Why are Bay d'Espoir parents fed up with this temporary school? A leaky roof is just the start

The warm feelings of community bonding are wearing offat Bay d'EspoirAcademy, where students, parents and teachersare facing the prospect of four more years in a building without many necessities.

More than 250 students and stafftook over the town hallin St. Alban's after their school in nearbyMilltown was burned to the ground in an act of arson last winter.

• Bay d'Espoir residents ponder arsonist's possible return, a year after devastating fires
• Man charged after Milltown school, town hall, RCMP station burn

But several parents tell CBC News the building falls way short of offeringa full education.

"Anywhere on the island, people think that we're fine," said Pamela Willcott."But we're not. We are not fine."

The current school does not have a cafeteria, a science lab, an art room, a skilled trades room or even wheelchair-accessible bathrooms.

The building, which was an elementary school before being used as a town hall, has several holes in the gymnasium ceiling.

"We have kids running around large garbage buckets that arecollecting water," Willcott said.

In December, students were bused to Conne River for science labs to fulfiltheir curriculum. In the spring, they'll be bused to English Harbour West a one-hour drive down a road parents describe as treacherous.

"I would not think about sending my child down there on a bus," said Rhonda Perry-Harding, the parent of a seventh-grader."Not in a million years."

• 'It's chaos'' Rush is on to prepare new school for Milltown students

CBC News requested an interview with the school principal, Connie Willcott. The school board declined therequest, and instead offered up Shawn Fowlow, the board's senior education officerfor schools in the central region.

Fowlow, the former principal of Bay d'EspoirAcademy, works out of the temporary school in what can best be described as a storage closet.

He said the board has made it a priority to get a new school built in the Bay d'Espoirregion but it willhave to follow the usualgovernment process which is typically a four-year planning and construction period.

As parents we need to make noise about it and let them know we are not going to sit quietly by anymore.- Pamela Willcott

Fowlow acknowledged the temporary setup is not ideal, but said they are making do the best they can.

To Rebecca Nugent, the mother of a student at Bay d'Espoir Academy, that's not good enough.

"We're left to think, is this going to be the rest of our children's education for years to come?That we have to make do?"

The parents want to know why an exception can't be made in a situation where aman burned their school to the ground.

Lack of accessibility a concern

Fowlow isn't the only person using a storage closet at the temporary Bay d'EspoirAcademy.

Several parents saida child with a spectrum disorder is using one as a sensory room a quiet place for therapeutic purposes.

In the former building, the student had an actual support room to be used whenever it was necessary, they said.

CBC News asked the Department of Education about the problem, as well as the lack of wheelchair-accessible bathrooms.

Thereply dodged the question entirely.

"Government decisions regarding the reconstruction plans will be announced in spring 2018," a spokesperson for Education Minister Dale Kirby said."In the interim, students will continue to be accommodated in the temporary school set up in the St. Alban'stown hall building.

"We recognize that the destruction of the school has had an impact on the community and their patience and cooperation continues to be appreciated."

But Pamela Willcottis running out of patience.

"As parents we need to make noise about it and let them know we are not going to sit quietly by anymore. That timeline is not going to work."