Why are Bay d'Espoir parents fed up with this temporary school? A leaky roof is just the start
Student with disabilities using a storage closet as a quiet room, parents say
The warm feelings of community bonding are wearing off at Bay d'Espoir Academy, where students, parents and teachers are facing the prospect of four more years in a building without many necessities.
More than 250 students and staff took over the town hall in St. Alban's after their school in nearby Milltown was burned to the ground in an act of arson last winter.
- Bay d'Espoir residents ponder arsonist's possible return, a year after devastating fires
- Man charged after Milltown school, town hall, RCMP station burn
But several parents tell CBC News the building falls way short of offering a full education.
"Anywhere on the island, people think that we're fine," said Pamela Willcott. "But we're not. We are not fine."
The current school does not have a cafeteria, a science lab, an art room, a skilled trades room or even wheelchair-accessible bathrooms.
The building, which was an elementary school before being used as a town hall, has several holes in the gymnasium ceiling.
"We have kids running around large garbage buckets that are collecting water," Willcott said.
In December, students were bused to Conne River for science labs to fulfil their curriculum. In the spring, they'll be bused to English Harbour West — a one-hour drive down a road parents describe as treacherous.
"I would not think about sending my child down there on a bus," said Rhonda Perry-Harding, the parent of a seventh-grader. "Not in a million years."
CBC News requested an interview with the school principal, Connie Willcott. The school board declined the request, and instead offered up Shawn Fowlow, the board's senior education officer for schools in the central region.
Fowlow, the former principal of Bay d'Espoir Academy, works out of the temporary school in what can best be described as a storage closet.
He said the board has made it a priority to get a new school built in the Bay d'Espoir region but it will have to follow the usual government process — which is typically a four-year planning and construction period.
As parents we need to make noise about it and let them know we are not going to sit quietly by anymore.- Pamela Willcott
Fowlow acknowledged the temporary setup is not ideal, but said they are making do the best they can.
To Rebecca Nugent, the mother of a student at Bay d'Espoir Academy, that's not good enough.
"We're left to think, is this going to be the rest of our children's education for years to come? That we have to make do?"
The parents want to know why an exception can't be made in a situation where a man burned their school to the ground.
Lack of accessibility a concern
Fowlow isn't the only person using a storage closet at the temporary Bay d'Espoir Academy.
Several parents said a child with a spectrum disorder is using one as a sensory room — a quiet place for therapeutic purposes.
In the former building, the student had an actual support room to be used whenever it was necessary, they said.
CBC News asked the Department of Education about the problem, as well as the lack of wheelchair-accessible bathrooms.
The reply dodged the question entirely.
"Government decisions regarding the reconstruction plans will be announced in spring 2018," a spokesperson for Education Minister Dale Kirby said. "In the interim, students will continue to be accommodated in the temporary school set up in the St. Alban's town hall building.
"We recognize that the destruction of the school has had an impact on the community and their patience and cooperation continues to be appreciated."
But Pamela Willcott is running out of patience.
"As parents we need to make noise about it and let them know we are not going to sit quietly by anymore. That timeline is not going to work."