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Principals in M.E.Callaghan's Past and Present
IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK...
A HISTORY LESSON ON M.E. CALLAGHAN SCHOOL
The cornerstone tells the bare facts of the opening of M.E. Callaghan Intermediate School on January 16th, 1976. But what the slab cannot tell is the story behind how the school came to be in the first place. The early 1970s was an exciting time for Prince Edward Island. The provincial government had launched its development plan, an ambitious vision to modernize rural areas of the Island. As an offshoot, it was decided that schools needed to be either upgraded or replaced. At the time, schools in West Prince fell under what was known as the Unit One School Board. It covered a range from Tignish to Tyne Valley. Communities such as Tignish, Alberton and O'Leary lobbied to replace existing schools with new structures within municipal boundaries. That, however, would have resulted in students in hte eastern end of the Unit traveling much farther distances on school busses. "The primary consideration was to provide the best possible facilities to students with the least amound of travel. The less amount of time you would keep them on the bus the better it would be," says Bennett Campbell who was appointed PEI Minister of Education in September 1972. Mr. Campbell did not enjoy a long honeymoon on the job. Just two weeks after being named minister, eight members of the 15-member school board quit in protest over the development of the junior/senior school complex in West Prince. For several months the minister traveled regularly to the region attempting to broker a deal. After driving home from yet another meeting an idea struck him-why not replace old schools with new structures along Route 2. "That became the solution because you could use a single bus system". Mr. Campbell, who went on the become PEI Premier and a federal cabinet minister, says while the decision did not please everyone, most accepted it as a reasonable compromise, M.F. Schurman Ltd. was awarded the contract to build both M.E. Callaghan and Hernwood. Mr. Campbell was on hand to lay the cornerstone for M.E. Callaghan. Later Westisle became the region's only high school and completed a trio of schools that are still found along the Western Highway.