Province considering Holy Cross building for St. John's 2nd French school

Newfoundland and Labrador's education department is looking at turning a vacant junior highin St. John's into a second French school, but a group of parents feel they haven't been properly consulted about the matter.

The department says it is trying to determine whether the former Holy Cross Junior High Schoolbuilding on Ricketts Road currently owned bythe Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John's could be a viable second school for the francophone community.

Currently,coledes Grands-Vents on Ridge Road is the only French school inSt. John's there are five French schools in the province but issues related toovercrowding at the K-12 facilityhave been raised by members of the Conseil ScolaireFrancophone Provincial de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador(CSFP) for years.

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A meeting was held Tuesday night to discuss the possibility of turning Holy Cross into a Grades 7-12 school, that would house students from coledes Grands-Vents after they finish Grade 6.

According to the executive director of CSFP, Kim Christianson, the council has already reached an agreement in principle to take possession of the school and 49 students could be in class there as soon as September.

The school would be used for a five-year period, she said, while discussions continue about a new building.

While some parents were OK with that option, because there is no more room in the school, others raised concerns about separatingthe older and younger students, which they worry could affect cohesiveness.

"There's a need [for a new school], but there's also a desire to keep our community and ourchildren together," said Leslie James, who has two childrencurrently attendingcoledes Grands-Vents.

Letter to board

James and some other parents are working on a letter to the provincial education department, which will be published on Friday.

They feel parentshaven't been properly consulted on the overcrowding issues.

"I think our biggest concern is that we're being presented with one option and it seems like it's too late to have any other option," James said. "It's this or nothing."

James said she and other parents arein a hard position because they agree the currentcoledes Grands-Vents simply isn't big enough to accommodateallstudents, so they're desperate to come up with more space.

"We're in a tough situation where the school is too small," she said. "There are not enough resources in terms of space, and the types of labs and potentially home economics [classrooms] or workshops for students in junior high or high school."

The Department of Educationand Early Childhood Development said any requests for funding from the English or French school districts are being evaluated based on several factors such as state and age of the buildings involved, demographics and balancing the needs of the entire school system.