Parents and community officials in Hanwell, N.B., say they want to see the province move forward with building a school in their community.
Mayor of the Rural Community of Hanwell Chris Melvin said hundreds of children, including his own, have to spend nearly two hours a day busing to and from school in Fredericton.
“A school in Hanwell would do a couple of things — it would alleviate pressure in several schools in Fredericton, but it would also take care of some of the safety concern that we have out here for our children,” Melvin said.
There is currently no school in Hanwell, which is located approximately 14 km from Fredericton.
Melvin said there are currently 12 buses doing the daily run. He said most children have to catch the bus before 7 a.m. every day — making for long days for students. Melvin said it also raises safety concerns regarding children having to wait for buses in the dark. He said he waits with his own children to catch the bus with flashlights in hand so bus drivers can see them.
“In 2016, the Anglophone School District West commissioned a project that was done by Ernst and Young to address all of the schools on the south side of Fredericton, and in their report, they strongly recommended that a school be built in Hanwell,” Melvin said.
Nicolle Carlin, a parent, is part of the “School for Hanwell” citizens group advocating for the cause.
“There are a few issues. One is the time that our kids are spending on the bus. We’re putting our kids on the bus, some of us at 6:50 a.m. It’s pitch black and in the winter, it’s not safe. I actually don’t put my children on the bus. We drive them because I feel it’s that unsafe,” Carlin said.
“And that time on the bus, that’s two hours a day for some of the families here so that’s cutting into their sleep time, it’s cutting into their extracurricular activity time, it’s cutting into our family time … and for what? To send them into a school in a neighbouring community that’s already overcrowded,” Carlin said.
She said it’s an issue that affects everyone in the community, not just young families. Carlin said while it would solve the concerns surrounding busing, she says there’s also an infrastructure deficit, adding that a school would also provide residents with a meeting place, a possible library and a new playground.
Carlin said it’s also important for community growth in the community of approximately 5,000 people.
In emails sent to Global News on behalf of District Education Council chair Kimberley Douglass, officials confirmed that a new school for Hanwell is the council’s number 2 priority. The project, along with others on the priority list that’s compiled every May, is currently with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for budget consideration.
The emails also stated that council used various sources of information for developing and prioritizing its infrastructure list, including the independent Ernst & Young report on the multi-year infrastructure planning for south Fredericton elementary schools, the infrastructure and effective use of school reports, along with presentations from parent-school support committees and school communities.
“We haven’t heard anything. The study came out over a year ago and at this point, the province hasn’t addressed it,” Melvin said. “I think they’ve at least acknowledged the report but at this point, I haven’t seen or heard whether it’s on any sort of capital budgets for 2018.”
In an email statement from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, spokesperson Kelly Cormier said the province understands the desire of the community to have a new school.
“A project request for a new school was submitted by ASD-West as part of their capital request list for 2018-19. The project is being considered along with all other district requests,” Cormier said. “Any capital projects that are approved will be announced as part of the provincial capital budget for 2018-19.”
Fredericton officials say school should be built in capital, instead
In an email statement from Fredericton City Coun. Stephen Chase, he said he’d like to see a new school built in Fredericton instead of Hanwell.
“In essence, the population increase reported in the most recent census data does not support a statement that a new school should be built outside Fredericton,” Chase said. “The city is demonstrating significant growth of close to 2,000, as compared to 10 for one peripheral community and negative growth in another.”
Fredericton West-Hanwell MLA Brian MacDonald believes Hanwell needs a school but agrees Fredericton could use one as well. He said deciding where to build new schools shouldn’t be political.
People are here, the population base is here, there’s no question that a community of this size deserves a school — that doesn’t mean that we can’t re-examine a school in Fredericton… and we should… It’s not an either-or thing,” MacDonald said.
“You’ve got more than 20 schools — we just want one. This isn’t a wishlist, this isn’t what you hope to have. There was an independent study, there was a DEC recommendation, and that’s the way that the process is supposed to work,” Carlin said. “This isn’t supposed to be communities fighting for a school. The whole reason that the DEC is there is to avoid this.”
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