N.S. woman upset son can't attend pre-primary program due to location

A Nova Scotia mother is upset she can’t enrol her son in a pre-primary program that’s only half full because she lives just outside the school catchment area.

Terri Mingo says she was excited when she first heard about the province’s new pre-primary program, but it’s not being offered at the school closest to her Valley, N.S., home.

There are several spaces available at North River Elementary School, but Mingo has been told she can’t register her four-year-old son Spencer, even though she lives less than two kilometres outside the school’s catchment area.

“First of all, as a parent, to have a free pre-primary program, that would save us a lot of money,” says Mingo. “As a taxpayer, it pains me to think that they would implement a program like this and not use it to its greatest capacity.”

An official with the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board says there are 12 children registered for the pre-primary program at North River Elementary School. A total of 24 spaces are available at the school, but the board says more students could register soon.

The board says, for now, it will only accept students from each school’s catchment area.

Nova Scotia Education Minister Zach Churchill says he is leaving operational decisions up to individual school boards.

“Broadly speaking, when more students and families want access to these programs and there are spaces available, I think that’s a good thing, and that we should accommodate them,” says Churchill.

Mingo is still hoping the school board will change its mind, and use the pre-primary resources to their full potential.

“I would like to see my child get the opportunity to attend this program,” she says. “I think that the pre-primary program is a gift to families in Nova Scotia.”

The Nova Scotia government has launched 52 pre-primary classes at 43 locations across the province.

The program is supposed to be available to all four-year-olds within the next four years. The pre-primary expansion will start with an estimated 70 more sites next year.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh

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  Terri Mingo has been told she can’t register her son Spencer for the pre-primary program at North River Elementary School, even though she lives less than two kilometres outside the school’s catchment area.