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Almost one week after the fatal mass shooting at a high school and home in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., the local school board is focusing on how to respectfully get kids back to their education.
At a vigil for the community Friday, Premier David Eby said the province would provide a safe place for students, instead of the existing building in which the horrific tragedy occurred.
“I will promise you that not one of you will ever be forced to go back to that school,” Eby said Friday.
Peace River South School District chair Chad Anderson says experts in school-based trauma from Safer Schools Together are in the community advising next steps.
Anderson echoed Eby’s comments that students will not be returning to the existing school building at this point in time.
“That building is not an option at this stage,” Anderson said.
Experts say people respond differently to trauma, he said, and some students want to get back to life as normal.
Darian Quist, a Grade 12 student at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, and his mother, Shelley Quist, spoke to Radio West host Sarah Penton. Darian described how he and his classmates barricaded the doors while the school was under lockdown. His mother, Shelley, said she stayed with Darian on the phone and could hear the moment police came to escort them to safety.
“Others cannot ever fathom going back in that building. And so we need to be respectful of that.”
The Feb. 10 shooting saw six victims die in the school. Five of them were students aged 12 and 13; the sixth, a 39-year-old education assistant.
Anderson said he hopes to share details on the plan on Wednesday or Thursday this week.
There may be a “phase-in process” so students are not expected to return to school on a given date but are given the option to return to routine.
It’s still too soon to talk about whether the school should be demolished, he added.
“Our main focus really is getting a plan in place for students to get back into safe, comfortable classrooms.”
School staff need care too, Anderson said.
“Not everyone will be able to, on the staff perspective, will be able to come back right away either. And some may not come back to teaching. That is just the sad reality of what’s taken place this week.”
The RCMP have said the examination of the scene at the high school is complete and the building has been turned over to the school district.
Duncan Mckay, a student at the secondary school, said it’s been strange to not see or talk to his friends daily, as his phone is still in a locker in the school.
It’s traumatic to remember the events, but Mckay said he thinks demolishing the school, after making positive memories there, would also be sad.
“[I] want to get back to the normal routine that we had,” he said.
Mckay’s mother, Tiffany Hildebrandt, said some of her children are having a hard time thinking about returning to classes.
“I would never push my children to go back to the school,” said Hildebrandt, who has 10 children, including four who attend the high school.
Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar’s father released a statement expressing shock and sorrow over the tragedy.
She said she’s not sure what she wants to happen next.
“My kids really enjoyed going to that school and attending it. But then again, the trauma that has come about, it may be too much.”
She described Tumbler Ridge’s educators and teachers as tremendous, brave people.
“I have no doubt in my mind that my children, returning to school, when it happens, I have no doubt that they will be safe and protected by the teachers or anyone that is at the school.”
But she’s not too worried on the specifics of the return.
“We can’t rush anything.”
