Future of Hillcrest School at the heart of upcoming public meeting
Anglophone East district education council will hold a public meeting Wednesday on school's future
Whether to keep Hillcrest School in Moncton as it is or combine it with a new Bessborough School will be discussed Wednesday at a public meeting put on by the Anglophone East district education council.
The schools, over a kilometre from each other, are both for students in kindergarten through Grade 8.
Earlier this fall, the district education council voted to study the future of Hillcrest and whether it should be joined in a new school with Bessborough.
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This came after an Ernst and Young report on the condition of Bessborough, which found upgrading it would cost about 70 per cent of the cost of a new building.
"Hillcrest and Bessborough are very close geographically," said Norval McConnell, a member of the council.
"They share families, and enrolment has been dropping, particularly at Hillcrest but also at Bessborough."
The public meeting is taking place at 7 p.m. at Hillcrest School to gather public feedback.
Deciding future location
Based on information gathered by the parent school support committee, McConnell said a large portion of parents faviour combining the two schools. Another large portion is opposed.
Meanwhile, some parents are undecided until they know where a new school would be built.
Options for a location include the current Bessborough School property or a site near Centennial Park.
"There's always going to be dilemmas with decisions like this," McConnell said. "At the end of it all, does a new facility enhance the learning in the west end?"
The district education council will make a recommendation to Brian Kenny, the minister of education, in November on whether the two schools should combine. The minister will then make a decision in January.
McConnell said the province has a scoring system it follows to determine which school projects should move ahead.
"If you're closing two schools to replace with one from a budgeting standpoint, that's a good thing."
"Our [council] recommendation … will be based on what the parents request."
There were originally six schools in the west end of Moncton, but because of a drop in enrolment, there are now two.
With files from Information Morning Moncton, Sarah Petz