New schools are coming to the HRM.
The province says they’re building four new schools in Timberlea, Middle Sackville, Port Wallace and Bedford.
Education minister Becky Druhan says they’re in addition to three HRCE schools and two CSAP schools already moving toward construction.
The four new builds were announced in the government’s capital plan in 2023.
The school in Timberlea will have space for up to 800 pre-primary to Grade 8 students. It will be on Maple Grove Avenue.
The school in Middle Sackville would be an elementary and junior high school.
The Port Wallace school would be another elementary and junior high school, near Lake Charles.
The school in Bedford would also be an elementary and a junior high school. It would be on the Hammonds Plains Road, near the Highway 102 junction.
The Middle Sackville and Port Wallace school locations aren’t yet revealed.
Land options for the new sites are being acquired through the government’s $50 million strategic land envelope.
A site on Radcliffe Drive has also been selected for the new Clayton Park-Fairview Junior High School. That project was announced in 2018.
Claudia Chender, NDP Leader, said the province picked the school locations for political reasons.
Creating a school board would solve that issue, though.
“If we were having this conversation in the presence of school boards, we would have an independent analysis of what the school capital needs are in each center. We don’t have that now,” she said.
Education Minister Becky Druhan attended the announcement. She said she plans to update people throughout the year on how the projects are going.
“It is no easy feat to find and to acquire land in a growth area. It takes vision negotiation, and like so many other good things, it takes patience,” she said.
