A Regina elementary school has been forced to convert unconventional spaces into classrooms to accommodate a growing number of students.
A surge in enrolment has forced Jack Mackenzie School to turn the library, dance studio and staff lounge into classrooms.
It’s leaving one parent concerned about the impact it is having on education.
“It just doesn’t seem like it should be an option,” Jaclyn Gan said. “To be able to take over a library as a classroom space … I just don’t feel like that’s the right decision to be making.”
Gan has two students attending the school, and said she is frustrated with the pressure being felt in the classroom for students and staff.
“I feel bad for the teachers as well because they’re just having to do more with less,” she said. “The student numbers are increasing and so are the complexities and it’s just a lot to put on the teachers. It’s affecting everyone’s education.”
Currently the plan is to have portable classrooms in place by January.
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Saskatchewan schools have had an overcrowding issue for a number of years now, with even new schools forced to add portables just months after the schools open.
Regina Public Schools (RPS) said it is working to do what it can.
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“We’re adding about 800 students any given year, so this obviously puts pressure on existing infrastructure,” Mark Haarmann, the RPS director of education, said.
“Eight hundred kids is about the size of an elementary school. Growth is a thing that we’re working very hard to manage with the city and the province but it’s difficult to keep up.”
Haarmann stressed that the student experience remains a top priority, but learning will continue in alternative spaces for the time being.
“We are advocating with the province, with the city to get other sites built,” Haarmann said. “In the meantime, (we’re) having the assurance for parents that the education is first rate.”
Last week the province announced that two new schools would be coming to Regina’s Towns neighbourhood. However, it will take a few years of construction before they welcome in new students, which is causing pressure at Jack Mackenzie.
“There’s a lot of kids and they’re coming from that district because there aren’t any schools there yet,” Gan said of the Towns area.
“I don’t know about the planning part of it but it just seems like it’s two years too late at this point.”