Six Nations schools given space in arena

Community offers help after rundown building forced to close in April

The community has rallied behind Six Nations' native language immersion schools that were forced to close in April after serious deficiencies were revealed to the public.

The board announced Friday that, in September, Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo elementary and high schools will open in part of the enormous Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, where the children will have clean, safe facilities and access to the professional lacrosse playing area.

"The kids are very excited," said school principal Isabel Jacobs as her charges celebrated the last day of school and left their temporary quarters for the final time.

After a parent documented mould, leaky sinks, plugged toilets, filthy bathrooms and a lack of safety features in an April video that was widely circulated to those involved with the two Kawenni:io schools, the children were immediately relocated to rooms in the Six Nations Polytechnic school. The post-secondary school was winding down its year and arranged for the younger students to finish their classes in the four-year-old facility.

Concerns about asbestos in the old school were widely discussed, especially after some teachers and students complained of health problems, but tests showed there was no cause for alarm.

A initial plan to put portables in place on the Polytechnic campus for September was going to be cost prohibitive.

Then the owners of the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena -- one of them a parent of an immersion school student -- stepped forward with an offer of leased space in the huge facility, located on Second Line near Cayuga Road. Curt Styres, one of the movers and

shakers behind building the $4-million, 2,600-seat arena, could not be reached Friday for comment.

The arena already features space leased to various retail outlets, and has finished space on the second level of the building that will be renovated to create 12 classrooms.

Other areas will be remodelled into up to eight offices and additional classrooms.

The space is expected to easily absorb the 120 elementary and high school students.

"We'll be able to access the arena floor for phys.-ed. and use the change rooms, which is a tremendous bonus," said school board chairman Allan Miller. "This will be our best facility yet."

The arena is home to the Six Nations Arrows and is often used for training by the pro lacrosse team, the Toronto Rock.

Miller said the schools are finalizing a three-year lease agreement with the arena owners.

Meanwhile, a building committee is gathering information and exploring for a final location for the school, which has never had its own place.

"We've been 22 years in temporary buildings and we deserve a new facility," said Miller, noting the next goal is to work on fundraising for the new building.

Kawenni:io gets 25 per cent of its funding from Indian Affairs. Another 25 per cent comes from tuition and 50 per cent is through donations to the school from those who believe in revitalizing native languages.

Students are educated in either Mohawk or Cayuga.

Both Miller and Jacobs said the community has been tremendously supportive since the old schools were closed.

Aside from the arena's offer of space and Polytechnic coming to the rescue in April, parents have been coming up with suggestions and encouragement about the future.

"All the Polytech staff have been so gracious," said Jacobs. "Whatever we've needed they put at our disposal, and the kids have really appreciated how bright and clean the facility is."

Registration for the new school year is still open.

Article ID# 1092834