 Although the Bishop closed St. Andrew's College in 1844, he supervised the construction of St. Dunstan's College in Charlottetown (now part of the UPEI campus) in 1848, which attended to the educational needs of boys and girls.In 1856 he spoke out against compulsory bible reading in the public schools.In 1857, McDonald was also responsible for bringing to the Island the first Sisters of Notre Dame and opening a convent school for girls, which is now the modern-day Notre Dame Convent in Charlottetown.