Zach Churchill says he’s pleased the education minister responded positively to concerns about the new elementary school to be built in Yarmouth.
The MLA says he was informed the new school would accommodate 277 students but enrollment projections compiled by school officials show the population could reach 315 by the 2018-19 school year.
Churchill says he’s glad the concerns were brought to his attention.
“It became clear after a meeting I had with principal Jared Purdy, Richard Gosling from the Parental Advisory Committee and Melanie Surette-Kennedy from the school board. We took the data that was collected by those folks and I sent a letter to Minister Casey requesting that they take a look at redesigning the school if needed.”
In a reply letter to Churchill, Karen Casey said “Department staff have looked at the potential classroom configurations and will be advising the architect to design one more classroom within the proposed footprint of the current school design.
“The last thing we want as a government is to build a school that doesn’t have room for everybody, so I’m very that those numbers were brought to my attention so that I could act with the minister and make sure we were able to change that.”
The extra classroom will cost an additional $300,000.
There will be 14 classrooms instead of 13.
The new school on Parade Street will house students who attend Central School.
