Elementary students still out in Pik

Parents are questioning whether their children will have to repeat elementary school classes next year after mould was discovered two months ago in Pikangikum’s teacherages.
While high school students in the community returned to school in January and Grade 8 students are back in class, elementary classes are still not running full time.
“Parents keep calling constantly to get an update on when their children should be receiving full-time instruction,” said Kyle Peters, Pikangikum’s director of education. “Their main question is whether their children should repeat their (school) year next year.”
Peters has been considering some options to save the Eenchokay Birchstick School elementary students’ school year, including continuing classes during the summer or extending class hours for the remainder of the school year once students return to class.
“We looked at a couple of options to try to save the year, but I just don’t see them going to school during the summer,” Peters said.
Grade 7 students are expected to return to school on March 27 and Grade 5 and Grade 6 students are expected to return sometime in April, but Peters was not sure when the other students would return to class.
“We just want our students back in school,” Peters said.
While most classes were closed Jan. 9 after mould was discovered in the accommodations of 25 of the community’s 31 teachers, high school students were back in class as of Jan. 27 after the high school teachers were moved into newer accommodations that had been occupied by elementary teachers.
The mould was found in the teacherages during an air quality assessment conducted by an independent consultant. The assessment was called for after a teacher became ill.
Peters said renovation work on the teacherages was almost completed as of March 5, but two of the teacherages had been condemned.