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HAY RIVER - After months of uncertainty and court hearings, some students from Hay River's overcrowded Ecole Boreale have found a new temporary home.

Since Sept. 8, 21 students from the French-language school have been learning in the basement of the Ptarmigan Inn, normally an area for banquets and meetings.

Sophie Call, principal of Ecole Boreale, teaches Andrew Payeur and other members of a Grade 7 class in the basement of the Ptarmigan Inn. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photos

The space has been divided into three classrooms and a small student lounge for Grades 7 to 11.

The arrangement is getting generally positive reviews from students, although there are some reservations.

Jordan Hordal, a 12-year-old Grade 7 student, said it is a little hot and stuffy and a little crowded, but otherwise not too bad.

"It's like our own personal school for the older kids," he said. "Eventually, it will be better to get back into a bigger school. For now, I'd like it down here."

That opinion is echoed by Grade 9 student Desiree Boulanger-Rowe.

"I think it's good so far," said the 14-year-old. "It's a bit small, but it will do for now."

She is looking forward to moving into a larger space, adding it will mean progress for the school and the francophone community

Boulanger-Rowe is also happy the classroom space at the Ptarmigan Inn means the students didn't have to be accommodated at the community's other schools.

"I was kind of worried because some of the other students were kind of hostile," she said, adding she understood why they would have been upset about their schools being disrupted. "I didn't like it, but I understood it," she said.

Ecole Boreale principal Sophie Call said the students at the Ptarmigan Inn are happy to be back in school and all together.

"The kids are absolutely fine," she said, adding they are very adaptable.

Call said the basement is a little dark and stuffy and the sound proofing between the classrooms is not ideal. However, she said the Ptarmigan Inn has been fantastic in helping to accommodate the students.

They are taught by four teachers - one permanently at the inn and three others who come from Ecole Boreale for certain classes.

The students only leave the inn for gym and science labs at Diamond Jenness secondary school as they always have.

Over the summer, the NWT's French-language school board - the Commission Scolaire Francophone, Territoires du Nord-Ouest - went to court to force the GNWT to find a solution to overcrowding at Ecole Boreale.

On Aug. 21, NWT Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau modified a July 21 ruling and ordered the GNWT to temporarily accommodate overflow students from Ecole Boreale at two English-language schools - one classroom at Diamond Jenness secondary school and two classrooms at Princess Alexandra.

That interim arrangement was to exist until the government could find space elsewhere.

The ruling created tension in the community and protests from the Hay River District Education Authority that the space did not exist in the other schools to accommodate the students.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment proposed the Ptarmigan Inn alternative to the French school board and it was accepted.

"We did not want to impose ourselves on the other schools," said Philippe Brulot, superintendent of Commission Scolaire Francophone.

"No one wants to create a divide," he said. "We share this community. I think it would be sad."

Brulot said, so far, the students and teachers are happy with the temporary arrangements at the Ptarmigan Inn.

Call said all indications are the students will be relocated elsewhere before the end of the school year.

"We know it's a short-term solution," said Shawn McCann, manager of public affairs with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

McCann said a number of options, including portable classrooms, are being considered, but nothing has yet been decided.

Her understanding is the goal is to have students in a more long-term space before the end of the school year.

With the high school students moved to the Ptarmigan Inn, Call said overcrowding at Ecole Boreale has been eased. "It's made a world of difference," she said.

Ecole Boreale was designed for 95 students in kindergarten to Grade 6. It had about 93 students up to Grade 10 during the past school year. This year, the main Ecole Boreale building will accommodate between seven to 85 students