Government grilled over Pictou Academy

Pictou West MLA Karla MacFarlane denounced learning conditions at Pictou Academy as “a mess,” in Question Period Thursday.

Academy students in Grades 9-12 are now housed in the former Dr. Thomas McCulloch Junior High School, just 75 metres away from the old building, which presently lacks a science lab and had to be cleaned by pupils and teachers before they moved in.

And the Tory MLA had harsh words for both the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board and the provincial government.

“The truth needs to be told. They really need to apologize,” MacFarlane told The News Friday.

CCRSB spokesperson Darcy MacRae said that there had been a “misunderstanding,” about information regarding a completed new lab at the Academy posted online and later removed.

But Superintendent of Schools Gary Adams said in an email to local parent Lesley Heighton that work on the lab began on Friday, one day after MacFarlane questioned conditions at the school.

“The Director of Operations has advised that we are scheduled to finalize the lab by Oct. 20,” said Adams.

But Heighton, whose daughter is in Grade 12 at Pictou Academy, was still worried that students did not have a science lab more than a month into the semester.

Her daughter is taking physics, chemistry and biology classes and lab work forms a major part of the curriculum.

“It takes this to get the action when really it should have been done on Sept. 1,” said Heighton.

During a special board meeting on April 5, 2017, which Heighton attended, CCRSB officials assured parents that the school transition could be completed by September 2017.The board then voted to close the old Pictou Academy building by July 31.

“It is frustrating to say the least that no time was allowed for a transition period in closing the former PA building and subsequent move to the McCulloch building,” said Heighton in a previous email to Adams dated Oct. 3.

Replying to MacFarlane in legislature, Minister of Education Zach Churchill said that his government remained committed to giving “every student and every teacher in this province the best learning environment possible.”

Churchill added that he did “not envy the boards,” for making decisions around closing and relocating schools.

“The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development does not make decisions on school closures. What we do is, we take the recommendations from the board and we work with them to develop a plan for their capital needs,” said Churchill.