'Bursting at the seams': Schools in Nanaimo, West Shore surpass capacity
Nicholas Beaudoin is a teacher at École John Stubbs Memorial School in Colwood, one of 29 schools in the Sooke School District.
Beaudoin has done the math and expects his classroom to be at a full capacity with 28 students when the school year begins on Tuesday.
“This is my first homeroom class, but I’m incredibly excited,” Beaudoin said.
Teachers across the entire Sooke School District will likely be teaching full classrooms.
Superintendent Scott Stinson says the district has 100 more students enrolled than expected, 750 more than last year.
“[We are at] 112 per cent capacity across the district,” he says.
The excess numbers have forced the district to move and buy portables for various schools, including at Royal Bay Secondary.
It’s an expense of $1.4 million, and a source of frustration for the district.
“It’s the amount of money that we're putting into portables rather than into the classroom, and you know if that $1.4 million could have gone into the classroom. Rather than purchasing temporary space, it would be a great thing for kids,” he says.
The booming population on the West Shore is expected to continue putting extra strain on staff and resources.
“Next year, and the year after that are going to be big challenges for us,” says Stinson. “It’s going to have some big costs and challenges for us.”
In Nanaimo, there are also more students than predicted, and high schools are getting hit the hardest.
The most crowded of all is Nanaimo District Secondary School, where the district’s secretary treasurer, Mark Walsh, says international enrollment has been capped and the situation is at a crisis point.
“NDSS is bursting at the seams,” said Walsh. “We’ve put two portables there… that’s to go with the portables they already have. It’s built for 1,400 [students]. We're going to be upwards of 1700 at the end of the day,”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Fort Nelson, B.C., wildfire doubles in size as 3,000-plus ordered to evacuate
The wildfire that sparked Friday and caused evacuation orders for more than 3,000 people in Fort Nelson, B.C., and the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has grown to nearly 1,700 hectares in size, according to a Saturday morning update from the BC Wildfire Service.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Protest encampment cleared by Edmonton police early Saturday morning
A protest encampment set up on the University of Alberta campus was cleared early Saturday morning by Edmonton police.
Dutch contestant kicked out of Eurovision hours before tension-plagued song contest final
The Netherlands' contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest was dramatically expelled from competition hours before Saturday's final of the pan-continental pop competition, which has been rattled by protests over the participation of Israel.
opinion How to use your credit card as a powerful wealth-building tool
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Haitians demand the resignation and arrest of the country's police chief after a new gang attack
A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday.
'We have no judge for you': Man's assault charges dropped weeks before trial due to lack of judges in Toronto
A man who was accused of sexually and physically assaulting a woman had his charges dropped in April, just weeks before he was set to stand trial in Toronto, due to a lack of judges in the region.
Cyclist issued fine for striking four-year-old girl crossing the street
A cyclist turned herself in and received a fine after striking a four-year-old girl who was crossing the street to catch a school bus.
Millions of Canadians have been exposed to potentially toxic chemicals, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.