The education minister says a health and safety inspection was performed at Frank Roberts Junior High earlier this week and the school passed all the tests.

Conditions at the school have been a hot topic this week, with area MHA Barry Petten calling for a new school to be built, owing to a multitude of issues such as what he says is a rat infestation and poor air quality.

Parents say they will be keeping their kids home next week, and a rally has been scheduled for outside the school next Thursday.

Minister John Haggie says the results of the recent inspection came back positive.

He says they found there to be no life safety issues, commenting that maintenance and sanitation are “excellent.” He says there is a mice problem, not a rat problem, pest control is on site and other remedial steps have been taken on that front.

Petten calls Haggie’s comments “astounding” based on what he’s heard of the conditions at the school.

Petten says the images he’s seen don’t lie, and the issues cannot be minimized. He challenges the minister to get to the rally next week and make those comments to the parents of kids at the school.