Education council recommends new school for Saint John's north end

The Anglophone South district education council has recommended the construction of a new elementary school in Saint John's north end.

The kindergarten to Grade 5 school would replace two older schools deemed to be in poor shape with declining enrolment.

Hazen White-St. Francis School opened in 1961. The school has a capacity for 432 students, but only 202 are enrolled. 

Saint John's Centennial School opened in 1966 and has 220 students — with room for 318.

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But the ultimate decision is up to Education Minister Brian Kenny. The Department of Education is also responsible for choosing the location of a new school.

Rob Fowler, chair of the district education council, said the recommendation, along with supporting documentation, will be sent to Kenny over the next week or two.

"From there it becomes a government planning project," said Fowler.

"They will look at it, review it. If we are lucky they'll include something in the capital budget, which is typically released in [a] November, December timeframe."

From the time the province gives its approval, it usually takes between three and four years before the doors to a new school can open.

Other schools needed

But construction of a new school in the city's north end is not necessarily top priority. 

A multi-year review of seven elementary and middle schools in the city's north and south ends was launched in the fall of 2016.

A new school for the central peninsula, replacing St. John the Baptist-King Edward School and Prince Charles School, is still top priority.

A new school to serve Grand Bay-Westfield and Saint John's Morna Heights is next on the school district's priority list.

Grace Losier, the mayor of Grand Bay-Westfield, appeared before the district education council meeting on Wednesday to argue for the long-awaited school.

For years, Losier said, a new school had been the district's number one priority but it's been "shuffled" out of that spot a couple of times.

"We didn't think we had to come and beg to stay on the priority list," Losier told members of the education council. 

"You put us there for a reason and those reasons haven't changed."

In September 2017, Seaside Park Elementary School on the west side opened its doors, giving the city its first new anglophone school since the 1970s. Seaside Park replaced three older schools, St. Patrick's, Havelock and Seawood.