South end Saint John could get new school in coming years

K-8 students in Saint John's south end may get a new school in the coming years, while two of the area's schools could close for good.

The Anglophone South District Education Council (DEC) launched a sustainability study last month of St. John the Baptist-King Edward School and Prince Charles School.

The future of two schools inMoncton,HillcrestandBessborough,are also under review.

The study of the Saint John schools is part of a multi-year review of seven elementary and middle schools in the city's north and south endthat began in the fall of 2016.

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Rob Fowler, the chairman of the Anglophone South DEC, said the council is now moving forward with a review of the south end schools, to be followed by thesame process for the north end schools later on.

The DEC hasn't specifically addressed how that will work, but will discussit at a later date.

"It just depends on how things flow out," he said.

The two schools have faced declining enrolment, while the buildings requiremore and more costly maintenance, he said.

One option the DEC is considering is building a new school and consolidating students from St. John the Baptist-King Edward and Prince Charles.

Ideally, the school would be built somewhere central in the south end, but finding enough land might be a challenge, Fowler said.

But ultimately, if the school district wanted to go that route, it would be up to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to find a proper space for the new school, Fowler said.

It's still very early in the process, Fowler added.

"We're talking three to four years still before we would see kids ever moved into a new building," he said.

The DEC will be holding meetings over the next few weeks to gather public feedback.

Monctonschools also under review

Last month, the Anglophone East District Education Council voted to study Hillcrest School in Moncton to decide whether or not it should be combined with Bessborough in a new school.

This comes after an Ernst and Young report on the condition of Bessboroughfound that upgrading it would cost roughly 70 per cent of the cost of anew building.

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Harry Doyle, the DEC's chairman, said at this point, they're just gathering feedback on the idea from parents and community members.

"No one is pushing anyone to close their school or anything at this point," he said.

The DEC had been looking into building a new school on the Bessborough property, but keeping a school open while a new school is under construction can become very complicated, he said.

Right now, they're discussing whether a new school could be builtbetween Bessborough and Hillcrest, as they're only a few kilometres apart, he said.

The DEC will likely make a recommendation to the Department of Education on what should be done by next spring, he said.

The Anglophone West School District Education Council, which oversees schools in west New Brunswick communities, including Fredericton, is not planning to conduct any sustainability studies this academic year, said its chairwoman Kimberley Douglass in an email.