P.E.I.'s Eastern School District is taking back land it had been leasing to a local farmer after pesticide was blown on to a playground by high winds Friday.

Parent Stephen Bryanton was astonished to learn that pesticides were being sprayed on a field so close to Englewood School in Crapaud, west of Charlottetown.

A farmer was spraying Roundup pesticide in a field next to school grounds.
(CBC)

"There should have been strict guidelines that were adhered to and followed," Bryanton said.
 
"Being so close to the school, I mean, that's our future."

School officials did not take the incident lightly. Englewood School principal Randy Reardon brought the children back into the school as soon as he saw what was going on.

"Immediately, because I didn't know what it was, just [as a] precaution, we had them come back in right away," Reardon said.

Principal Randy Reardon says he brought schoolchildren back inside as soon as he saw what was happening.
(CBC)

There was a similar incident at the school five years ago, Reardon said.

On Friday, the farmer was spraying the pesticide Roundup. The crop had already been harvested, but the Roundup was being used to kill grass and weeds to make plowing easier in the spring.

In response to the incident, the Eastern School District has torn up its lease with the farmer. It was the only school board land that was being leased for farming. Superintendent Sandy MacDonald said the district probably shouldn't have waited this long to end the lease.

"It was blowing hard. Common sense would dictate you probably shouldn't be spraying on those days," MacDonald said.

"You shouldn't be spraying next to a school at all. So it prompted us to take some action, and you're right, it probably should have happened earlier than this."

MacDonald isn't the only one questioning whether the farmer should have been spraying. Farmers on P.E.I. are restricted from spraying in high winds, and winds were strong enough Friday to restrict traffic on the Confederation Bridge and cancel some ferry crossings. The reports from the school will prompt a visit from provincial environment officials.

"We're coming in here several days after the fact, so we know it's going to be quite difficult to have any kind of conclusion," said John Clements, an investigation and enforcement officer with the Environment Department.

"Certainly there's no question that there's a lot of concern."

Several attempts by CBC News to contact the farmer on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Politicians have debated the need for buffer zones between schools and farm fields, and what happened at Englewood on Friday will likely put more pressure on the government to act.