St. John's school council sounding alarm over new school in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's

Parents on the Prince of Wales Collegiate school council in St. John's say they were blindsided last week when the provincial government announced the location of a new highschoolin the nearby town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's.

The school council is calling on the provincial government to release the evidence it used to decide to build the new school, which will absorb half the population ofPrince of Wales Collegiate when it opens in September 2026.

"We weren't consulted," said Sonya Rideout, a parent representative on the school councilwho lives in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's.

"If we want to have trust in the decisions that our government makes, people in this province need to feel like they're based in evidence and stakeholder consultation. And both of it is severely lacking."

The new school's location came under scrutinyafter CBC News reportedit would be builtin the same community where Premier Andrew Fureylives.

The Prince of Wales council has written a letter to Furey, Education Minister Krista-Lynn Howell and David Brazil, the Progressive Conservative MHA who represents the area.

In that letter, they say the new school in Portugal Cove-St. Phillip's is not in the best interest of students because the current population of Prince of Wales Collegiate will be divided in half when the new school opens.

The council says the move will affect the number of teachers and programs of both schools. It also argues thatPrince of Wales Collegiate is closer to amenities, like the new Canada Games facility at Memorial University, while thenew school will be on a busy rural road with no sidewalks.

The council also argues many students living in Portugal Cove-St. Phillip's will still have to get a bus to the school.

Last week, the provincial government officially announced the school would be built on Old Broad Cove Road and Maggie's Place at a cost of $33 million.

However, the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District said in an April 2022 email to the Education Department that a new high school for Portugal Cove-St. Phillip's was not on the district's priority list.

Former school district CEO Tony Stack wrote the Education Department and warned the new school "will profoundly affect the [Prince of Wales Collegiate] feeder system."

"It feels empty, it feels one-sided, it feels like it's underhanded. I don't understand it," Rideout said.

The council also said the need for school repair or replacement is greater in other areas, such as Frank Roberts Junior High in Conception Bay South or Larkhall Academy.

"It seems like this school managed to leap past some of the other ones," said Gordon Stokes, chair of the school council. "Larkhall has been on that list for replacement since 2006."

Politicians have suggested that students from Portugal Cove-St. Phillip'swho enrol at the new school wouldspend less time on the bus, but it's an argument Rideout isn't buying.

"Kids are still going to be bused to that school," she said.

"There's a small segment of the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's population that lives in the walkable vicinity of that [new] school. And I honestly fear for the kids that actually live in that walkable area, because it's not walkable."

The school council is also concerned the new school will mean cutting Prince of Wales Collegiate's population about 640 students last year in half.

"Allocations for teachers [are] based on enrolment," said Rideout."But they won't be able to offer the same breadth of programs, academic programs, extracurricular programs to 300 kids that they can offer to 600 kids."

The mayor of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's says she has been advocating for a school for years, and so has MHA David Brazil, but beyond that,Rideout said, she hasn't been hearing parents call for the new school.

In a statement, the Education Department said it welcomes feedback from the parents and ithasobserved "enrolment pressures" in the town.

"By 2025-26 current projections show 365 students in Portugal Cove-St. Phillip's in the Grade 10-12 age group," the statement said.

"As the population of Newfoundland and Labrador, including its student population, is growing for the first time in decades it is important to have the infrastructure in place to meet the demand."

The statement also said the department is planning for the future of Prince of Wales Collegiateand that talks with the school council will be part of that work.

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