More bad news for parents with students at Newbridge Academy

There's more bad news for parents who have children enrolled in a Dartmouth private school.

In an email sent Friday morning, Trevor MacEachern, the owner of Newbridge Academy,said the company has been out of money since March and is "going out of business," but a group of parents and grandparents will try to operate the school.

"Newbridge Academy is a wonderful institution," wrote MacEachern, "It deserves to survive this unfortunate situation."

Prepaid tuition fees and summer camp fees are being refunded, but confirmation deposits made by parents in February will not be returned. They will be applied to next year's tuition if students continue with the school.

Lillian MacNamara's son, Connor, has attended Newbridge for two years.

"My real issue with this is they collected all these deposits from the parents, knowing full well that the school was in financial trouble," said MacNamara.

School announced changes in early June

In early June, school officials announced they would be leaving the building in Burnside that they had been leasing and trying to buy. They wouldreturn to the East Hants Sportsplex.

In the Friday email to parents,MacEachern said that is still the plan for grades 5-12 students interested in hockey, baseball, soccer, golf and academic enhancement.

But the plan for younger grades is to find a location in the Halifax area.

According to the school website,Newbridge opened for student enrolment in 2007. There were 100 students five years later.

In the email MacEachern said he made a mistake in judgment and trusted people he didn't know.

He said he will "pay for this mistake for the rest of his life, but the staff, students and families that make up Newbridge Academy should be allowed to continue to thrive."

The CBC has reached out to MacEachern but has not yet heard back.

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