Reviewing the options
Schools nearing capacity, says director of Public Schools Branch
The Public Schools Branch has launched a review of population growth as schools are nearing their full capacity.
The review was launched after a Public Schools Branch board of trustees meeting on April 11.
During the meeting, Dale Sabean, a member of the branch's board of directors, presented his review on capacity/infrastructure due to population growth and housing.
In his report, which he read out to the board of trustees, he highlighted how an increase in population is putting pressure on schools.
Donagh Regional School, for example, currently has 228 students enrolled, with a functional capacity of 244. The school's principal has reported difficulties in finding adequate space for the English as an additional language program and educational assistants who require private space for student support.
Similarly, Glen Stewart Primary School in Stratford has a current population of 548 out of a functional capacity of 680. During a recent visit to the school, he said he observed that children are occupying every available school space.
“There was a child in every space in that building, and they had to schedule the youngsters with their adults because they were using the space over and over and over. So, it's not that there's an empty class; every classroom is full with a class,” he said.
Sabean told the board that Parkdale Elementary School has the same type of situation with a French teacher without a classroom.
“She rotates with a curtain and goes from room to room to room to teach French because every other room is full,” he said.
It’s a similar situation for Prince Street Elementary
School. He said the principal of the school has told him every classroom is being used and they are still pressed for space, even after creating some spaces within some classrooms by using dividers.
During his visit to West Royalty Elementary School, Sabean said he noticed that one of the educational assistants was assisting a student in a teaching space situated at the back entrance of the school because there wasn’t any other available space.
At the time the classrooms in schools were built, he said, they was built with a certain population in mind, as created by government, but that has shifted over time.
A few years ago, during a review across the province, a decision was made to assess the capacity of school buildings based on their functionality, rather than just their classrooms. This means considering the specialist areas or small spaces used for student support programs, such as those provided by education assistants, support staff, school psychologists or family children's services personnel.
In determining the functional capacity, Sabean said the number of classrooms in each school was reduced to accommodate these extra spaces.
“Even today, we may show a functional capacity of let's say 500, and a student capacity of 450. And yet we're full, because they need that extra space to accommodate the extra support programs that they're running,” he told the board of trustees.
The Public Schools Branch has launched a review that will concentrate on the schools in Charlottetown and will consider data such as population, physical infrastructure, capacity and demographic profiles.
Matt Macleod, communications officer with the Public Schools Branch told Saltwire in an email that after the study of the Charlottetown schools is completed, a broader review of all the schools in Prince Edward sland will be conducted.
“Upon completion of the school study, the Public Schools Branch board of trustees will take the information presented in the report and seek the public’s input before sharing the final recommendations with the provincial government."
The review is expected to be completed prior to the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
“She rotates with a curtain and goes from room to room to room to teach French because every other room is full.”
Dale Sabean