrain-vehicle maintenance;

• student support teacher and learning coach classrooms for studying and group project support;

• support classroom for children with specialized learning needs;

• gymnasium and fitness centre; and,

• a traditional trades classroom for cultural activities such as beading, sewing and preparing animal skins.

“As the majority of Kugaaruk’s students are of Inuit background, the design should reflect northern values and include elements that promote Inuit identity,” through principles of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, the GN’s RFP said.

The RFP suggested some ways to encourage cultural identity through the design, including:

• providing a connection to the outdoors to acknowledge the importance of the land;

• building display areas to showcase student culture and regional traditions;

• ensuring culturally relevant spaces are centrally located within the school with windows in the walls so students passing by can see ongoing cultural projects; and,

• creating a “living history area” in a common space.

The new school would be built at the same site as the former Kugaardjuq School, which was built in 1986. The hamlet office and power plant share the same lot.

On the night of the blaze, firefighters worked tirelessly to prevent flames from spreading to the nearby fuel supply.

“The new building should be situated on the site to maximize the distance between the school and fuel supply,” the RFP stated.

Enrolment at Kugaardjuq School, for kindergarten to Grade 12, stood at 295 in 2016, and school capacity at the time was 350, despite a 2003 renovation.

Department projections predict student enrolment will grow to 450 over the new school’s first 20 years. The GN expects the new school will be at 70 per cent capacity when it opens.

The proposal also requires that the new school be built so that future expansion is an easy option, and that the six modular classrooms could be added later, if necessary.

Jonah Amitnaaq School in Baker Lake and Joamie School in Iqaluit were cited as examples of existing schools after which the new school could be modeled.

The loss of Kugaaruk’s school comes after a 2015 fire that destroyed Peter Pitseolak School in Cape Dorset.

And, in April, Baker Lake had a similar scare when a soap dispenser was set fire in a school washroom.

Kugaaruk students completed their last school year after the Department of Education and the community set up classrooms in the parish hall, the daycare, the co-op warehouse, Nunavut Arctic College learning centre, and other spaces around town.

The GN’s 2017-2018 territorial school calendar says teachers will be back to work in Kugaaruk on Sept. 6 and that the first day of school attendance in the Kitikmeot hamlet would be Sept. 18.

But those dates seem hopeful given that the portable classrooms will only be delivered in September.

This aerial shot shows the location of Kugaaruk’s school.