MRHS gym, music room could go to tender soon

By Heather Killen

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

The superintendent of the Annapolis Valley School Board is keeping his fingers crossed that the long-awaited gym and music room will soon go to tender.

Dr. Norman Dray gave his annual report to the Town of Middleton last week. He told councillors on April 7 that the board is awaiting the final budget, “The goal is get it tendered as soon as possible and be in it next year at this time.”

The board has purchased a small lot on School Street beside the site of the future addition because the designers thought the new addition might be a tight fit on the existing lot.

“We want it done right,” he said. “These days we have to plan for the next 20 years.”

Dray reported that staff in each of the Valley schools continue to practice regular lockdown drills, as the need for the emergency lockdowns increases with more noncustodial parents trying to gain access to their children at school.

Dray told council that several schools have been in lockdown this year, and as recently as the previous Friday.

Otherwise, Dray told councillors that it’s been a good year for the board. While the number of students in the district is dropping each year, so far the board has been able to maintain its number of teachers. As a result, the class sizes are getting smaller.

The fewer number of students in Valley schools is a trend that is being reflected across the country, with only a few exceptions. But the good news is not likely to last, Dray warned, as the future projections for enrollment in Annapolis County are particularly alarming with continuing downward trends in enrollment.

Dray said that in 10 years, education will look very different than it does today in Annapolis County and that he is planning a series of meetings in coming months to discuss the effects of this negative trend and how it will impact education.

Dray estimated that the board spends between $7,000 and $8,000 per student each year to provide education, and that students in the Valley still receive the second lowest level of funding as compared to other districts across Nova Scotia.

In recent years, the student retention rate has increased as schools are maintaining more students until graduation. The number of drop-outs has decreased from about 18 per cent in 1991, to approximately nine per cent.

Dray added that while there are fewer students dropping-out in recent years, the number of special students is also increasing each year.

“This is partly due to the province’s decision to move towards de-institutionalization in the early 1990s,” he said. “And also advances in medicine have meant that more children are surviving, that wouldn’t have in the past.”

Unfortunately the funding for special needs students has not been increased and the cost of providing the support to students is increasing.