Wondering when next shoe will drop

Well there you have it. The Town of Pictou will be able to keep its P-12.

So why wasn’t everyone jumping up with joy when the school board members announced that students would remain in the town rather than having grades 9-12 moved to Northumberland Regional High School?

Well, it is mostly due to the ugly word… mistrust.

Everyone knew that the building currently housing Pictou Academy students was on the chopping block. It has about $2 million worth of repairs needed in the age when money talks.

Building a new P-12 in the town was also a long shot. As legal counsel for the school board pointed out Tuesday, the school board could recommend that the province return the P3 back to its owner in 2020 and a new P-12 be built, but it is a risk.

What if the new school is not approved by the province and then the town doesn’t have a building for its elementary students anymore because it gave up its lease?

School board staff’s option of making Pictou Elementary a P-8 school and having 9-12 students move to Northumberland Regional High School also didn’t work because of provincial legislation that states there must be a Pictou Academy in the town.

In the end, board and staff agreed the best option was to keep a P-12 in the town by making Pictou Elementary a P-8 and Dr. Thomas McCulloch 9-12.

While Pictou board member Vivian Farrell argued that the grade configuration of P-5 and 6-12 worked better for the children’s learning environment and the community, the board passed a motion in favour of the P-8 configuration because it is part of an optimization pattern it wants to work toward for all schools in the region.

Some called the decision a “small victory” for the community because Pictou Academy will continue to graduate students in the town, but others said it was also a “stay of execution.”

Concerns were expressed that this is just the first step in a long battle to eventually move 9-12 students to NRHS are certainly valid.

The tech report by staff points out that having 9-12 in McCulloch, which will only use 30 per cent of the building, will allow students to be easily moved to NRHS in the future if the legislation is changed.

McCulloch itself is listed as in good shape, but some people have said there are environmental concerns considering that it was built in the same era as other schools in the county that have since been closed or torn down. What will school board staff find from any inspections deeper into its walls or behind its ceiling tiles?

All of this is pure speculation now, fuelled by a long, emotional process.

School board staff did its job by presenting the numbers and, as Farrell pointed out, it painted a harsh reality regarding how to effectively manage half-empty buildings along with staff and students who use them.

But she also made the point that it doesn’t take into account the needs of the community. This is where the SOC comes in and its recommendation for a P-5 and 6-12 configuration. Yet in the end, it was new-age thinking and optimization that won out over the wants of a community.

Mistrust in government and fear of the unknown has left the community wondering when the next shoe will drop and the legislation keeping PA students in the town will be changed.

In the words of the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

This pretty much spells out the entire school review process right now for the residents of Pictou. They got what they needed, now they just have to continue battling to get what they want.

Sueann Musick is a reporter with The News.