Schools still in flux as new year begins
More classrooms, more teachers and more portables are the common thread among local school districts as the 2017-18 academic year gets underway.
As has been the case for some time, the Sooke school district is the fastestgrowing in the region and one of the fastest growing across B.C.
A rapid rate of residential construction helping to fuel the increase of student numbers in the Sooke district is typified by the area around Royal Bay Secondary. The building stood virtually by itself when it opened in 2015, but is now surrounded by a large cluster of new homes.
The overall pace of development in the district meant the addition of two portables at Royal Bay in 2016, and two more to start the current school year. The number of students increased from 800 when it opened in 2015 to about 1,000 — a rate of growth that superintendent Jim Cambridge has called “exponentially” faster than anticipated.
In April, district officials moved ahead with a “project definition report” as a preliminary step for Royal Bay expansion.
Carson Loughridge, a Grade 12 Royal Bay student who has been there since it opened its doors, said he has noticed the upward shift in student numbers. “It definitely grew,” he said. Loughridge said he can see how portables would be needed.
“It’s tight sometimes, especially when it’s bad weather and we all end up packed in.”
But Loughridge said the “caring environment” at Royal Bay overcomes those sorts of issues.
Cambridge said the projected number of students in the district this year is up to 10,400, an increase of 330 over 2016-17.
He said there will be a total of 22 new portables in the district, with 19 in place now and another three in the next month or so. The two new portables at Royal Bay should be ready on Friday.
All the changes have come together well, Cambridge said.
“It’s just been amazing, getting the furniture for all of those portables and the [information technology], putting the wireless in them and the digital projectors.”
The result has been a positive start to his last year as superintendent, said Cambridge, who plans to retire in 2018.
In the Greater Victoria school district — the region’s largest with about 20,000 students — about 200 new teachers have been hired, 160 of them to comply with the 2016 Supreme Court of Canada decision restoring 2002 contract language on class size and composition for B.C. teachers.
Other B.C. school districts have gone through the same process of hiring additional teachers because of the court decision, which is creating more and smaller classes.
In the Greater Victoria district, the result is 84 new classes and 13 new portables, along with some scrambling to get space ready for all areas of need.
At Margaret Jenkins Elementary, one of the new classrooms will be in a former computer lab, something that has been done at a number of schools. “The technology is such that we really don’t need the labs anymore,” said principal Brett Johnson.
He said work on the two new portables at the school should be done in October.
Another highly visible school project is a field upgrade, being done by district staff, that won’t be ready until the spring.
Nearby Hollywood and Pemberton parks will be used in the meantime.
Margaret Jenkins parent Ian Paul, who has a daughter in Grade 3, has taken note of the changes coming this school year.
“We’re curious how it’s going to unroll,” he said.
“There’s catchment issues with that, as well. We just want to see what that will look like.”
One thing in his mind is new district student-enrolment priorities coming next September, when another daughter enters kindergarten.
That could affect the family’s school choice, Paul said. He said part of his concern is that his family is just outside the Margaret Jenkins catchment area after moving to a new home.
New rules related to the placement of siblings are also an issue, he said.
Regardless of what is happening at school, the first day of class is always special, Johnson said.
“There’s the excitement of children coming back to see their friends and us after a couple of months away,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy.”
A few more teachers will be hired soon, Johnson said.
“Things are still in flux.”