La Loche classes set to resume

Teachers are to return to a school in northern Saskatchewan one month after a shooting that killed four people.

The Northern Lights School Division said in a news release that teachers are to be back at the La Loche Community School on Feb. 22. It says classes will resume shortly after that for elementary students.

No date has been set for the return of high school students, but school division officials said staff members are looking at options for how to make up lost class time.

The school has been closed since the Jan. 22 shootings.

Two teen brothers, Drayden Fontaine, 13, and Dayne Fontaine, 17, were shot dead in a home. Teacher Adam Wood, 35, and teacher’s aide Marie Janvier, 21, were killed at the high school in the Dene community. Seven other people in the school were wounded; three of them remain in hospital.

A 17-year-old boy, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. Friends have said he was an outcast at home and a victim of bullying at school. His next court appearance is set for Feb. 22 in Meadow Lake.

La Loche Mayor Kevin Janvier had previously suggested the school needed to be torn down so people could heal. He has since changed his mind, saying education needs to be a priority.