N.B. orders safety review of 229 schools

The New Brunswick government is ordering a structural safety review of all schools built before 1980, Education Minister Jody Carr announced on Monday.

The structural review will includethe 229 schools constructed before 1980.

Carr's announcement comes after the recent closure of Moncton High School and cole Polyvalente Roland-Ppin in Campbellton. Hesaid he wants the review completed as soon as possible.

The recently appointed education minister said many parents have been left worried by those closures.

"The goal is to have over 200 schools receive an initial structural assessment to ensure we have as best as possible the most positive learning environment for our children, teachers and support staff," Carr said.

The structural review will begin immediately and will be performed by staff at the Department of Supply and Services. Carr said he will release information about the review regularly.

There are 332 schools in New Brunswick.

The education minister was quick to say he would not assign blame for the concerns of school safety.

"I will also say that blaming people and pointing fingers is certainly not part of the solution that I will put forward," Carr said.

"What we will do is make sure that we will work together and involve people in order to come forward with solutions."

Financial concerns

Carr said he will also review the New Brunswick auditor general's 2005 report that indicated the Department of Education lacked acceptable standards for building conditions, with some schools needing significantly more repair than others.

The auditor general noted the province has 336 schools, housing roughly 125,000 students and staff, andestimatedit would cost$2.3 billion to replace them.

The report says a number of minor repairs were not being addressed in a timely fashion.

"It's quite a large issue in terms of [the] financial [impact]," Carr said.

"But putting the safety and health of our children, certainly we can't work hard enough."

New Brunswick is projecting a $749-million deficit this year and Finance Minister Blaine Higgs has already warned he intends to wrestle it down.

Fixing any schools that fail the structural review could be expensive. The education minister said any of the projects that have already been started will not be halted.

But Carr said he will have to evaluate all other projects in light of the upcoming structural review.

Safety concerns

The sudden closure of the Campbellton high school, built between 1968 and 1970,raised concerns about the safety of other schools in northern New Brunswick built 40 years ago.

School District 5 closed cole Polyvalente Roland-Ppin, a Grade 9 to 12 school with about 500 students,last week after problems with the building's structure were exposed during a renovation project.

The district believes the problems could be due to mistakes made by the contractor who built the school more than 40 years ago and did not follow the building code.

'We need to look at exactly everything that is in the building so that we can come to the conclusion and we can investigate other public buildings if that's necessary.' Sheri Strickland, Department of Supply and Services official

Eloi Doucet, a spokesperson with the northern school district, said five or six other schools in the region were built around the same time.

He said the renovation work at the school has been put on hold while the Department of Supply and Services sends investigators to examine the structural problems of the school.

The provincial government is not commenting on whether other northern schools constructed in the sameera may also fail a building code inspection.

Sheri Strickland, a communications officer with the Department of Supply and Services, would not say who that contractor was or if the company built other schools in the province.

"Before we can look at other buildings, we need to know what is wrong with this building," Strickland said.

"We need to look at exactly everything that is in the building so that we can come to the conclusion and we can investigate other public buildings if that's necessary."