The newly elected school committee in Whapmagoostui is calling on the Cree School Board to conduct a forensic audit of the community’s school.

They are asking for a full review of all aspects of school operations, including teaching, administration and maintenance.

The formal request was made in a letter to Gordon Blackned, director-general of the school board.

“Either there is nothing wrong and the people involved should be vindicated, or if there is something wrong, we should make sure the same mistakes don’t continue,” said Rev. Tom Martin, chair of the school committee.

The committee is made up of parents, and is supposed to advise the school on education and administrative matters.

Blackned and the school’s officials were unavailable for comment.

Martin said an audit would clear the air in the community, where questions are circulating about how the Badabin Eeyou School is run.

Martin, who is the minister in the community’s St. Edmund Anglican Church, has two children aged 13 and 15 who have attended the school most of their lives.

“Let’s cut through the nonsense and give our kids the best possible education,” said Martin.

The school committee’s decision came a month ago, following two community meetings at which problems at the school were discussed.

A five-page document summarizing the concerns came out of the meetings. It also called for an audit, listing numerous problems with everything from students’ safety, to alleged misuse of funds, lack of a student council, excessive class sizes, missing teachers and dirty school grounds.

Martin praised school officials for fixing many of the problems. He said the school committee recently held its first meeting with teachers in nine years – another positive development.

“But some items are still in progress. You don’t change things immediately,” he added.

“I think we can make our school superior. If every school did that, the whole system would go up.”

Lisa Petagumskum, another school committee member, has two kids at the school, aged 8 and 12.

She agreed that many of the problems have been dealt with “to some extent” But she said more work needs to be done.

“We were concerned with the quality of education,” said Petagumskum, who is leaving the committee because she has taken a job in Chisasibi.

Commenting on the need for an audit she said: “As a parent I feel every effort should be made to find out if there was misallocation of funds or equipment

“If (the claims are) unfounded, at least we made an effort to find out.”

But Petagumskum is optimistic: “I think everybody’s committed to working together.”