Harbour View Elementary School

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Harbour View School, also called (less frequently) "Harbour View Elementary School", is a public school on the north end of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia serving about 260 children in the first through sixth grades. The school has a "4 Plus" class. The Dartmouth Preschool program, student services offices, and a dental clinic are in the building.

The principal is Joe Walsh.[1]

The school calls its students "super bees" who "are busy 'bee'ing our best".

The school has 12 English classes.[1]

The three-story building, the street from Holy Trinity Emmanuel Anglican Church, contains a dental clinic staffed by the Dalhousie Dental School of Dalhousie University.[1]

The school participates in the "Our Healthy School" program of the Halifax Regional School Board. The "Fit Fridays" events receive schoolwide participation. On Fridays, starting in September, students, teachers, parents and anyone else involved with the school gather in the gym to discuss the benefits of exercise and healthy eating, then they go on a 40-minute walk. The walks continue through October, and in May and June start up again when the weather permits. They walk in the neighborhood with a banner announcing that the "Super Bees" are on the march. "Along the route Physical Education Teacher Louise Sutherland's 'Route Car' escorts the trail of students offering words of encouragement through her portable loud speaker. During the walks, the area's HRM police officer often drops by for a quick hello," according to a Web site of the Halifax Regional School Board. At the end of the walk, everyone is offered a healthy snack at the school.[2]

Contents

[edit] Social problems

As of 1996, a significant proportion of the student population lived in poverty. "[T]he principal of this school often goes to the homes herself, to the homes of these children, to assist in whatever way she can," said John Hamm, a party leader speaking on the floor of the Nova Scotia General Assembly. "The same principal told me that if anyone believes that poverty in Nova Scotia does not exist, they should come with her to some of the homes where these children struggle to survive."[3]

Crime has been a notable feature of the area immediately around the school. Across the street from the school at the Holy Trinity Emmanuel Anglican Church, burglars in both May and June 2007 stole all the food for a progrm that feeds breakfast to 50 children before school.[4] (The breakfast program has been in existence since at least 1996.[3]) In 2006, a 52-year-old man said he was assaulted in the midafternoon of March 24 by teenage youths on a street near the school. "[T]here's a concentration of kids in north-end Dartmouth committing crimes", according to a May 6, 2006 article in The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia, which quoted several residents.[5]

Crime has been a longstanding problem close to the school. On September 10, 1998, in a wooded area behind the school, Harbour View students found a 35-year-old woman bleeding from her injuries after an assault. Eight days later, she died from her wounds. As of early 2008, the murder remained unsolved.[6] Early on a Saturday morning in December 2006, a 21-year-old man, beaten and bloody, was found by a passerby on the approach to the Victoria Road pedway at the school. That man also later died of his injuries.[7]

Harbour View Elementary School and John MacNeil Elementary School both feed into John Martin Junior High School. In 2006, Trevor Zinck, a member of the Nova Scotia General Assembly, said some parents in his district were concerned about bullying at the junior high school from children entering it from Harbour View. "This is due to the fact that some of the 'tougher children' come out of the Harbour View school area", Zinck said.[8]

[edit] History

The school was first built in 1961, with major construction work also taking place in 1972.[1]

In 1997 and 1998, the school was among 25 taking part in the Nova Scotia Model Schools Program, in which trees and other greenery were planted on school grounds.[9]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d [1]Web page titled "All about the super bees" at the Harbour View Elementary School Web site, accessed January 8, 2007
  2. ^ Web page titled "Harbour View Elementary School" at the "Our Healthy School" Web site of the Halifax Regional School Board Web site, accessed January 8, 2007
  3. ^ a b [2]Transcript, Nova Scotia General Assembly,"Fifty-sixth General Assembly / Fourth Session", March 29, 1996, accessed January 8, 2007, page 47
  4. ^ Shiers, Kelly, "Passing a test of faith; Break-ins can't dampen spiritsof Dartmouth congregation", news article, The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 9, 2007, Metro section, page B5, accessed via NewsBank.com, January 8, 2007
  5. ^ Hayes, Brian, "Hostages in their homes; Swarmings, attacks by youth gangs strike fear into residents", article described as "Final instalment in a two-part series on youth violence", The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 6, 2006, page A1, accessed via NewsBank.com, January 8, 2007
  6. ^ [3]Web page titled "Unsolved Murder Info" at Halifax Regional Police Web site, accessed January 8, 2007
  7. ^ [4]Web page titled "Injured man found behind school dies" December 11, 2006 at the CBC Web site, accessed January 8, 2007
  8. ^ [5]Transcript, Nova Scotia General Assembly, Committee of the Whole House on Supply, July 10, 2006, page 276, accessed January 8, 2007
  9. ^ [6]"The Outdoor Classroom" newsletter, published by the Evergreen Canada Initiative (Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia), page 4, accessed January 8, 2007

[edit] External links

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