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Tense moments in Petitcodiac, N.B. after reported threats

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Reported threats against Petitcodiac Regional School left residents, businesses, students and staff on edge.

RCMP Corporal Luc Picard told our newsroom in an email that officers responded just before 9:30 am Thursday and investigated a possible threat involving a youth.

Police quickly located a suspect and took them into custody.

No further details were released about reported threats.

Anglophone East School District placed the school into a hold and secure while the investigation was underway.

Letter about hold and secure IMAGE: submitted (October 2026)

Students and staff were permitted to move around inside, but no one was allowed in or out.

A few businesses were also closed while officers investigated.

After clearance from the RCMP, the school district lifted the hold and secure a few hours later.

No word yet on any charges.

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Increased transportation needs for Anglophone East School District

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The number of kids riding the bus to school in southeastern New Brunswick is rising again.

Anglophone East School District Director of Finance and Administration Aubrey Kirkpatrick told members of the District Education Council this week that around 360 additional students have registered for transportation so far for the 2026/2027 school year.

That brings the total number of kids taking the bus for Anglophone East to almost 15,000.

Anglophone East oversees English schools in Albert and Westmorland counties.

Kirkpatrick added that the district requested five new school buses from the province for this year. They received funding for three and are now using two spare buses to help meet demand.

Elementary school children who live 1.5 kilometres from school and high school students who are 2.4 kilometres away qualify to ride the school buses each day, unless they are out of bounds.

Anglophone East District Education Chair Dominic Vautour (Image: Anglophone East School District)

New faces, new ideas for Anglophone East District Education Council

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Another school year is underway for the Anglophone East District Education Council.

The Council held its first meeting of the 2026-2027 school year on Monday night. It also marked the beginning of a new four-year term for the Council, elected in May.

Three new members have joined the council. A vacant seat that was not filled during the election process in May has now been filled through an appointment by the provincial government.

“We’re starting with a full slate,” re-elected Council Chair Dominic Vautour told our newsroom.

Vautour will serve a second term as council chair

“It’s invigorating to come in with some new faces, some new ideas,” Vautour expressed. “We’re starting a fresh new four-year term. It really is kind of a reset for us.”

The council named member Alex Morton to serve as the new Vice-Chair.

Dominic Vautour explained the council remains active throughout the summer, working closely with district officials to monitor preparations for the new school year.

“For us, as a District Education Council, the work doesn’t stop in the summer,” Vautour said. “There’s a lot of communication between us and district office just to make sure schools are ready to go, teachers are ready to go, and everything is in place for that first day with students.”

That preparation goes beyond staffing and facilities, he said. Council members also stay connected with families and communities to address concerns before classes resume.

“We want to make sure the community sees their DEC representatives as an asset to them, as someone who can help them,” he said.

Growth expected to dominate conversations again this school year

Vautour added that rapidly growing communities within the district have placed pressure on existing schools and infrastructure, making new construction projects a key priority.

“It’s the same topic we’ve been talking about for many years. It’s growth,” he said. “We need to make sure that schools and infrastructure are keeping pace with that.”

While enrolment growth appears to be stabilizing somewhat, Vautour said several major residential developments planned across the region could eventually increase student numbers.

“We’re starting to see it level off, which is a good thing,” he said. “That gives us a bit of breathing room to try to get to that finish line where we get the new schools opened up.”

Among the projects generating excitement is the new K-12 school planned for Shediac, which will replace Shediac Cape School and help ease pressure on other schools, including Moncton High School.

According to Vautour, site work is underway, and the project remains on track for a September 2030 opening.

“The building is currently under construction; they have the land cleared, and it’s moving along great,” he said. “Every milestone that we hit is a huge excitement because we know we’re that much closer.”

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Anglophone East school supplies drive underway, monetary donations needed

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As families prepare for a new school year, Anglophone East School District is once again asking the community to support its annual school supplies drive.

The district is raising money for essential classroom supplies for students who may arrive at school in September without everything they need.

“We’ve been doing this for a few years now,” said Luc Malenfant, community engagement coordinator with Anglophone East School District. “Every year we get a list from our elementary, middle and high schools to identify the most needed items.”

District staff work with principals, vice-principals and teachers to determine which supplies are most important for students on the first day of school. The focus is on basic items needed immediately, with additional purchases made if funding allows.

“We leave it up to the principals and VPs to work with their teachers to identify which children or families may not have the school supplies they need on day one,” said Malenfant.

The district then prepares backpacks or totes filled with supplies and delivers them to schools, where staff can provide them directly to students.

Program supports a wide range of families

“It’s about making sure supplies are on hand for any student who comes through the door without what they need,” Malenfant said.

Rather than collecting large quantities of donated supplies from the public, the district mainly seeks monetary donations. Staff can buy exactly what schools need and funds stretch further through bulk purchasing.

“We found that is the best way to maximize the efficiency of this fundraiser,” he said.

The district’s fundraising goal is approximately $10,000, which would allow the district to provide between 10 and 15 backpacks per school for students most in need.

Last year, the campaign supplied backpacks and school materials to 318 students throughout the district.

Donations are being accepted through Aug. 31, though fundraising efforts often continue into the fall.

Malenfant said additional donations are important because schools sometimes need help replenishing supplies later in the academic year.

“Oftentimes we get schools reaching out to us in January when the second semester begins,” he said. “They once again are running out of supplies, and we try to keep a little fund to be able to provide the basics to them.”

People interested in donating can find a QR code linking to SchoolCash on the Anglophone East School District Facebook page. Donations of $25 or more are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.

Malenfant said the campaign goal is simple: helping students arrive ready to learn on the first day of classes.

“It’s trying to give them a little boost to be ready to learn on day one,” he said.

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Concerns force Moncton School into hold and secure

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An uneasy morning for parents, students and staff at Beaverbrook School.

According to a letter from the Anglophone East School District, the K to 8 facility on Mountain Road was placed under a hold and secure on Thursday morning.

The email to parents stated that the school administration team received information about a potentially concerning situation in the area.

A Hold and Secure was implemented out of caution. It is a procedure that permits movement inside the school, but no one is allowed in or out.

Superintendent Randolph MacLEAN says once it was confirmed there was no risk to staff or students, the hold and secure order was lifted.

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District Education Council candidates needed

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There’s an opportunity to get more involved if you have a passion for education.

Municipal elections will be held on May 11, and New Brunswickers will also be asked to elect members for area District Education Councils.

“So the District Education Council sits at the top of the organizational structure of a school district. So basically, we’re the council that engages a superintendent. The superintendent reports directly to the council, and the council leads by policy. So we establish policies. The superintendent has to follow them. Day-to-day operations are not part of the mandate,” Chair of the Anglophone East DEC Dominic Vautour explained.

The council meets one or two times a month to discuss what is going on with the district, and members also pass policies. All of the meetings are livestreamed on the Anglophone East District Education Council Facebook page.

If you’re considering a run for a spot on your local DEC, the deadline for nomination papers is April 10.

“The nomination process has a few key differences in that. When you get your nominators, they also have to be parents in the school district. So, you can’t just get nominated by anyone inside of your subdistrict, they also have to be parents in Anglo East or Francophone South, depending on where you are running,” Vautour stated.

He is just wrapping up his very first term as a District Education Councillor, but he highly recommends it.

“If you care about education, if you care about kids in the school system, and you want to make a difference, this is where you make a difference. You build relationships with provincial partners, you get to know all the players, and you get involved. It’s a really fulfilling experience. There’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot to contribute. There are a lot of discussions that go around the table where you may impact the entire council and the entire school district and maybe the entire education system,” Vautour explained.

He added that it is a very fulfilling role, and he encourages anyone who is curious about running to look into it.

For more details on the process to run for a sport on a District Education Council, visit Elections NB.

Anglophone East District Education Chair Dominic Vautour (Image: Anglophone East School District)

Strong concerns raised against possible school closures

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Closing schools should not be a cost-cutting measure, according to the Anglophone East District Education Council Chair.

This comes after a suggestion from the Holt government that closing schools with 100 or fewer students can potentially save money.

“The Minister of Finance has identified that schools with fewer than 100 students could potentially be closed. That’s a general statement that was put out there. We have three schools in Anglophone East that fit that criteria,” Dominic Vautour told our newsroom.

Riverside-Albert, Havelock and Dorchester Consolidated schools could be impacted if the province decides to go that route.

Vautour explained that there is a provincial education policy called Policy 409 that deals with the opening and closing of schools. He added that they evaluate the feasibility of any schools with fewer than 100 students on an annual basis.

Beneficial to the communities

“We have year over year looked at these and decided that, no, these are not schools we can cut. These are schools that are beneficial to their communities. We do not want to see students on a bus for longer than they have to. We don’t want to see students educated in communities away from their own community. We feel that it’s very, very important to keep people, students, and also staff members close to their own communities,” Vautour stressed.

“There are benefits to larger schools as well. More facilities, more opportunities for different classes to be given, for example, but there’s certainly an argument to be made for small community schools as well,” Vautour added.

Student services could be impacted

As the Chair for the District Education Council, Vautour is in regular communication with the Education Minister and expressed that the DEC strongly opposes the closure of any school.

“We’ve experienced massive growth, so we certainly don’t want to see any schools closed because we already have overcrowded schools. If they choose not to close schools, there’s also the very real impact of a major budgetary cut being floated around. They floated 10 to 15 per cent, and that’s a massive number. There is no way we can do any type of cut of that magnitude, without seriously impacting student services,” Vautour emphasized.

He stressed that healthcare and education should not be where the government is looking at cuts, “We have to take care of our people, and we have to educate our children.”

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Support offered for Anglophone East students troubled by B.C. tragedy

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This week’s tragic shooting in a Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia secondary school, is taking its toll everywhere.

Shock has now turned to grief after a horrific shooting in the tiny community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.

The names, ages and faces of those tragically killed have begun to surface.

An email went home this week to parents and students with the Anglophone East School District offering guidance to those who need it.

Superintendent Randolph MacLEAN says when events like this happen, they are felt far beyond provincial borders.

He adds that news like this can cause stress or anxiety for children and adults.

Staff, guidance counsellors and support teams are available if reassurance or guidance is needed.

Nine people died in this week’s tragedy, including the shooter. Most of those who were shot were between the ages of 11 and 18 years old, along with a teacher, and the shooter’s mother.

Flags across the country continue to fly at half-staff, and candlelight vigils were held last night in several communities to mourn those lost.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to visit Tumbler Ridge in the coming days.