Parent 'deeply disappointed' N.S. won't buy Bloomfield site for new francophone school

Several "significant challenges" on the former Bloomfield school site in Halifax mean the province is unlikely to buy the property and build a new francophone school there, much to the chagrin of some parents.

Halifax offered in August to sell a portion of the site to the province for a new school after a plan to redevelop Bloomfield into affordable housing stalled in 2016.

But in a Jan. 15 letter to the city, a director with Nova Scotia's Infrastructure Renewal Department outlined potential problems with the site being used for a new school.

Darrell MacDonald wrote that a preliminary review found the size of the property is "very small" and leaves little room for parking, drop-off and pickup, as well as outdoor play.

He also flagged that the property is surrounded on three sides by busy streets, which would make safe access by students "very difficult." A more detailed analysis of the site would be required before the province could commit to buying the property, he wrote, and that would take several months.

Municipal staff will now move to put the entire property up for sale, CAO Jacques Dubé said in a report to Halifax regional councillors. Dubé specified that key elements of the Bloomfield Master Plan — including some affordable community and cultural spaces — will be incorporated into the terms of that sale.

'Deeply disappointed'

Caroline Arsenault, founder of a parent action committee advocating for a new Conseil scolaire acadien provincial school on the Halifax peninsula, said she was "deeply disappointed" with the province's decision.

Arsenault lives in north-end Halifax, but her two kids take the school bus to École Beaubassin just off Larry Uteck Boulevard in Bedford each day, along with dozens of other children.

The commute to the school to tend to emergencies or participate in after-school activities is "a logistical nightmare" for parents, she said.

The school is also overcrowded, Arsenault said. The board has installed portable classrooms to deal with the increasing numbers, she said, and "we have kids who are sitting in classrooms that have no windows."

It's an "untenable situation" that would have been fixed if the province had agreed to build a new school on the old Bloomfield site, Arsenault said, which is "right at the heart of the peninsula."

Education department staff need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to choosing locations for new schools, she said. They don't all need to be "sprawling" one-storey buildings, Arsenault said, with large fields and parking lots.

She said it isn't fair that her anglophone neighbours typically have more than one option when it comes to accessing schools within walking distance from their homes. 

The francophone community "is not being justly served," Arsenault said. "Our charter rights to access education are not being respected."

New school has not yet been approved

The Department of Education has not yet approved a new francophone school on peninsular Halifax.

In an email, department spokesperson Heather Fairbairn acknowledged CSAP is "experiencing enrolment pressures."

She said the capital planning process is currently underway, and that is where decisions on new schools are made. 

She said the needs of the francophone school board "are being considered."