Broken pipe sends students home
A broken sewage pipe at Kahnawake Survival School (KSS) this week gave students some more days at home, on top of two days missed earlier in the month as a result of the snowstorm.
The problem was first noticed on Monday morning, after students and staff started experiencing nausea and headaches due to a foul smell. The decision was made to send everyone home before lunch time.
Kahnawake Education Center (KEC)’s director of education Falen Jacobs confirmed that maintenance crews identified a cracked sewage pipe that was likely damaged due to freezing temperatures which was causing the stench.
“The smell was wafting through the entire school and really impacting air quality, so it was just not a safe environment,” Jacobs said.
Additional parts needed to be ordered to fix the pipe, and so KSS stayed shut until Wednesday afternoon, when it was reopened in time for report card meetings.
The rest of Monday was off for students and teachers, but Tuesday and Wednesday were remote learning days taught via Google Classroom. That’s different to February 13 and 14, which were considered emergency snow days, with classes being completely cancelled.
Jacobs said that the school has a mandated 180 teaching days per year, with 20 days ped days throughout the year – two out of those 20 are reserved for emergency closures, which covered the snowstorm days.
With the storm and the pipe students have been spending a lot more time than usual at home the past few weeks - with more time off for March break next week.
