Bridlewood Community Elementary School is a K-6 elementary located on 63 Bluegrass Drive, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Operated by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, it is situated in the Zone 2 school board district with Cathy Curry as its trustee, in the Kanata neighbourhood of Bridlewood. The current principal of Bridlewood C.E.S is Suzanne Denney. Its vice-principal is Julie O'Connor. Bridlewood celebrated the 20th anniversary of its founding on April 19, 2008. It operates on a 'Balanced School Day' schedule. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was at the centre of a controversy over the health effects of the electromagnetic fields from high-voltage transmission lines erected near the school.
History
Plans for an elementary school on Bluegrass Drive can be traced as far back as the late 1970s. The space was formerly occupied by a community centre building, and an extensive park which stretched to the limit of the land that was the community of Bridlewood at the time. The park consisted of two play structures, one built for young children and one for older children, a baseball diamond, a basketball court, and a soccer field at the back. During the winter months, a skating rink was built next to the community centre, so that the washrooms could serve double duty as space for people to put their skates. The community centre itself was small, consisting of a main hall that was used for events, along with a small kitchen and storage room. In later years, two trailers were parked near the building to add extra room. The centre and the park were both removed to allow for construction of the school in the late 1980s. In 1985, overcrowding of schools in growing communities such as Bridlewood, prompted the school board to call for a new elementary school in the area, which was realized in 1988.
Programs
Bridlewood C.E.S. has a computer lab, a gym, and a library with a collection of over 29 500 books. Bridlewood also supports a Special Support Unit, a Gifted class, an ESL class, a Dual diagnosis class, and an after school daycare. Bridlewood is the home of a pilot case for restorative justice program to prevent bullying.
In 1986, community activist Judy Hunter started a campaign against Ontario Hydro constructing high-voltage power lines through Bridlewood over concerns that its electromagnetic field would pose health risks such as increasing rates of cancer to the students at Bridlewood Community Elementary School. Hunter's campaign lost an appeal to the cabinet of Ontario in 1986 and failed to get a court injunction blocking construction of the lines in 1988. On December 14, 1989, Charles Caccia, the Liberal MP for Davenport brought up the issue in the House of Commons when he presented a motion urging the government of Brian Mulroney to investigate the health effects of electromagnetic fields from high voltage transmission lines. The campaign against the powerlines ended in the 1990s.
