Parents of students in the catchment area for the new school in Kenmount Terrace are frustrated now that government has moved the timeline for completion of that facility back.

The province officially broke ground on the long-awaited facility yesterday—marking the start of an 18-month contract to get the project completed.

That means construction would finish around December 2026, missing government’s long-promised target of having students in the classroom that September.

Area MHA Sarah Stoodley says the change in the timeline is due to the tender not being awarded on time.

She says the RFP was put out, with an 18-month timeline, in November. Had that been awarded on time, she says, the school would be ready for the fall of 2026, but they did not receive any bids until the spring, which pushed things back.

Rita Stright, the parent of two children at Leary’s Brook Junior High, calls the change “extremely concerning,” noting that she “just doesn’t know how the school is going to manage” over the next few years.

Infrastructure minister Elvis Loveless defends government’s process, noting that due diligence was needed, but that does not quell the concerns of Stright.

“Today is a good day, (it) shouldn’t be about that 18 months. That shouldn’t be the story as far as I’m concerned” says Loveless.

When asked about that specific comment, Stright quipped back that “the timeline for the new school might not be the story for some people, but it certainly is the story for me because that’s what impacts my children directly.”