• Stories
• News Digest
• Backgrounders
• Manual
• Resources
• About

• Headline Feeds

Some schools such as Oxford Elementary School may be forced to close. Photo: Terry Long

About 130 people met at Citadel High Tuesday night to decide the fate of four schools on the Halifax peninsula. School board consultant Maureen O'Shaughnessy presented the school board's findings to the crowd of mostly teachers and parents in an effort to gain feedback.

She said her team concluded that four schools on the peninsula should close: Oxford Elementary School, St. Catherine's Elementary School, Cornwallis Junior High School and Gorsebrook Junior High School. All of them are least 40 years and are no longer able meet the educational needs of students. In addition, the four schools under review are in located in neighbourhoods with declining numbers of young families.

The recommendations are the culmination of years of controversy over the board's criteria for closing schools.

O'Shaughnessy said while the population on the peninsula is increasing, the number of families -- and the number of children in those families -- is decreasing.

She also said schools need more space now. For example, a school that was intended to have a student population of 450 may only be able to accommodate 308 students once modern facilities such as lunch rooms and computer labs are added. But, she says, some older schools simply have no space to expand and even if they did, would be too large for the declining enrolment.

The purpose of Tuesday night's meeting was to highlight the schools that are worth renovating. This, however, elicited concerns from many parents and teachers present over the long-term effects that school closures would have on the peninsula.

Tough decisions to be made

Parents and teachers raised concerns that if some of the proposed school closings went ahead, students would have to cross major intersections, possibility resulting in accidents. Some parents also expressed concerns over the distance that students from the south end would have to travel in order to get to school.

Some of parents and teachers present were disturbed by the consultant's evaluation, which seemed to spare affluent south end schools.

"It is distressing that schools that are going to be closed down are in our poorest neighbourhoods," said Carrie Dawson to cheering and applause.

Many at the meeting said they were ultimately concerned that certain neighbourhoods could lose their schools entirely. After the schools close, the land the buildings sit on will revert to either the province or the municipality. O'Shaughnessy sought to reassure all present, however.

"This about finding the best use for existing schools and improving facilities," she said.

This didn't satisfy everyone, however, as some parents also voiced their concerns over having to choose which schools are closed and which are renovated.

"We'd really like to question the underlying motivation of the whole process," said parent Chris Moore. "From our point of view it seems to me that we are being forced to make a choice."

Others in the audience, such as Ben Proudfoot, co-president of the Citadel High student council, were concerned about the lack of student voices in the decision-making process.

"We had two focus groups for students in our school ... a lot of students did not know what Imagine Our Schools was," he said, referring to the school board's long-term plan for the schools in the municipality.

The consultants asked people at the meeting to comment on the plan, but many declined to do so, citing lack of experience with those neighbourhoods and saying they should talk to the communities first.