Parents frustrated by new school delay

Parents in the Virginia Park area of St. John's want to know why no progress has been made in the construction of a new school for the area.

Parents, who have been fighting for years to replace Virginia Park Elementary with a new school, learned last fall that the Eastern School District had recommended a new school be built at the site of the old Janeway children's hospital in Pleasantville.

Peter Whittle, a parent who co-chairs the Virginia Park school council, said little progress has since been made.

"Since then, it's been kind of stuck in limbo," said Whittle.

"I know the department has been dealing with it but we still haven't had a decision yet from the Department of Education on whether or not the Janeway site will be the place where the school will be built."

A spokesperson with the Department of Education said an assessment on the Janeway site is almost finished.

Whittle said parents expected to know by now where the school would be built.

"I think people's patience [is] running out," Whittle said. "It's really hard to understand how we've had to wait ... it's been seven, eight years, and during that time, we've seen schools leapfrog us. There have been new schools in Paradise [and] Torbay. But it just seems like it's taking forever."

"This is an issue we've been working on for a long time, the record is pretty clear on why we've been at this," said Whittle.

Whittle, who now works for the Department of Education, worked years ago for new Liberal Leader Kevin Aylward. However, he said the election has not been a motivating factor.

"There's certainly no partisan considerations here. Not from my perspective anyways."