CLOSING A CHAPTER
Baddeck Nursery School era ends with emotional graduation ceremony
Baddeck Nursery School era comes to close with emotional final graduation ceremony.
All good things come to an end, but that doesn’t make things any easier for the board of directors and staff at the Baddeck Nursery School.
The preschool, located inside Baddeck Academy, held its final graduation ceremony at the Baddeck Community Hall on Monday and the final classes for its junior program on Tuesday.
The preschool program, which had been in operation for more than 45 years, closed its doors after the introduction of a provincial pre-primary program, which will start in September at Baddeck Academy.
“It’s kind of emotional,” said Tammy MacSween, treasurer of the board. “I think it was bittersweet for everybody, just thinking that the program is going to be changing.”
The nursery school, which had two staff members and a volunteer board, offered a junior class for three-year-olds, while the senior class featured students ages four and five.
“My oldest child is 11 years old and he went through the senior nursery school and my two youngest went through junior and senior, so it’s definitely emotional for me,” said MacSween.
“I count myself as one of the lucky ones where all of my kids are finished — for all of those families that have a child that was in nursery school or have younger kids, they’re not going to be able to get the same experience.”
There were 12 students enrolled in the junior program for the 2017-18 school year. Meanwhile, the final graduating senior class featured 20 students, all of whom will attend Grade Primary next year.
MacSween considers the closure the end of an era for the Baddeck community.
“Our community has been so generous to the Baddeck Nursery School, so it was a real community program,” said MacSween.
“Even though we do applaud the early childhood education and the steps that (the government) is taking towards our kids education, it’s going to be a little different, that’s all.”
MacSween believes the preprimary program will be similar to what the Baddeck Nursery School’s program offered — the only difference is there’s no provincial program for threeyear-olds.
“We don’t know what the preprimary is going to look like, we of course had our director and our assistant visit another school where pre-primary was in place, but I think essentially the education component is
going to continue,” she said.
“I think it’s going to be a little less connected to the community then it has been in the past — we’ve had field trips to every business, I think, in Baddeck.”
In 2013, the Baddeck Nursery School received a loan from Housing Nova Scotia, at a time when licensed childcare providers were overseen by the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services.
The loan was used for renovations to the nursery school classroom in Baddeck Academy, which is leased through the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education, to make it more preschool/toddler appropriate.
Terms dictate the loan depreciates each year the nursery school stays in business, with that in mind, the board of directors extended its lease until 2023 to fulfil the loan requirements.
“We do have a loan outstanding … we’re waiting on word on whether or not that loan is going to be forgiven,” said MacSween.
“The classroom is still under the Baddeck Nursery School Association, so at this point we’re finished school, but we’re basically at a standstill right now.”
MacSween said the Cape Breton-Victoria regional centre has said the current nursery school space would be the best option for the new pre-primary.
“Our issue is we just have this outstanding loan that we want to take care of first before we pass over the classroom to the former school board,” she said.
“We don’t have word on that loan, so at this point we close our doors as is, but we can’t liquidate any of our assets at this point, so we’re at a standstill.”
The nursery school currently has just under $60,000 left to pay on the loan.
“The former school board is indicating that they would forgive the lease if we were to leave the space and hand it over to them,” said MacSween. “We basically need to find out about the loan before we agree to that.”
The final graduation, which had close to 60 people in attendance, was opened to former students, past board members as well as family and friends.
“Our program only survived because of all the fundraising efforts done by the parents and the community,” said MacSween. “It’s emotional for sure.”
Officials with the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
“I think it’s going to be a little less connected to the community then it has been in the past – we’ve had field trips to every business, I think, in Baddeck.”
Tammy MacSween, treasurer of the board