Wedgeport’s long-awaited new elementary school will open in 2021, says Nova Scotia’s minister of education and early childhood development.
Zach Churchill was responding to a question about the school in the legislature from Argyle-Barrington MLA Chris d’Entremont.
Official word that Wedgeport would be getting a new school came at the end of April, when the province announced its five-year school capital construction plan.
Five months later, d’Entremont asked Churchill for an update on the Wedgeport project.
“We are on schedule to have construction begin in 2019-2020,” Churchill said, “with the school opening in 2021. As we enter into this year, the site selection process will begin, and the community will be directly involved in that process and have a chance to express their opinions on the best sites possible.”
Churchill said the province is looking to improve the process of choosing school sites in order to ensure that schools are built on time, unlike past projects that were not delivered on time.
“We are in the process of finalizing what that is going to look like now and the community will be involved once we get going with that,” Churchill said.
D’Entremont said people in Wedgeport are “chomping at the bit” to know what the new school will be like. A number of them are interested in being involved in the project in some capacity, he said.
Parents and others in the Wedgeport area have long been calling for a new school, citing a variety of issues with the existing facility, which dates back to the early 1960s.
Wedgeport is one of 13 communities that will get new schools or major school renovations over the next several years. The projects include a new elementary school for the Clare area. That school is slated to open in 2022.
