‘I think it’s kinda questionable’: Iqaluit school closures debated

Many are questioning the Iqaluit District Education Authority's decision to shut down schools yesterday. For the third time in less than a week, classes were cancelled because of bad weather.

“I think it's kinda questionable,” says Dawn Stewart, an Iqaluit mom who probably feels like a lot of parents in the city.

The Iqaluit DEA cancelled schools Wednesday afternoon due to a forecast of high winds.

The storm system hit Cape Dorset and Pangnirtung, but seemed to miss Iqaluit.

But not all children were sent home. First Steps Daycare, down by Iqaluit’s Navigator Inn, stayed open.

Kayla King, the daycare’s director, says they normally close along with schools, but she said yesterday’s weather just didn’t seem that bad.

“We couldn't really justify closing at that time, so we decided to stay open to see if we could make it through a little bit longer through the afternoon. And if it did get worse, we would notify parents.”

Not all schools were closed either. Nanook school in Apex stayed open.

The chair of the Apex DEA, Mads Sandbakken, says they have the luxury of staying open and watching the weather, since they have only 40 students in a small community and no school buses.

But he's sympathetic to the Iqaluit DEA. He says they were operating on better safe than sorry rule.

“I know as a chairperson of a DEA if one little accident happened and things happened to a little child then that would be the worst nightmare of any DEA member.”

Some parents are concerned about their children falling behind in school.

But Sandbakken says Nunavut has a longer school year than other places to account for storm days.

Iqaluit DEA chair Andrew Tagak Sr. was unavailable for an interview.