New portable to put dent in school wait-list
The wait-list to attend Chute Lake Elementary will decrease by 20 students this fall, when a new portable is added on site to accommodate an additional kindergarten class.
The Ministry of Education recently announced approval of five new portables for the Central Okanagan school district to accommodate smaller class sizes and increased student numbers.
Last fall, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled class size and composition rules had to be restored to 2002 levels.
“We can’t put as many students in each class,” said Moyra Baxter, school board chairwoman. “It’s been estimated for every 10 classrooms we had, we now need another one. It puts school districts like ours in a difficult position because we no longer have the space.”
Currently, 64 students are wait-listed for the upcoming school year at Chute Lake Elementary.
“Chute Lake Elementary School has been at capacity since the first day it opened,” said superintendent Kevin Kaardal.
The new portable, which will cost $163,000 for purchase and installation, will allow the school to accept 20 of the students on the wait-list.
Baxter hopes that when a new middle school is built in the Mission, it will create more space in other schools such as Chute Lake Elementary.
“We will be changing the grade configuration in the Mission, so once we can get the Grade 6s out of the (elementary) schools, that will alleviate some of the pressure as well,” she said.
The ideal situation would be if the B.C. government approved building a new elementary school in the Mission, said Baxter.
In addition to Chute Lake Elementary, four other schools will be receiving new portables: Watson Road Elementary, Peter Greer Elementary, Glenmore Elementary and Chief Tomat Elementary.
One existing portable each will be moved to Springvalley Middle and Peter Greer Elementary, and two existing portables each will be moved to Rutland Middle, Dorothea Walker Elementary and Dr. Knox Middle.
“The ideal situation is not to have a lot of portables on site, but that seems to be the way we have to go at the moment,” said Baxter.
In total, the Ministry of Education is providing the local district with more than $2 million, 75 per cent of the total value of all approved projects, including portables and the conversion of existing space into classrooms.
“The problem is that apparently many school districts in the province are also looking for portables because, like us, many of them don’t have the space,” said Baxter. “If we find some of them are a bit late in coming, we will have to accommodate students in the school, maybe in a multi-purpose space or some other space.”
Chute Lake Elementary should be able to enrol 20 additional students this fall