La Loche students return to school
First time since Jan. 22 shootings
• While crossing guards and parents dropping off their kids were signs of normalcy in front of Ducharme Elementary School, there were other indicators that this was not a regular school day.
As elementary school students returned to school for the first time Tuesday since four people were killed and seven were injured in this community during the shootings on Jan. 22, the Canadian flag flew at half-mast in front of Ducharme.
Teachers and staff members stood outside, almost all of them wearing purple hoodies with the school’s logo on the front, a memorial ribbon on the sleeve and inspirational words on the back — a sign of solidarity. Together, they welcomed back 500 kids from pre- kindergarten through Grade 6 as well as their parents for an afternoon of fun activities such as colouring, reading and making snow sculptures outside.
Inside the building, it was like the first day of school, Ducharme vice- principal Leanne Gailey said.
“Every day that our kids walk in is a great day,” Gailey said.
The elementary school will resume regular classes Wednesday and a security company has been contracted to provide three officers for Ducharme and nearby Dene High School.
She said the community is tough and resilient, binding together during a difficult grieving process. She called teachers at Ducharme and Dene the best staffs anyone could ask for.
Gailey said her school will continue to be a haven for students and teachers.
“Our kids don’t have a problem with adjusting,” said Gailey, who described eager students asking during the past month about when they’d be able to return.
The shootings didn’t take place at Ducharme, but the school went into its own lockdown mode that day.
“We’re one community,” Gailey said.
At the high school — where teacher Adam Wood and teacher’s assistant Marie Janvier were killed l ast month — students seemed eager to return to classes.
Kayla Ponicappo, a Grade 11 student who was in the building as gunshots were fired, was glad to return to school and continue working toward her goal of becoming an optometrist.
“When it first happened, I just wanted to go out of town and I did. It helped a lot,” Ponicappo said, adding she’s excited to see her teachers again.
She said it was great to see people in her community support one another in the wake of the tragedy. She knew two of the victims well: the Fontaine brothers, Dayne, 17, and Drayden, 13.
La Loche is now trying to move forward with permanent solutions. There are many issues to address, but the provincial government says it is listening and supporting the community.
“You have no idea how nice it was to go in this school and hear kids running and laughing,” said Education Minister Don Morgan, who has been to the community four times since the shooting.
Reminders of the shootings and the heartbreak it caused were visible near Ducharme. To the south, handmade signs with encouraging messages of love were attached to a chain-link fence. To the north, the two crime scenes: a home in the 300 block of Dene Crescent, with a shattered front window, and the Dene High School building, its front doors boarded up with blue wood and a large memorial of flowers near the road.
Registration and a meet and greet for high school and middle years students will be held on Thursday. A community-organized “Let’s keep our high school” walk will be held Wednesday.
An RCMP School Resource Officer was at the Dene High School on Tuesday and emergency drills will be scheduled annually.
The 17- year- old male charged in the shootings is facing four counts of firstdegree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.
HOW NICE IT WAS ... TO HEAR KIDS RUNNING AND LAUGHING.