Fort Good Hope (Jan 17/05) - The students and staff at Chief T'Selehye school were shocked when they emerged from class last Tuesday to find the building was crumbling.

"I was sitting in class and I heard this big thump," said Liz Christensen, an arts and science teacher.

She said it wasn't clear what had happened that afternoon until after class ended and everyone discovered cracks had opened in several places around the building.

The school consists of two sections: an older portion built in 1971 and an addition added in the 1990s, said Philip Cull, who became the principal in 2004.

"In the new section the opening is about four or five centimetres, you can fit your hand right in," he said.

"It runs the width of the building and extends up the walls and across the ceiling."

Where the two sections join, there is an approximately one-centimetre separation.

"There are a series of cracks in the gymnasium up to three centimetres in width," he said.

"It was not localized ... but we only heard one crack."

The school was closed for one day to the 167 students, with a team of engineers in from Inuvik to do an inspection.

After the professionals did get to examine the building they gave the all-clear for the school to re-open Thursday.

At the Sahtu Divisional Education Council office in Norman Wells, superintendent Seamus Quigg is still awaiting the final report from the engineers, which will take several day to produce.

He said at press time he suspected the damage could be blamed on one of three causes: a seismic tremor, shifting because of frost or snow build-up on the roof.

He couldn't estimate what repairs will cost at this point, but guessed they would be quite high.

Once the extent of the required repairs is known, he and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will decide how to proceed.

"Pressure will get put on Public Works if need be," he said.