If you were hoping to send your kids to the new school in West Bedford, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.
There won’t be a new Broad Street school opening in 2022.
The Halifax Regional Centre for Education issued a release Tuesday saying the construction has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elwin LeRoux, Regional Executive Director of Education for HRCE, says he knows the surrounding communities want to see the school open.
“I recognize that this is disappointing news for those looking forward to starting school on Broad Street this September,” he says. “If you’ve driven by the site recently, you will know that construction is well underway and the building is taking shape.”
LeRoux says they are making plans to accommodate students who would have gone to the school for the 2022-23 school year.
Two schools are being built on the site. The pre-primary to grade 8 school is was set to open in fall 2022 and the 9 to 12 school wasn’t set to be finished until 2023.
Both will now open to students in the fall of 2023.
Provincial opposition calling for more transparency
Liberal MLAs from the affected communities are calling for more transparency around the new school boundaries created by the pair of schools.
A joint statement from Braedon Clark, MLA for Bedford South, Kelly Regan, MLA for Bedford Basin, and Ben Jessome, MLA for Hammonds Plains-Lucasville, calls on the HRCE and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to release the new boundary lines as soon as possible.
“We are disappointed that the Pre-Primary to Grade 8 Broad Street school will not open until September 2023,” it says. “Hundreds of families in Bedford South, Bedford Basin, and Hammonds Plains-Lucasville have been looking forward to seeing the school open and relieving pressure on our overcrowded schools in the area.”
They say a boundary review will make it clear which students will be in the new schools’ catchment areas and will give families more time to prepare for the change.
