School Tender Good News for Waverley Parents
On April 14, the province announced plans to invest $145.3 million to build eight new schools, and to renovate forty-one existing schools in Nova Scotia at a cost of $162 million. The recipients and the details of which school boards will benefit, have now been made public.
Although the plans are good news to many, not everyone is happy. A number of residents of Waverley have contacted Percy Paris, MLA for Waverley-Fall River- Beaver Bank, concerned that LC Skerry/Waverley Memorial school did not appear on the list of planned new schools.
“I want to let parents know, the reason L.C. Skerry School was not on the list is because it was already “targeted” money,” Paris said Thursday. “It was already planned for.”
307 million dollars have been promised for school projects over the next seven years, to build new schools and do badly needed renovations on existing ones. But school boards will have to wait until the budget is released before they can decide how and where they will allocate those funds.
Paris wants to assure residents the new Waverley school project is still scheduled to be completed by Sept. 2010. “The last word I heard was that all is still on schedule. My concern is that at the end of construction, they have allowed enough time for the school to off-gas, before the students enter.”
“These families have been waiting for this replacement school since 2003,” said Paris. “They’ve heard all of the excuses, been through frustrating delays and have had their questions and concerns go unanswered. The students of the school and their families deserve better. They deserve a firm commitment from this government. a commitment that will be honoured.”
Paris says rumours of an upcoming provincial election “should have no negative impact on the timeline” of plans for the new school. “An election should not halt or delay the construction of the new Waverley school,” he said.
The new school was supposed to be built a number of years ago however those plans were put on hold when Paris was elected to office. Paris, the NDP Education Critic for Nova Scotia, said he fully understands parents concerns that plans will once again get pushed to the side. “The good residents of Waverley will realize this school was promised by the PC government. The former MLA was part of that government, and there was not an issue with building the school until I was elected. One of the reasons parents in Waverley are so concerned, and one of the reasons I am so on top of this, is because it’s one of those things that have been around and promised for a long, long time; it’s incumbent upon me to see it’s still progressing as promised, to ensure it stays on-track,” he said. Now that tender has finally been announced, the MLA says he plans to stay firm on the matter to ensure plans don’t get pushed to the side once again.
“I’m pleased, but hope for the sake of the parents and students that this is for real this time,” said Paris. “The Waverley Memorial/LC Skerry Elementary School has a litany of problems and needed to be replaced years ago. This process has been slow and frustrating for myself and residents, but we’re very happy and optimistic that the new school is closer to becoming a reality.”
Over the last two years, Paris has raised many issues on behalf of hte parents and students of Waverley Memorial/LC Skerry School.
“This school has a basement that floods, a leaky roof, potential mould problems, crumbling walls, pipes with asbestos insulation running below the ceilings of may classrooms,” said Paris. “Perhaps even more serious, students and parents have reported significant health problems as a result of the schools condition. The Conservative government cannot continue to neglect this issue, or the health and well-being of these students. A replacement school is needed, and it is needed immediately.”
Waverley (D2N) – Both L.C. Skerry School and Waverley Memorial will be torn down when the new school is built. “We need input from the community to decide what the new school will be like,’ said Paris. “There is a transition team in place, consisting of parents and school administrators. The school advisory committee would have played a lead role in that transition team.” The job of the school advisory committee is to guide and facilitate the schools construction.
The tender calls for construction input. Whoever bids would have to be a bonded, certified company.
“It is great to see the residents of Waverley pulling with me in this, and together we got it done; this school will be built,” said Paris. “I feel better today than I did two months ago, or six months ago; I’ll feel even better once construction starts.”