Parent hoping to save East Hants schools 'not going down without a fight'

The battle is on to keep two elementary schools open in East Hants as a committee examines whether one should be closed.

Maple Ridge Elementary School in Lantz and Shubenacadie District Elementary School in Shubenacadie are both in the middle of the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board's school review process.

Maple Ridge is a P3 school whose lease will expire in the coming years, and the Department of Education has asked the school board whether the facility is still needed.

With about 245 students, the school is at 70 per cent capacity. Fifteen kilometres away is Shubenacadie elementary, which is at just 35 per cent capacity.

Petition to save both schools

The school board has said options include closing one school or the other, however, many area residents are backing a petition to keep both open.

"We've gathered so far just over 600 signatures that I have collected, but I know there are more out there," said Mandie Fulton, a petition organizer who has two children who attend Maple Ridge school.

"We've also started a letter-writing campaign. I have over 300 letters that we will be mailing out to the school board."

Fulton said the group's petition has garnered support from both residents and business owners in the area. Over the weekend, many people signed it at the Elmsdale Superstore.

Closures 'short-sighted'

"We're not going down without a fight, we just don't agree with it," said Fulton.

"We don't think this is very forward-thinking. It is very short-sighted, especially with the development that has been coming in and because we are such a fast-growing area."

The area known as the East Hants corridor runs from Enfield to Shubenacadie and over the last 20 years has been one of the fastest-growing areas in the province.

"What they (the school board) have told us is the recommendation that we bring forward must be a move forward from the current status quo toward optimization," said Kerri Robson, chair of the school options committee.

Exploring options

Maple Ridge school was built by Nova Learning Inc. in 1999. The province has paid the developer $13.6 million in lease payments, with the lease set to expire July 31, 2019. To buy out the lease would cost the province $4.6 million.

The school options committee is looking at whether the province could be asked to buy Maple Ridge.

"We have a number of recommendations that we are strongly considering at this point, and that's definitely one of them," said Robson.

The committee will hold its second of three public meetings Thursday and must provide a recommendation to the school board by the middle of March.

The school board must communicate the results of the school review to the education minister's office by May 31.

The province must provide notice of its decision on whether to buy, extend the lease or surrender Maple Ridge to the developer by July 31.