Parents Continue To Raise Concerns About West End School Location

Concerned parents met over the weekend to continue discussions about a the location of the a new west end school chosen to replace Bessborough and Hillcrest schools.

Jeremy Nelson says they’ve heard from a number of people who are interested in this subject, “We want to bring as many of those voices together to the table as possible. We want to develop a clear message and we want to start advocating in a sensible way about the need to keep our neighbourhoods together, and the best way to do that is with a school.”

The government says a new school will be built next to Bernice MacNaughton High School.

Nelson says they want to see the school built on the current Bessborough property, but it appears the City and the District Education Council were not consulted.

He says they also want to see the decision process changed, “To rob neighbourhoods of true anchors. We want to make sure the process is improved in general and that this decision is unmade or reconsidered before it is too late.”

Nelson wonders what happen when you lose a school that has been there for 62 years, “What happens when it is uprooted and what is going to be left behind and what does that new community look like. By not including the City government, by not including citizens in the decision making, they should take that into consideration when making a decision.”

The group wants to engage more citizens by raising awareness, not only for this school, but for decisions made in the future for other facilities as well.