Marine Drive Academy

• Comment: Great start. Do you have any reliable sources that aren't connected to the government or the school board? Did the Chronicle Herald write about any of this information? Did CBC Halifax talk about the debates about the name? Try to add some of those as well. WP:NSCHOOL also gives a good crash-course on what schools we consider notable. Bkissin (talk) 02:01, 13 September 2019 (UTC)

@Bkissin: It has been an under the radar project and there has been very little media coverage of it. Atlas50 (talk) 02:59, 13 September 2019 (UTC)

---

Marine Drive Academy
MDA under construction in January 2019.
Location
Sheet Harbour , Nova Scotia , B0J 3B0 Canada
Coordinates	44°55′6.81″N 62°31′9.66″W
Information
School type	P-12
Founded	September 2020 (September 2020) (scheduled)
School board	Halifax Regional Centre for Education
Grades	Pre-Primary–12
Language	English, Canadian French
Campus type	Rural
Website	www.hrce.ca/eastern-district-p-12-new-school

Marine Drive Academy (MDA) is a P-12 school currently under construction in Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The school is located in the Halifax Regional Municipality and thus falls under the jurisdiction of the Halifax Regional Centre for Education. It will be located adjacent to its predecessor, Duncan MacMillan High School, and atop the former grounds of Sheet Harbour Consolidated School. Construction began in late 2017 and the building is slated to open in September 2020. Avondale Construction was enlisted as the contractor, while Century Exteriors and FBM Architecture handled the exterior and interior design respectively. The structure of the building was influenced heavily by the surrounding landscape, and is designed to also act as a community hub.

A request for a review of the schools in the Duncan MacMillan High catchment area was put forward in 2012. The former Halifax Regional School Board approved it, and a review committee was set up to bring it to fruition. Concerns raised with the rural schools included the age of the facilities as well as a high transfer rate for the faculty. Boundary changes were proposed but proved highly unpopular among the local populous. The HRSB announced the project to build a new P-12 school in the Sheet Harbour area on December 23, 2013. Sites in and around the main Sheet Harbour area were proposed, though the decision was made in 2016 to construct the facility on the then current grounds of SHCS and DMHS. SHCS was closed in 2017 after 60 years of operation to provide clearance for the new structure. Lakefront Consolidated Elementary was closed in 2019 as a part of the consolidation process. Students from both schools were amalgamated into DMHS soon thereafter. Names were submitted by the public for the new school in the collection period from February to March of 2019. The list was narrowed down to two definite candidates, though two more potential candidates were put to a vote. Students of DMHS and LCS voted in April 2019 on the third submission. The name selected for the new facility was Marine Drive Academy.

History

Duncan MacMillan High in 2017.

At a meeting of elected officials in the former Halifax Regional School Board on March 28th, 2012, representatives of the Duncan MacMillan High catchment area requested that the area's schools be put up for review. In summary, they requested a new P-12 school for the Sheet Harbour area. The School Review Committee was formed in October of that year in accordance with procedures. The committee met several times from October 2012 to February 2013, and included members of the administrations of the area's schools. The impact assessment report associated with the review of the schools produced two outcomes for Sheet Harbour Consolidated School, the elementary school serving the immediate Sheet Harbour area; either remain open, or close when a new P-12 school is opened. The report cited the age of the building and mediocre upkeep, as well as a lack of security features, as reasons to close if or when a new school was built. The community expressed strong support for a new facility. The elementary and secondary schools were in desperate need of replacement due in part to their age, rendering a new school as the only option. The buildings that the schools occupied were built in the 1950s and 60s. The HRSB voted to prioritize the construction of a new P-12 school for the Sheet Harbour area. The committee felt that unique challenges to a rural facility is the lack of an established teaching staff and a high turnover and transfer rate, as well as the fact that significant portions of the faculty have to commute upwards of an hour one way, hindering potential for extracurricular activities. Furthermore, the committee expressed a desire for upgraded recreational facilities, such as playgrounds and sports fields, within the school grounds. A general consensus was reached through a public meeting in November 2012 that Lakefront Consolidated School in Tangier should remain open until the completion of the new school.

Boundary changes to the western edge of the Duncan MacMillan catchment area, bringing the edge from Newcombe's Brook in East Ship Harbour to the Tangier River in Tangier, were proposed. The changes were shot down by the communities by an overwhelming margin, citing other boundaries set at Newcombe's Brook, such as postal codes and telephone area codes. About a tenth of the potential students would no longer fall under the Duncan MacMillan catchment area with this change, severely affecting the already low enrollment. The current catchment area is 84 km (52 mi) wide from its western end to its eastern end at the boundary of the Halifax Regional Municipality in Ecum Secum, including numerous local roads. The catchment area is the largest in the HRSB. The vast catchment area has also been identified as a drawback to families considering moving to the area. 34 communities are included in the final consolidation associated with this project.

On December 23, 2013, the HRSB publicly announced that a new P-12 school would be built to serve the Sheet Harbour area.

Three potential sites for the new facility were proposed. The first was, at the time, the present site of SHCS and DMHS. This had the benefit of a central location, though it would present logistic challenges. The second site was located along Trunk 7 outside of the main downtown of Sheet Harbour. This was a large site which could accommodate potential expansion but was relatively isolated and lacked some amenities such as sidewalks. The third site was in the downtown of the community. It was central, and was already partially cleared land, however its proximity to the local nursing home was both a benefit and a drawback. The site of the new school was announced on April 26, 2016. It was to be built atop the grounds of SHCS and DMHS. A school steering team was established thereafter to cooperate with the design team, board and government departments.

Sheet Harbour Consolidated School was closed in 2017 after sixty years of operation to make way for the construction, and the students were amalgamated into DMHS in September of that year. Potential names for the new facility were collected from the public from February 21 to March 7, 2019. 61 names were submitted. Consensus was reached on two of the top three potential names for the facility; Marine Drive Academy and Marine Drive Education Centre. Consensus was not reached on a third candidate, and a vote was held among the students of DMHS and LCS between April 24 and 25, 2019. The vote for the third submission was for East Nova Academy or East Nova Education Centre. The former won by a large margin. The name of the new building, Marine Drive Academy, was announced on June 17, 2019. Lakefront Consolidated School, in Tangier, a former elementary school and DMHS feeder school, ceased operation at the end of the 2018-2019 school year as a step in the consolidation of the schools. A closing ceremony was held at the school on June 22, 2019. The students were amalgamated into DMHS in September 2019.