With just days left in the school year, some high school students in Bedford — a suburban community in Halifax — are being told they’ll be splitting their time between two campuses next year.
In an email to students and parents, Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE) announced that Charles P. Allen (CPA) High School students going into Grades 11 and 12 will be enrolled in classes at the new West Bedford High School as part of a dual campus model.
The two schools are about three kilometres apart.
HRCE’s email stated the decision not only gives students more space to learn, but a chance to experience the newly-built facility.
HRCE spokesperson Lindsey Bunin told Global News that it will also address the overcrowding issues.
“It’s a requirement. We do need space for students,” she said.
“So when we had available classrooms in the same community, and we have extra students at another building, it just makes for a perfect solution.”
HRCE said West Bedford High will have a dedicated area for students and teachers from CPA, and the plan includes busses for transport during lunchtime.
Even so, Grade 10 students at CPA said they have reservations.
“Honestly, I think its just kind of a hassle, like bus rides first off aren’t the most lovely. And then it’s also like interrupting probably what little lunch break we get,” said Aslan Balcom.
Fellow student Kaleb Heckert told Global News the decision seemed “unnecessary.”
“Why go to a different school when we’re already here? We had the choice earlier in the year (to switch to the new school) so why would we switch now?” Heckert said.
Exponential growth in community
The new Bedford West High School, along with a new pre-primary to Grade 8 school, are opening this September after years of planning and amid exponential growth in the area.
Boundary lines for the schools were finalized after a two-month long virtual town hall. Both the proposed boundaries and the final ones sparked frustration among some parents over who was included and excluded.
All Grade 9 students currently attending Rocky Lake Junior High and Madeline Symonds Middle School will get to choose which high school they would like to attend for the next school year — either the new West Bedford High School or Charles P. Allen High School.
When West Bedford High opens, it will feature a first-of-its-kind learning model for the province, by offering students self-directed learning.
HRCE said the dual campus model, and the associated bussing, isn’t expected to cause more congestion or traffic.