Siksika elementary school remains shut because of broken boiler
A woman whose grandchildren attend the elementary school on the Siksika Nation says she is not confident it will reopen Monday as promised.
The boiler at Crowfoot Elementary School broke down at the end of November, leaving the building without heat.
Students continued to attend, wearing winter coats and boots and using space heaters. Officials then closed the school, promising repairs would be completed during Christmas break.
Last week Siksika band council member and school board chairman Hector Winnipeg said the repairs should be done by Jan. 19.
But the school remains closed. Geraldine Redgun, whose grandchildren are enrolled at the school, is frustrated.
“Don't really have any confidence, because they keep telling us, ‘Oh, this is the time it’s going to start.' And when that time goes … then something else comes up and they call us back. And they say, ‘Oh, there's no school' and they moved it to this date,” she said.
“They've said that three or four times.”
About 160 students attend the preschool to Grade 6 school.
Officials are now promising the school will reopen on Jan. 26.
Winnipeg said repairs have now been made and everything thoroughly checked.
"They started up the boiler yesterday, and so far so good. The water is flowing through, and the water is running at the school,” he said.
He said a backup location has also been lined up just in case.
Siksika Nation is about an hour’s drive east of Calgary.
