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Oui for French school
Plans unveiled for new Halifax francophone high school
Halifax News Net
By Yvette d’Entremont – The Weekly News

Agroup of parents, teachers, school board and provincial officials filled Ecole Beaubassin’s cafeteria on April 20 for an update on the new francophone high school slated to open on Larry Uteck Boulevard in 2010.
WHW Architects unveiled its design plans to an appreciative audience, many of whom had questions about the school’s operating capacity, when it would open, and what grade levels would fill its classrooms.
Darrell Samson, superintendent of the province’s Acadian School Board, said the new high school will have enough classrooms for 450 students, but it is being built with the expectation it will eventually have up to 650 students.
“There will be a second phase in two years or so, to add six other classrooms,” Samson said during an interview conducted in French.
“But the core, the gymnasium, the cafeteria and the library will all be built to accommodate 650 students, so we don’t find ourselves scrambling to accommodate 650 down the road.”
Ecole du Carrefour in Dartmouth is the only current choice for francophone students in HRM who want to attend high school using their native tongue.
Parents at the elementary Ecole Beaubassin began lobbying for a new francophone school on the Halifax side of the harbour after the population at Beaubassin exploded, only a few years after the school’s construction.
The new high school project was officially announced in 2007, to the jubilation of parents who feared long commutes to Dartmouth from farther-flung communities would mean many youths wouldn’t be able to continue their francophone education after leaving Beaubassin.
“It’s important to congratulate the francophone community on (the Halifax) side of the harbour that took this opportunity and ran with it. Beaubassin opened with 205 students and is now approaching 600,” Samson said. “A real sense of community has developed. It shows they have a lot of energy and a real desire to be able to provide their children with an education in the French language.”
Samson said government officials have told him the new high school bordering Larry Uteck Boulevard and Southgate Drive in Bedford will be partially ready by December 2009.
“We could accommodate students by then if we want, but it will be completely open and ready for all classes to start in September of 2010,” he said.
The school will have two separate wings: one for students in grades 6 to 8, the second for those in grades 9 through 12. Federal and provincial funding is also making it possible for the school to offer 60 francophone daycare spaces for children one to five years old.

ydentremont@hfxnews.ca