Brodie Thomas
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 28, 2008

FORT NORMAN - Teachers and students at the Chief Albert Wright school in Tulita are soldiering on since the loss of their school to arson on Oct. 9, 2007.

"The kids are doing exceptionally well," said Principal Wayne Dawe from the Two Rivers Hotel, where Grade 5, 6, 8, and 9 classes are now being held.

Classes there take place in the hotel rooms, which Dawe admits are cramped and have poor ventilation.

Other classes are being held in various buildings around the community, including the library, the Pentecostal mission, the old library, the preschool, the Catholic Church, and the Aurora College building. Teachers are also making use of a portable classroom that was on school grounds but was unaffected by the fire.

The fire occurred in the early morning hours of Oct. 9. Classes did not resume for high school students until Nov. 1. The rest of the grades were back to class within two to three weeks of that date. Teachers worked steadily between the fire and the start of classes, making arrangements to continue classes.

Sister Celeste Goulet was quick to offer up space in her church for classes.

"When I heard they were asking I offered the church," said Goulet. The school ended up making use of the Sunday school room in the church and the preschool building next door.

Goulet said the primary children enjoy playing with the preschoolers, and they even take Slavey class together.

Textbooks were probably the most important tool the teachers needed in order to resume classes. Dawe said there was little delay in getting those.

"We did well with the textbooks because our school board really came onside and got the necessary textbooks that we need."

Very little was salvageable from the damaged school. Northern Disaster Services, a company based in Yellowknife, was brought in to clean up the interior of the school. Dawe said they were able to salvage some desks. New computers, televisions and other audio-visual equipment has been purchased.

The old school has since been boarded up. Because a new school was already under construction at the time of the fire, it was unfeasible to properly clean and repair damage to the old school, said Dawe.

While books and furniture can be replaced, there are other things that were irreplaceable.

"Some of the things it took us years to build up obviously have been wiped out. Some of the plans and programs we had in place, we had to drop them," said Dawe, referring to traditional knowledge curriculum.

For gym, teachers have been turning to the great outdoors for classes. The hamlet of Tulita has also made the arena available for gym classes.

As for lost time, Dawe said that class time will not be extended into the summer months.

"We've cut some professional development days. We extended semester one by a week and a half. We feel that professionals were able to make up the difference in semester two."

Cory Bavard, 20, has been charged in connection with the fire. He has been in police custody since November and will remain in custody until his next court appearance.