Parents caught off guard by Bedford elementary schools shakeup

There are significant changes to a number of schools in the Bedford area and the moves have caught some parents by surprise.

On Wednesday, the Halifax Regional Centre for Education announced that grades 5 and 6 would be moved from Basinview Drive Community School and Bedford South Elementary to a former junior high school on Rocky Lake Drive.

A spokesman for the HRCE, Doug Hadley, said the move was necessary because of increasing enrolment in the Bedford area and the addition of pre-primary.

Hadley said the long-term solution is the construction of three new schools: two in Bedford West,and one in Clayton Park-Fairview. But they will not be ready until the 2023-24 school year.

"So we have some short-term pressures that have to be addressed," said Hadley.

'This had not been mentioned'

But Kate Nephew, who has a daughter who just finished Grade 4 at Basinview, said she had no idea that changing schools was even a possibility.

"This had not been mentioned," said Nephew."We had been told that pre-primary was going to be off site."

Nephew has questions about the renovations that will have to be done to the former junior high, the lack of playground equipment and the creation of a new parent-teacher group. She hopes the communication with parents will improve.

The co-chair of the school advisory council at Basinview Elementary was also unaware that the changes were coming. Ally Garber posted on Twitter on Wednesday that she had"just learned about this news."

In another tweet,Garber wondered if "a more pragmatic approach would have been to hold off introducing pre-primary to an area that is not lacking in childcare options."

Other parents have posted concerns about the state of the former junior high building on a new Facebook site set up for parents of students who will attend. One called the way the decision was announced "disrespectful"in "what has already been a very difficult and distressing time."

Moving the Grade 5 and 6 students into the former junior high school has other repercussions.

For the past six years, the building has been used as an alternative high school for students who were unable to fit into the structure of a regular high school program.

To accommodate the elementary students, the Bedford and Forsyth Education Centre will be moved to a renovated space at the Bedford Place Mall. The alternative high school will be set up in part of what used to be a Target store.