Students and staff doing OK in wake of school fire
Darren Campbell
Northern News Services
NNSL (Sep 04/98) - It's a case of short-term pain and long-term gain for Mildred Hall School and Grade 2 teacher Jeff Slota.
Although the Aug. 25 fire at the school put Slota's Grade 2 home room class out of commission, there is an upside.
When the class is refurnished and fixed up by the end of September, Slota and his 22 students will have a brand new classroom.
"I've told the kids that," said Slota. "We'll have the newest class in the whole city."
It's that optimistic outlook that has helped Slota and the school deal with the fire. Arson has been blamed for the blaze which caused about $95,000 in damages to the school.
As a result of the fire, the 22 students were relocated to another classroom in the school that was being used for drama and a program for structures.
The fire was quite an initiation to Yellowknife for Slota. This is the first teaching job for the University of Windsor graduate.
He said he had already done some decorating in the classroom and lesson planning, all of which was lost in the fire.
But with the help of fellow staff members, Slota was able to get caught up. He said while the fire was a shock, it hasn't really affected his students.
"We talked about it (the fire) and it was easy for them to adjust," said Slota. "It might be a different story if they had no classroom or they were in a gym. That might have been more hurtful."
Mildred Hall principal Marion Barnes said after word got around that the school had lost a classroom due to the fire they received a lot of support from other Yellowknife Education District No. 1 schools.
Barnes said school's have donated school supplies such as books, posters, and number lines to hold them over until Mildred Hall can replace them.
She added that while the fire affected the whole school, the staff has made the best of it.
"I won't ever say it wasn't an inconvenience," said Barnes of the fire. "But we're doing really well. The staff really pulled together."
RCMP have yet to connect anyone to the fire.
