Province tries to keep playground for daycare

P.E.I.'s Education Department is trying to hold on to a playground at a closed school for a daycare expected to move in, but the school board says the equipment is already promised for elsewhere.

'We want to be able to honour our commitment for some extra playground equipment in Souris.' — John Miodowski, Eastern School District

Rollo Bay Consolidated, near Souris, was one of six schools closed last year in a move to deal with declining enrolments in the Eastern School District. The district was in the process of moving the playground equipment to Souris Consolidated when the province told it to stop.

"Our department confirmed that there's an early years centre hopefully going into Rollo Bay school in the fall, and so we asked if they could wait," said deputy education minister Sandy MacDonald.

The new daycare will have between 40 to 60 students under the age of 4, and the department hopes the kids can use the existing playground equipment.

School board property manager John Miodowski said there are a couple of reasons that would not be a good plan. The equipment is really meant for kids five years old and up, and it is also already promised to the parents in Souris, at the school that former Rollo Bay students are now attending.

"We want to be able to honour our commitment for some extra playground equipment in Souris," said Miodowski, adding he is open to negotiate.

"If the department is willing to sit down and talk and work out a costing arrangement, at the end of the day as long as we have equipment we'd be very happy."

The playground equipment at Rollo Bay was purchased through the fundraising efforts of parents of the students there, which is often how school playground equipment is funded on the Island.

"Buying new equipment for the school to replace the equipment at Rollo Bay would be something that we'd have to think long and hard about," said MacDonald.

MacDonald said the department didn't know about that commitment.  

"If the Eastern School District has made a promise to the parents, and the parents are pretty clear in that this is what they want done, well that doesn't give us much room to negotiate," he said.

Even if a deal is reached to move the equipment to Souris that likely won't happen before the school year starts.