Island schools facing shakeup

A possible restructuring of the White Head Elementary School (WHES) may have negligible impact on the students and families involved, according to Principal Sally Cogswell. The New Brunswick government's Policy 409 defines the process of multi‑year school infrastructure planning for major capital projects, capital improvement projects, school sustainability and proposed grade reconfigurations. Announced in March, revisions to the policy mean that schools with fewer than 100 students or enrollment below 30% of capacity will be subject to a "sustainability study" and review by the District Education Council.
White Head Elementary includes grades KB6; students then attend high school on Grand Manan. Cogswell says there are currently only 10 students at WHES, with at least one in each grade, and this year the second teacher's position was eliminated. "It's quite a challenge" for one teacher to cover different subject matter for all these grades, Cogswell says, not to mention the intensive French instruction for Grade 6. With only one student each in grades 4B6, "it would be more manageable" to send the older students to Grand Manan as well as making sense for the French immersion. Cogswell says some parents already choose to send their children to Grand Manan Community School early, and although it is not a catchment area, these students are always accepted as long as there is room.
With declining enrollment and only a couple of children set to begin school in the next few years, Cogswell wonders about the future of White Head Elementary. "There are no young families with little kids," she says, and some families have moved to Grand Manan.
A restructuring would only affect a couple of students. With just four families having all the students at the school, Cogswell thinks that rather than a public meeting, personal consultation with the parents might be held. She says there is "supposed to be a meeting before December," but a date has not yet been announced. A request for further details from the Anglophone School DistrictBSouth superintendent's office did not receive a reply by press time.