Nova Scotia’s early education minister has put all school reviews in the province on hold.
Zach Churchill delivered the notice in a letter to the Halifax Regional School Board (HRSB) on Friday afternoon citing an election promise by the government to “complete a full review of the administrative structures of the education system.”
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But the decision came as a surprise to many in the education community.
Dave Wright, the chair of the HRSB and the man who Churchill’s letter was addressed to, said he was “surprised by the timing” of the announcement.
“It’s unfortunate that the work the community put into it is paused at this point but hopefully we can get around this and finish up the work we put in,” he told Global News.
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The decision comes nearly a month after a report Auburn Drive & Cole Harbour District Family of Schools was released.
The report recommended the amalgamation of schools throughout the HRSB.
“Naturally, after many, many hours of volunteer time and have the community come in and provide all that valuable input and the process we went through, naturally we’re disappointed,” said Corrie Anderson of the Auburn Drive High & Cole Harbour District High School Options Committee.
While the report was scheduled to be presented to the school board on Wednesday, it is not clear if that will happen now.
Wright said the review was initiated due to empty spaces in schools and the building of the new Eastern Passage high school would create more empty spaces.
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“The intention was to get this in the works so that we had a year of transition before that school opened so that the community could adjust and understand what was going on, come to terms with the changes, but here we are,” he said.
He added the expectation of the new high school to open in about a year to year-and-a-half will cause Cole Harbour High School to “be quite empty.” He said the empty spaces would not be “catastrophic” but it could be a challenge for program delivery.
Global News reached out to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, as well as Churchill’s constituency office but multiple requests for comment have not been returned.
—With files from Alexa MacLean and Sean Previl, Global News